Meet Our Speakers

Simone Borelli holds a first degree in Forest Science from the Universitá della Tuscia, Italy, an M. Sc. in Watershed Management from the University of Arizona and Postgraduate Diploma in Public Management from the University of London. He has worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) for over 20 years in different positions and is currently responsible for the Agroforestry and Urban Forestry programmes in the Forestry Department. In this capacity, he provides technical support to FAO field projects, provides policy advice to member countries and develops technical publications. He is also one of the creators of the World Forum on Urban Forests and of the Tree Cities of the World programme. In addition to FAO, he has also worked for WWF, IPGRI (now Bioversity) and as a consultant for public institutions and the private sector.

Mr Chan is a practicing landscape architect with academic backgrounds in Architecture, Project Management, Law, and Landscape Architecture. He was Director of Earthasia Limited and in 2012 he joined the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) as the founding head of landscape architecture. In 2018 he joined Otherland Limited as Co-founder/ Director. Mr. Chan serves a number of professional and public consultative bodies as well as NGOs. He was the vice-president and current council member of the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects, current member of the Harbourfront Commission, Honorary Treasurer of Professional Green Building Council, member of the Appeal Board Panel (Town Planning), and Executive Committee member of Playright Children’s Play Association.

Mr. Chan led the government funded projects Development of the landscape architectural profession in Hong Kong and its Positioning in the Region between 2013 and 2015 and Resilient City – Landscape Planning towards Climate Adaptation since 2018.

Kieron Doick is Head of the Urban Forest Research Group (UFoRG) at Forest Research – Great Britain’s principal organisation for forestry and tree related research. UFoRG delivers scientific knowledge on the UK’s urban forests, defined as ‘all the trees in and around the urban realm’. Kieron gained his PhD at Lancaster University studying the fate of organic contaminants in soil, before joining Forest Research in 2005.

Kieron’s research interests include the quantification and assessment of urban forests across the UK, quantifying the role of urban forests in delivering ecosystem service benefits to society, and the socio-ecological and urban resilience of urban forests to climate change. He has a particular interest in the climate mitigation (cooling) role of urban trees and greenspaces and methods to value ecosystem services provided by urban trees.

Kieron is also an expert advisor to the Forestry Commission on brownfield land regeneration to quality greenspace.

www.forestresearch.gov.uk/staff/
@KieronDoickFR

Kevin K. Eckert because of his love of trees and tree work, Kevin continues to climb and conduct tree management work on occasion for select trees.

Kevin is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Board Certified Master Arborist and is a very active leader within the profession currently serving as a member of the Western Chapter ISA Board of Directors, Hong Kong Urban Forestry Advisory Panel, Director of Trees For Honolulu’s Future and President of Smart Trees Pacific, an NGO supporting urban and community forestry. He has received numerous awards from professional associations, government and private organizations for his extensive education work and leadership in arboriculture.

Kevin is an Instructor and Mentor for many programs including ISA’s TRAQ, climbing and lift aerial rescue, Chainsaw safe operation, tree felling, Electrical Hazard Awareness Program (EHAP), Certified Arborist and Certified Tree Worker preparation, and occupational safety for tree workers and the arboriculture industry. He has served as a lecturer in Arboriculture at the Hong Kong University SPACE program and the University of Hawaii.

His ultimate goal is to build a legacy of students, colleagues and sustainable urban and wildlands forests that will enhance the human and natural environment through healthy trees for current and future generations.

Jennifer Greenfeld is the Assistant Commissioner of Forestry, Horticulture, and Natural Resources for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. In this role, she protects, restores, expands, and manages New York City’s urban forest, natural spaces and green infrastructure. Over the last 22 years at Parks, Jennifer led critical efforts to study the health and mortality of street trees and to quantify the impact of trees on the urban environment. She played an important role in MillionTreesNYC, initiated and implemented the agency’s transition to Tree Risk Management, and has overseen the restoration and management of 2,000 of acres of natural areas including the completion of the first fish passage in New York City, on the Bronx River; the restoration of salt marshes and the planting of over 550,000 trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses as a part of this management.

Prior to working for New York City Parks, Jennifer worked on land conservation and urban forestry in San Francisco and Washington DC . She obtained a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Forest Science from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

Dr Ken James is a research engineer in tree biomechanics. Over the last 20 years, he has been studying the structure of large trees in urban areas, and how they survive in wind storms.

Wind loads on urban trees during storms were measured during PhD studies at Melbourne University using new methods of attaching instruments to the trunks of trees. Results show that trees behave as flexible structures, and in winds, and the sway of branches helps to dampen the wind energy (termed mass damping) and so help trees survive.

Tree stability and tree failures in high winds has also been studied and results published in scientific papers. Tree stability during wind storms can now be monitored with new instruments that have developed from these dynamic studies.

