1 February 2024

The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (HSUHK) will confer honorary doctorates on three outstanding individuals to recognise their remarkable accomplishments in their professional fields, as well as their contributions to society and the University. The three recipients are: distinguished urologist and Director of the S H Ho Foundation Limited Dr Ho Tzu-leung (Doctor of Laws honoris causa), renowned actuarial science scholar Professor Elias Shiu Sai-wan (Doctor of Science honoris causa), and insurance industry leader Dr Edmund Tse Sze-wing (Doctor of Social Science honoris causa). The Honorary Doctorates Conferment Ceremony will be held on 14 March 2024.

Dr Ho Tzu-leung (Doctor of Laws honoris causa)

Dr Ho Tzu-leung is a leading urologist, as well as the Director of the S H Ho Foundation Limited, and Bethlehem Management Limited. Dr Ho obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree at Chicago Medical School, USA. He did his post-doctoral urology surgery training at Stanford University Medical Centre, and gained his Board Certificate from the American Board of Urology.

Dr Ho is devoted to serving and giving back to the community. He was a urology consultant at the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital and the Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital, where he ran charity clinics at both hospitals for over 10 years. Dr Ho is also committed to promoting the development of global healthcare services, and has made frequent contributions to the medical field through his support of tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, Mainland China, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Dr Ho has carried on his father, Dr Ho Sin-hang’s legacy by actively participating in charity work and contributing to the advancement of higher education. Over the years, he and his family has made generous donations to support the long-term strategic development of HSUHK. In appreciation of their support, an academic building has been named the “S H Ho Academic Building”, and a Residential College at HSUHK has been named the “S H Ho Wellness College”. Dr Ho was also a Director of Hang Seng School of Commerce and a Governor of HSUHK from 2009 to 2023. Dr Ho is now the Life Honorary President of the HSUHK-Foundation, and Chairman of the Board of S H Ho Wellness College of HSUHK.

Dr Ho was awarded a Fellowship by the American College of Surgeons, and was presented an honorary doctorate in Social Science by The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and an Honorary University Fellowship by The University of Hong Kong.

Professor Elias Shiu Sai-wan (Doctor of Science honoris causa)

Professor Elias Shiu is a renowned scholar with a strong international reputation in the field of actuarial science. He is a Professor of Actuarial Science and a Collegiate Fellow of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa, USA. He is also an Honorary Professor of HSUHK’s School of Decision Sciences.

Professor Shiu obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and a PhD from the California Institute of Technology, USA. With over five decades of academic and teaching experience in actuarial science, asset and liability management, mathematical finance, and risk theory, Professor Shiu has taught at a variety of higher education institutions including the University of Manitoba and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Professor Shiu was also a consultant for the Great-West Life Assurance Company in Canada for 15 years.

Professor Shiu has produced voluminous publications, including over 100 papers and book chapters. He is also an Honorary Editor for the journal Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, and was a Co-Editor for the North American Actuarial Journal. His distinguished achievements as a pioneering researcher and teacher have earned him a number of unique recognitions, including the four Halmstad Prizes for his research papers. His paper “Option Pricing by Esscher Transforms” is the most cited paper ever published in the Transactions of the Society of Actuaries. The “Gerber-Shiu function”, named after Professor Shiu and Professor Hans Gerber, is one of the most important concepts in risk analytics and actuarial science, providing a unified framework for the evaluation of a vast variety of risk quantities. Professor Shiu was also awarded an honorary doctorate in actuarial science by the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Dr Edmund Tse Sze-wing (Doctor of Social Science honoris causa)

Insurance industry leader Dr Edmund Tse is the Independent Non-executive Chairman, Independent Non-executive Director of AIA Group, and a Director of AIA Foundation. He has served AIA for over 60 years and assumed various leadership roles, including Honorary Chairman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and President and Chief Executive Officer.

Dr Tse obtained his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from The University of Hong Kong, and received diplomas from the College of Insurance and the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University, USA.

With over six decades of experience in the insurance industry, Dr Tse has been credited with introducing the agency system, now a dominant distribution channel in the industry, to Taiwan in 1970, and to Mainland China in 1992. He was the first Chinese individual to be elected to the esteemed Insurance Hall of Fame and was awarded the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award at the Pacific Insurance Conference in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the advancement of the insurance field.

Dr Tse is deeply committed to philanthropy. As Chairman of different foundations, he oversees donations to a range of programmes to support education, healthcare and local communities. Dr Tse is currently a member of the Chief Executive’s Council of Advisers of the HKSAR Government. He remains the longest-serving member on the Insurance Advisory Committee to the HKSAR Government.

Dr Tse was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the HKSAR Government. He received an Honorary University Fellowship and an honorary doctorate degree in Social Sciences from The University of Hong Kong. He was also conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Business Administration by Lingnan University.