Invited Speakers Biographies
Manila Observatory, Philippines;
Co-chair, WCRP CORDEX-SEA
Dr Faye Abigail Cruz is a climate scientist, and Head of the Regional Climate Systems Laboratory at the Manila Observatory in the Philippines.
She currently serves as Co-chair of CORDEX Southeast Asia and is a member of the CORDEX Science Advisory Team.
With her expertise in regional climate modeling, she has been working on transdisciplinary projects to provide enhanced climate information to support climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the Philippines. She was a Lead Author in the IPCC AR6 Working Group I, and a contributing author in the Philippine climate change assessment reports.
Professor, Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales;
Science Advisor, WCRP CORDEX Program
Jason did his PhD at the Australian National University before working for several as a research fellow at Yale University, USA. He then took an academic position at the University of New South Wales, Australia, where he is currently a Professor in Climate Science. Jason has held multiple leadership positions within elements of the World Climate Research Program including currently serving on the CORDEX Science Advisory Team. Jason is an expert in the science of the climate system particularly in regards to land-atmosphere interactions, the water cycle and regional climate change. His research investigates regional climate processes, how global climate change manifests itself at regional and local scales, and how these changes impact climate change risks to various human and natural systems. He uses convection permitting climate modelling to investigate these questions at scales that are relevant for key processes that generate various climatic hazards and are meaningful for decision making.
Associate Provost (Teaching & Learning), Chair Professor of Division of Environment and Sustainability, and Department of Mathematics, HKUST
Prof. Jimmy C H Fung was appointed Associate Provost (Teaching & Learning) on 31 January 2022. Prof. Fung is a Chair Professor in the Department of Mathematics in the School of Science, and the Division of Environment & Sustainability in the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies. He is also currently serving the roles of the Chairman of the Undergraduate Admission Sub-Committee (since 2021), Member of the Undergraduate Studies (since 2011), and the Associate Director of the Atmospheric Research Center (since 2017).
Prof. Fung also serves in many professional capacities, including the Scientific Advisor of the Hong Kong Observatory (since 2008), Chairman of the Environmental Research, Technology Demonstration and Conference Vetting Sub-committee under the Environment and Conservation Fund Committee (since 2021), Air Ventilation Assessment Consultant for the Hong Kong SAR: Planning Department (since 2010).
Prof. Fung specializes in atmospheric meteorology and air quality modeling, as well as the application of remote sensing technology on air quality research in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta Region. Prof. Fung has over fifteen years of experience in applying advanced atmospheric chemistry models (including CMAQ and CAMx) to study air quality over HK and PRD regions. Through using both statistical and prognostic air quality prediction techniques in simulating the wind fields for different meteorological conditions, and at different temporal and spatial scales, his research team has designed the Air Pollution Index forecast system currently in operation at the HK Environmental Protection Department (HKEPD) and more recently, he has helped them to upgrade their air quality model PATH which consists of meteorological models, emission models and chemical transport models. Prof. Fung’s research has had a significant and wide-reaching impact on the environment, public policy, public understanding, and public health.
Professor, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology;
Steering Group Member, WWRP InPRHA project
Yali Luo received the M.S. degree from the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (CAMS), Beijing, China, in 1996, and the Ph.D. degree from The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA, in 2003. After spending 3.5 years as a Research Scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA, she took a scientist position at the State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, CAMS, in July 2007. She was a Chief Scientist with CAMS from September 2019 to March 2023, where she was also the Chief Scientist of the Southern China Monsoon Rainfall Experiment (SCMREX) that is a Research and Development Project of the World Weather Organization’s World Weather Research Programme (WWRP). Yali Luo joined Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, China in April 2023. She is now a professor at the School of Atmospheric Sciences, NUIST. Professor Yali Luo is serving as the AOGS (Asia Oceania Geosciences Society) Atmospheric Science Section President (2024-2026), a member of the steering group of the WWRP InPRHA project, and a member of the IAMAS ICCP. She works on the understanding of physical mechanisms governing the evolution and long-term changes of weather/climate extremes especially heavy precipitation, using integrated observational datasets combined with numerical modeling. She has more than 100 refereed publications in journals. She was one of the lead authors of the IPCC’s Special Report on Extremes (SREX) entitled “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation”.
Assistant Director/Operations and Maintenance, Drainage Services Department, HKSAR Government
Mr. Edwin LAU is a civil engineer by profession and has worked as a professional engineer in the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for about 30 years. During his services, he has been involved in the life cycle covering planning to operation stage of various drainage and sewerage projects over the territory. Currently, Mr. LAU is the Assistant Director of the Operations and Maintenance Branch of the Drainage Services Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, overseeing drainage system and blue-green drainage infrastructure planning, research and development, climate change, operation and maintenance of drainage and sewerage network, and district matters in the department.
Engineer, Drainage Services Department, HKSAR Government
Leonard Wong is an engineer at the Drainage Services Department (DSD), Hong Kong SAR Government, serving in the Land Drainage Division, where he oversees drainage system planning for New Development Areas. Specializing in hydrological and hydraulic appraisal and natural hazard risk management, he has extensive experience managing flooding and landslide risks in Hong Kong through roles in DSD’s Flood Control Section, Highway Department's NT Region Slope Section and the Geotechnical Engineering Office’s Landslip Preventive Measures Divisions. As a key developer of the Mosaic Model Map (M³), a real-time flood risk visualization system, he contributed to its Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva in 2025. With a strong interest in extreme weather studies, Leonard also co-authored a recent publication in Weather and Climate Extremeson post-tropical cyclone precipitation