Presenters/Panellists

Michael is an independent consultant on conflict transformation, dialogue and peace processes. For over 15 years, he has worked, studied and volunteered for peace Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and elsewhere. In the Philippines, he has consulted for the United Nations Population Fund on youth, peace and security; and as a project manager at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, provided capacity- building and technical support to Mindanao Peace Process stakeholders. He also worked for the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process of the Philippine Government where he designed and facilitated trainings on peace and conflict for civil society organizations, local governments, the security sector and the Bangsamoro Development Agency.

Noppatjak is based in Bangkok. He leads a Workpoint News team, creating news and content for multiple platforms that fit in the digital era. He had spent 7 years as a reporter with Nation TV. During this time, he reported on the political turmoil in Thailand between 2009 and 2014. He has grown his social media presence, especially on twitter, and has more than 500,000 followers nowadays. Aim graduated in Marketing from Thammasat University and won a Chevening scholarship award to study International Journalism at City University, London during 2015-16. He was one of ten scholars selected to participate in the BBC World Service work placement program and had also carried out assignments for BBC Thai.

Chi is a Nonviolent Communication practitioner, a professional coach recognised by the International Coach Federation and a mindfulness trainer.  He is passionate about supporting and facilitating holistic personal and social change.  His central focus over the past 5 years has been sharing and applying the core principles and practices of Nonviolent Communication through workshops, personal coaching, mediation and providing training and support for organizations, communities and committed individuals.  His work integrates Nonviolent Communication, Internal Family Systems, Coaching for Transformation and Mindfulness with expertise on personal healing and transformation.  In social change and organisational development, he focuses on collaborative leadership, community building and conflict transformation.  For close to a decade, Chi has also been designing, coordinating and facilitating capacity building programmes and workshops for leaders in the not-for-profit sector in Hong Kong and Mainland China who are involved in environmental protection, gender, social enterprise, mental health, poverty alleviation, community development, social advocacy and other areas.  He is a member of the Nonviolent Global Liberation and the Cultural Catalyst Network. 

Thomas is Chairperson of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0), a coalition of 56 non-governmental organisations that focuses on electoral and democratic reforms in Malaysia. He had been active in voters registration, organising peaceful protests and spearheaded efforts to prepare the public in relation to the delineation of electoral boundaries. He has initiated several notable human rights projects like Freedom Fund that helped activists and citizens being persecuted and founded Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances. His tertiary education in the United Kingdom was disrupted when his father passed away unexpectedly and he was recalled to represent his family’s interest in a publicly-listed company in Malaysia. After several years, he decided that his fulfilment in life would come from serving the needs of society and has given himself to social work since late 1980s.

Puja is Associate Professor of Law and Convenor of the Women’s Studies Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong. Her teaching, research and social justice advocacy focuses on the rights of marginalised communities in relation to gender, race, religion, sexuality, hate speech, citizenship and immigration issues. She has presented her work to United Nations experts and treaty bodies, as well as Hong Kong’s Chief Executive and Chief Secretary, Legislative Council and civil society organisations. Her latest research is the first study on unconscious bias in Asia. She has received the International Woman of Courage Hong Kong Award 2015 from the US Consul General, HKU Faculty of Law’s Outstanding Teaching Award 2016 and Knowledge Exchange Award 2017.

Christine is a former legislator and until recently, Undersecretary for the Environment. She initiated the historic Protection of the Harbour Ordinance while she was a legislator. She founded and was the chief executive officer of a non-profit think tank. She has helped to establish several NGOs related to equal opportunity, human rights, environmental protection, as well as urban planning. She serves on a number of international boards, and was a director of the stock exchange in Hong Kong. She is currently associated with philanthropy, as well as teaching and strategic research work. She is a lawyer by training, commodities trader by profession, and author of several books and many academic and popular works.