Dr Ken James is a regular speaker at International conferences and has conducted workshops in the USA, England, Spain, Italy, Holland, Germany, New Zealand and Australia. He was awarded the L.C. Chadwick Research Award for Arboricultural Research in 2011, by the International Society of Arboriculture, USA.

C.Y. Jim is currently Research Chair Professor at the Education University of Hong Kong. He was previously Chair Professor at the University of Hong Kong. His research aims at preservation, creation and refinement of nature-in-city, encompassing urban ecology, urban forestry, urban soil science, urban climatology, urban green and blue infrastructure, green roof and green wall, urban nature conservation, and nature-based solutions for sustainable cities. Adopting multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches and focusing on dense urban areas, his studies extend from Hong Kong to other metropolises in China and elsewhere. Besides scholarly work, he actively pursues knowledge exchange, extending his research findings to promoting and improving multi-dimensional urban greening in compact cities. His distinction in urban-forest research has been recognised by the Chadwick Award of the International Society of Arboriculture.

Cecil Konijnendijk has worked as an urban forestry expert for over 25 years. He has done extensive academic research on topics such as urban forestry governance and management, and the range of ecosystem services and benefits provided by urban nature. Cecil has also taught widely at different academic levels and within a range of disciplines, and has advised local and national governments across the globe on urban forestry and related matters. He has also worked with international bodies such as the European Commission and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Cecil is currently a professor of urban forestry and program director at the University of British Columbia, Canada, after past employments in e.g. Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden. He was a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong in 2016, and currently holds three visiting professsorships at institutions in mainland China. Cecil is (founding) editor-in-chief of the reputable journal ' Urban Forestry & Urban Greening ' and has authored books such as ' The Forest and the City: the cultural landscape of urban woodland ' and the ' Routledge Handbook of Urban Forestry '.

Ms Lai is a town planner by profession. She has been involved in building block 1 of the Hong Kong 2030+: Planning for a Liveable High Density City; as well as related studies such as public spaces.

Ir Richard WM LEUNG is a civil engineer by profession. After graduation from the University of Sheffield in the UK in 1988, he worked as an engineer in the Civil Engineering Development Department and Drainage Services Department since 1995 and 2006 respectively. Ir LEUNG is also an Accredited BEAM Professional of the Hong Kong Green Building Council since 2012. Ir LEUNG has been involved in various stages of planning, design and construction of numbers of new town development projects and drainage/sewerage works. Ir LEUNG is currently the senior engineer of the Research & Development Section in Land Drainage Division in the department. He is responsible for the overall coordination of the research & development projects and planning and promotion of the blue green infrastructure and revitalization of water bodies for the department.

Greg Moore was Principal of Burnley College of the Institute of Land Food Resources at Melbourne University from 1988 to 2007. Prior to this he was a Senior Lecturer and Lecturer in Plant Science and Arboriculture at Burnley from 1979. He was Head of the School of Resource Management at the University from 2002 to 2007.

Apart from a general interest in horticultural plant science, revegetation and ecology, Greg has a specific interest in all aspects of arboriculture, which is the scientific study of the cultivation and management of trees. He has contributed to the development of Australian Standards in pruning and amenity tree evaluation and has been a major speaker at conferences in Australia, Israel, Hong Kong, USA, France and New Zealand in recent years. He was the inaugural president of the International Society of Arboriculture, Australian Chapter. He has been a regular on Melbourne radio, particularly with ABC 774 and 3AW.

He has been a member of the National Trust of Victoria’s Register of Significant Trees since 1988 and has chaired the committee since 1996. Greg was been on the Board of Greening Australia (Victoria) from 1988 to 2012. He has chaired Treenet since 2005 and has been on the Board of SGA since 2002. He was a ministerial nomination as a Trustee for the Trust for Nature from 2009 to 2017 and for Yarra Park from 2010 to 2020. He has also served on a number of industry and TAFE sector committees, especially those that deal with curriculum and accreditation matters.

He is currently supervising two post-graduate students and continues to pursue an active research profile in any matters that relate to trees in the urban environment and revegetation. He has written three books, contributed to five others and has had some 175 papers and articles relating to tree biology and management published. He was awarded an OAM in 2017 for services to the environment, particularly arboriculture.

Mr Tony MUI graduated from the Faculty of Landscape Architecture of the University of Toronto, Canada in 1986. He joined the Architectural Services Department in 1995 and has extensive professional experience and handled a number of projects including the improvement to Victoria Park, Stanley waterfront redevelopment and the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park. He has also worked at the Development Bureau as an Assistant Secretary in the Greening, Landscape and Tree Management Office and later as a Senior Landscape Architect in the Highways Department involving in the proactive rejuvenation of senescent Acacia trees along highways in Hong Kong. Currently, he is the Chief Landscape Architect of the Architectural Services Department looking after the Landscape Division and landscape matters of projects.

