Prof. Jeremy Rappleye
Director
Prof. Jeremy Rappleye is a Professor of Education at the University of Hong Kong. He has lived and worked across East Asia for over 20 years, including time at the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Beijing Normal, East China Normal, and National Taiwan University. His work seeks to create the basis for mutual learning and unlearning in education, by working across diverse cultural traditions and spanning traditional disciplinary divides (philosophy, social science, practice). He has also led major educational projects for UNESCO and The World Bank.
Prof. Jisun Jung
Elected Member
Prof. Jung is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, HKU. She is a coordinator of the Master of Education (MEd) specialism – Higher Education. Her current research focuses on the academic profession, postgraduate education in East Asia, and graduates’ employment.
Prof. Nutsa Kobakhidze
Elected Member
Prof. Kobakhidze is an Associate Professor in Comparative and International Education at HKU and CERC’s former Director. Nutsa is currently a series editor for CERC Studies in Comparative Education (CERC-Routledge) and CERC Monographs (Routledge). She is also a convener of the Shadow Education Special Interest Group (SIG) under CERC and a former coordinator of the Master of Education (MEd) specialism – Comparative and Global Studies in Education and Development (CGSED). Nutsa is currently the President of the Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong (CESHK).
Prof. Lili Yang
Elected Member (from 1st Sept. 2026)
Prof. Ka Ya Lee
Co-opted Member
Prof. Ka Ya Lee is a philosopher of education and a Research Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, HKU. Her research topics range from the ethics of educational measurement to normative considerations in “value-led and data-informed” decision-making in education, and to comparative and global philosophies of AI and education.
Prof. Bella Pei Wang
Co-opted Member (from 1st Sept. 2026)
Bella Pei Wang is Assistant Professor at the School of Chinese, the University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include Confucianism, comparative philosophy and psychoanalysis. She has authored over thirty academic articles in English, Chinese, and French. She has recently completed a book manuscript entitled Confucianism as a Way of Life and is currently writing a new monograph titled Artificial Intimacy: A Confucian Ethics of AI.
Prof. Mark Bray
Former Director, Co-opted Member
Prof. Bray holds the UNESCO Chair in Comparative Education at HKU. He was among the founding members of CERC, and is a former Director. He is also a former President of the Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong (CESHK), the US-based Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), and the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES). He is also a current member of the Board of Directors of the Comparative Education Society of Asia (CESA).
Prof. Daniel Bell
Co-opted Member
Daniel A. Bell (貝淡寧) is Chair Professor of Political Theory at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law and served as Dean of the School of Political Science at Shandong University (2017-2022). His books include The Dean of Shandong (2023), Just Hierarchy (2020), The China Model (2015), and others, primarily published by Princeton University Press. Bell is the founding editor of the Princeton-China series and his works have been translated into 23 languages. He has been interviewed in multiple languages and was recognized as a “Cultural Leader” by the World Economic Forum in 2018.
Prof. Liz Jackson
Ex-officio member
Prof. Liz Jackson is a Professor of Education at the University of Hong Kong. She is also the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Education. Her research focuses on multicultural education, diversity, and other sociological, philosophical, and policy features of schooling across contexts and locations.
