Professor Ho, a social and economic historian who previously worked as a research consultant at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, now teaches in the History Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and is Director of the Research Institute for the Humanities. She has published numerous books and articles on Hong Kong and social and economic history of modern Chinese society, with a focus on the urbanisation of modern day Hong Kong. Her books have focused on aspects of city development such as land use, colonial government history, public housing and urban planning. She is also interested in urban space and social development, power and governance, environment, tradition versus modernity and globalisation. She firmly believes that interaction between academia and society can facilitate integration of theory into society for the betterment of people’s daily lives.