Kathy Ng is currently the Chief Landscape Architect in Highways Department, Hong Kong. She has also been promoting landscape architecture, sustainable green and blue integrated development and urban forestry through her work in professional institutes. She serves as the Vice President of the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects and a director in the Professional Green Building Council in Hong Kong.

Her academic/ professional training is in landscape architecture, geography, arboriculture, urban forestry, sustainable development, project management and public administration.

She has participated in a number of high profile projects including the development of Penny ' s Bay for the Hong Kong Disneyland, Greening Master Plans, Hong Kong 2030+, proactive vegetation management programmes and various large scale open space and infrastructure projects which won awards in both Hong Kong and overseas.

Court-certified expert in tree care and tree traffic security in Nuremberg, Germany (www.sv-siegert.de).

Head of the German association for arboriculture, work at height and ecology (BAHÖ e.V.), Bodo Siegert is involved in various national and international committees to develop urban tree care rules and regulations ensuring quality assurance. Focused on the continuous improvement of tree security evaluation, he established the Independent Tree Expert Group (ITEG), a network of international tree care experts pursuing an integrated tree assessment approach.

Bodo teaches tree inspectors and experts in all issues of tree care, tree statics and tree evaluation at the Nuremberg School (nuernbergerschule.de), the biggest school fort Tree Care, Industrial Climbing and Ecology in Europe.

Dr. Duncan Slater is a senior lecture in arboriculture at Myerscough College, England – and is the course tutor for the MSc in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry. His research into branch junctions has revised how branches are attached in trees, with his work on natural bracing providing a logical reason for the formation of many bark-included junctions in trees. His current projects include bringing the tradition of ‘Arbor Day’ to the UK – to celebrate the importance of urban trees.

Dr Tan Puay Yok currently serves as the Programme Director for the Master of Landscape Architecture programme and leader of Landscape Studies research group at the School of Design and Environment of the National University of Singapore. He is also jointly appointed by the National Parks Board, Singapore as the Group Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

His academic training was in horticulture science and plant physiology, and his research, teaching, and professional activities now focus on the science, policies, and practices of urban greening and ecology of the built environment. He combines his background in the sciences, experience in urban governance from the public sector, and interactions with practitioners to apply knowledge for urban greening to improve environmental quality and societal well-being.

He also serves as the Associate Editor for Landscape and Urban Planning and Journal of Urban Ecology. He is active in international collaborations, grant reviews and publishes widely in different forums. He also advises on greening policies, landscape design and planning projects in the region as a means of transferring knowledge from the academia to practice.

Mr Damian Tang is the Senior Design Director of National Parks Board Singapore. He is also the immediate past Asia-Pacific region President of International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA). With more than sixteen years in landscape architecture practice and interdisciplinary design experience, he has led several greenery initiatives and strategies across government agencies, elevating biophilia standards across Singapore and the regions. Damian sits in strategic committees and works closely with different public agencies like public housing agency, national water agency and the planning authority along with many other organisations on inter-agencies master planning and township greenery planning. His projects involve a wide spectrum of strategic planning and public space design from parks, streetscapes, corridors, waterways, civic districts to public green infrastructure, conservation areas, and even show gardens in Singapore Garden Festival and Gardens by the Bay.

Mr Damian Tang is an award winning landscape architect with several awards in Singapore Landscape Architecture Awards, America Society of Landscape Architecture (ASLA) Honorary Awards and multiple Gold and Best of Show award recipient for Singapore Garden Festival. He also received two Minister (Team) Awards in 2012 and 2014. Mr Tang is also a notable speaker who has delivered lectures and presentations in several universities in Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. He was appointed the visiting Professor in Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology in 2018.

Dr. WONG Man Sing, Charles is an Associate Professor at the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In 2006-2007, he was a Fulbright scholar with the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park. He is the official site manager for the NASA’s AERONET station in Hong Kong. In 2014, he has received an Early Career Award from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council; two Faculty Award for Outstanding Performance/Achievement Award in Teaching in 2014 and 2016, respectively; a Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding in 2016. He has been working in various projects including the use of remote sensing to study urban heat island effect, urban environmental quality, landslides, vegetation and ecosystems, spectral mixture analysis, aerosol retrieval, air quality and dust storm monitoring. Dr. Wong has published about 90 SCI journal publications since 2005.

Dr WU Min has been engaged in professional technology and management for years. She has her own understanding and experience on urban green planning and design, large-scale public landscape construction, urban green management, ecological benefit evaluation, garden research, greenway construction, etc.

Dr Yip is an ecologist with experience in biodiversity and wetland management. She is currently Senior Conservation Officer in Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. Her team is responsible for conducting surveys and studies on biodiversity, as well as overseeing the formulation and implementation of Hong Kong’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.