Raymond is active in political affairs. He served as President of the University of Hong Kong Students’ Union (2003) and member of the university’s Council and Senate (2003-2004). He is a former Co-Convenor of the Path of Democracy (2016–2019), a centrist political think-tank, and ran as a candidate in the 2016 Legislative Council elections. He initiated and co-founded the Hong Kong Academy of Politics and Public Policy with HKU SPACE in 2017 and was Executive Director responsible for development until mid-2018. He is currently developing a platform for canvassing public opinion to inform government policies. He is also an entrepreneur. His smart farming technology is addressing the global issue of green produce safety and regular supply in urban areas. He sits on the Trade & Industry Advisory Board of HKSAR Government.

Clem is from Northern Ireland.  He has more than 25 years’ experience in peacebuilding, working in relation to Northern Ireland, the Caucasus, Middle East, South America, and South and Southeast Asia.  He studied law but then switched to social development.  From the mid-1980s, his main interest has been in conflict resolution, mediation and peace building.  He worked with the Centre for the Study of Conflict in the University of Ulster.  He has acted as adviser to the Conciliation Resources Comparative Learning Project which, in particular, compared the experiences of the peace processes in Colombia and the Philippines and edited Northern Ireland – “Striking a Balance, the Northern Ireland Peace Process”, an evaluation pack.  From 2007 and until recently, he was policy and content co-ordinator of the Shared Societies Project of the World Leadership Alliance ‒ Club de Madrid, focusing on policies to promote inter-community harmony.

Hannes has worked in many of the world’s most conflict-ridden societies as a peace process and negotiations adviser and facilitator. In South Africa, he served as director in the National Peace Secretariat, the multi-party body that implemented the 1992 Peace Accord. Post-1994, he assisted the Special Presidential Task Force on demilitarization of youth militia in key intractable conflicts. In Sri Lanka, he advised the country’s peace secretariats and aided the creation of the multi-party negotiations forum. In Nepal, he contributed to the drafting of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and others, and facilitated talks between the Nepal Army and the Maoist Army; helped set up the confidential dialogue process (Nepal Transition To Peace), and advised the Peace Ministry. In the USA, he facilitated talks between Arab and Israeli think tanks; in the Balkans, he worked on the Stability Pact’s reconciliation initiatives; in Cyprus, he supported leaders from both Cypriot communities in the development of the Cyprus Dialogue Forum. Currently, in Myanmar, he assists stakeholders in the development of a “Political Dialogue Framework” and a “Union Conference”; and in Beirut, he supports the Lebanese Common Space Initiative and regional National Dialogues, the Syria Initiative, and child refugees from Palestine and Syria. With five Nobel Peace Laureates, he has initiated an international foundation for “Appeal for Peace and Non-Violence,” and has developed Peace Tools, a set of innovative tools for conflict transformation and negotiations process.

Anna is a lawyer admitted to the Law Society’s Roll of Honour and practised intellectual property law. She is the current and founding chair of the Competition Commission. She stepped down as a member of the Executive Council on 1 July 2017, having served for over 8 years. She was a member of the Legislative Council and initiated the Equal Opportunities Bill, the first private member’s bill covering a whole area of policy. She also served in different senior capacities in the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, Equal Opportunities Commission, Consumer Council, Independent Commission Against Corruption, Law Reform Commission, Hospital Authority, Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited and Securities and Futures Commission. She is an honorary fellow and honorary professor of the University of Hong Kong and has recently joined its Law and Technology Centre. She is a global advisor of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jacqueline is a very experienced radio and television programme host. She has worked for more than 20 years in the media industry. She has been the programme host of 「時事全方位」, Hong Kong’s first phone-in daily current affairs television programme on now TV news channel, since 2008. Through this work, she has gained rich experience in listening and in facilitating discussion on a broad range of topics with guests and audiences holding a variety of positions and opinions. She was the DJ for the RTHK Radio 2 morning show「晨光第一線」 (”The Morning Suite”) and was named a Top 10 DJ in 2006. She has also authored several books and speaks languages other than Cantonese, English and Putonghua.