Donor
Mr Eric C. Yim, JP
Mr Eric C. Yim, founder and CEO of POSH Office Systems (HK) Limited, is a Cambridge-trained architect-turned-furniture designer who has successfully built up his business from a small local company to become a global brand in the office furniture industry. With his academic and architectural background, he shows great interest in the advancement of design, education and industrial development in Hong Kong. In addition to running his own business, Mr Yim serves as Chairman of the Design Council of Hong Kong, Honorary Chairman of the Hong Kong Furniture & Decoration Trade Association, Director of the Hong Kong Design Centre, and is a Council Member of the Vocational Training Council and an adviser to the Hong Kong Design Institute.
Mr Yim was named “Young Industrialist of Hong Kong 2005” and “Leader of Excellence 2006”. In 2009, he was also honoured with the Asia Pacific Outstanding Entrepreneur Award. Mr Yim sponsors an education fund to foster excellence in creativity, design and innovation among young people. In 2012, Mr Yim founded the Ming Foundation with the objectives of advancing design education and research, and supporting other initiatives that would make our society a better place to live in. His efforts in nurturing future talents are invaluable to the Hong Kong design community.
Appointee
Professor Kin Wai Michael Siu
Professor Kin Wai Michael Siu is the Chair Professor of Public Design, founder and leader of Public Design Lab, and leader of Research Group for Sustainable Public Design of the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is the coordinator of Design Research Methods for the University’s PhD students.
He is a chartered designer and a chartered engineer, and also fellow of numerous professional and academic organizations. He was Fulbright Scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ASIA Fellow at National University of Singapore, and Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge and University of California, Berkeley. He is currently Visiting Chair Professor of the Wuhan University of Technology, and Visiting Professor of Tsinghua University, China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in China. He has been appointed to serve as a member of foreign and local research grant bodies and accreditation councils. He is an editorial and advisory board member of design, humanities, engineering and education journals and book series. He has provided professional consultancy services concerning industrial, product, engineering and environmental designs, intellectual property, and programme development and accreditation.
He promotes inclusive and participatory designs in various public design projects. His projects have always achieved a balance between the consideration of creative design and engineering application. He also introduced the concept of 'Scaffolding Innovation' for design learning based on Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development Concept and Bruner’s Scaffolding Theory. He has obtained a number of external competitive research grants, including The Research Grants Council's The Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (2016/2017). Most recently, his project explores everyday practice of city dwellers and advocates the implementation of inclusive design in densely populated urban areas.
He has received over 60 international design and invention awards. He is the sole holder of more than 50 US and international patents. He has published 23 books and monographs, and over 50 book chapters and 300 papers in leading journals.
With the Endowed Professorship appointment, Professor Siu intends to promote inclusive design research for the benefit of the deprived and people with different capabilities.
