Professor Desmond Hui obtained Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University; Master and Doctor of Philosophy in History of Art and Architecture from the University of Cambridge. A registered architect in both Hong Kong and Canada, he holds Visiting, Honorary and Adjunct Professorship in Mainland China and Hong Kong. He is currently Visiting Professor at the Shanghai Theatre Academy and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts, Hong Kong Institute of Education. 

Formerly he was Associate Dean of Arts and Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He taught architecture previously at the University of Hong Kong and was Director of the Centre for Cultural Policy Research at HKU. He has served on various international advisory committees including Expert Advisor to UNESCO and British Council on cultural and creative industries and is member of the International Committee of Architectural Critics (CICA). He was Guest Scholar at the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) in 1998 and Research Fellow of St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge 1989-90. 

He is Chief Author and Editor of several government/ public studies related to arts and cultural policy in Hong Kong including the Baseline Study on HK’s Creative Industries (2003), A Study on Creativity Index (2005), Study on the Relationship between the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong’s Creative Industries (2006) and Mapping Study of Creative Clusters in Hong Kong (2010 & 2014). He was selected as Lead Curator for the 11thInternational Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale Hong Kong Pavilion in 2008 and Co-Curator in 2012. He was appointed member of the Antiquities Advisory Board and Commission on Strategic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Non-Executive Director of the Urban Renewal Authority and is at present Museum Expert Advisor of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department in Hong Kong. He is on the editorial board of The International Journal of Cultural and Creative Industries.