William Cheung on an academic career grounded in real-world experience

“I grew up in Hong Kong, which is a very compact and fast-paced city. Demographically, Hong Kong’s housing market is one of the most unaffordable in the world, and I saw the impact of this. Housing is not just a commodity; it’s essential for social cohesion. I think this is what motivated me to dedicate my research career to studying the importance of affordable housing.

“I studied a Bachelor of Social Science in Economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and then continued with a Master of Philosophy in Economics at the same university. At this point I already aspired to become an academic, and was keen to undertake doctoral studies.

“However, when I asked my mentor, a professor from the medical school at CUHK, if I should move straight on to a PhD, he advised against it. He told me that if I really wanted to study Property, which is a very applied science, I needed to understand more about how the industry works – how people in the real estate sector make decisions around developments or projects.

“I took my mentor’s advice and instead began work as a civil servant in the Hong Kong government. I worked as a property economist in the Financial Secretary’s Office, helping the Housing Bureau to formulate housing policies for public housing.

“After several years working for the government, I left to take up a research manager role at CBRE, a multinational real estate consultancy firm. I deliberately chose the research department over a management position, as I wanted to keep developing my research skills so that I was prepared for a career in academia.

“While working at CBRE, I undertook a Master of Science in Real Estate at the University of Hong Kong. I knew that if I wanted to further develop my career in property, I needed to obtain a qualification recognised by industry. I also used that time to obtain my chartered surveyor accreditation from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

“After four years of work at CBRE, I decided to pursue my PhD at the University of Hong Kong. I really appreciated the real-world experience I’d gained before beginning my doctoral studies. Now, when students ask me an industry-relevant question, I can give them more of a sense of how the industry works.

“While studying for my PhD, I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. I spent a year in Los Angeles, hosted by Professor Paavo Monkkonen of UCLA. He had his own consultancy and did a lot of work for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), so he taught me how to make my research more policy-relevant.

“The Fulbright Scholarship gave me the opportunity to build friendships and networks with other scholars, and that’s something I really treasure. In property, connections and relationships are so important, and that’s something I always emphasise to students.

“My PhD research studied the lock-in effect of Hong Kong’s subsidised home ownership programme. This scheme is basically a share equity model, in which the government gives the home buyer a discount and then becomes the co-owner of the property. The drawback of this scheme at the time was that when the homeowner resold the property, the government required them to pay back any capital gain. This repayment mechanism meant that no one was motivated to resell, so it created the problem of a very illiquid market.

"My PhD was dedicated to understanding how we could incentivise people to resell. My thesis proposed that the government rescind the requirement for that repayment, which would create social benefit instead of the social cost of an illiquid housing market.

“About five years after completing my PhD, after I had moved to New Zealand with my family to take up my first academic position here at the Business School, the Hong Kong government launched a scheme called the HOS secondary market sales scheme. This rescinded the repayment requirement for the subsidised home ownership programme – exactly what I had proposed in my PhD research.

"I was surprised, as there had been a lot of political resistance to my proposal, but I was very glad to see that my advocacy had contributed to meaningful change. I’d love my research to have a similar impact here in New Zealand.

“I have just set up a faculty-level research centre called the Urban Analytics and City Science Research Beacon, which will set my research agenda for the next five to ten years. I see the value of a big data approach to research, especially in urban economics analysis. In particular, it’s about how we can make use of geospatial big data to better understand our housing market and urban development and, in turn, formulate the appropriate policy to improve our city landscape.

“One project that we’ve just finished, funded by the Worldwide University Network, uses mobile data to understand how people in different cities access green space. Does accessibility to green space affect demographics? Does a low-income group have more or less accessibility to green space? Applying a big data approach to this enables us to understand the full picture.

“In 2025, our Research Beacon’s inaugural International Symposium on Urban Analytics and City Science brought together international scholars to set a research agenda for urban analytics and city science. We want to see how our work can create impact. Our next international symposium will be held in Canada – the idea is to hold these events in different countries so that more people will appreciate the concept and research agenda.

“Recently I’ve been invited to give talks on AI application in property valuation, which is an evolving area of research and one of my own ongoing research interests. Many in the property industry are now using AI, but the issue of how you better govern its use is a big question for a lot of industry people and academics. One idea that I’m working on is whether we can adopt auditing as a governance framework. For example, in property, there are automated valuation models, like AI chatbots, which allow you to learn the value of your property. But who ensures that those figures have been subject to a rigorous due diligence process?

"Alongside the New Zealand Institute of Valuers, I’m advocating that we need to have an auditor from industry to ensure that every valuation using that new technology complies with a standard also set by industry. This is something I really want to achieve in the next few years.

“This interest in governance and standards also reflects a broader theme in my work, which is using rigorous analytical research to improve policy design across different fields.

"One piece of research I’m particularly proud of was a paper I wrote about sustainable tourism. I applied different forms of mathematical modelling to demonstrate that some policy interventions could have irreversible impacts. It was a useful finding in terms of policy formulation, but – significantly – not just in property or tourism, but in any policy formulation. It’s applicable to several disciplines – that’s why I think it’s quite highly cited in social science.

“Last year, I had my first sabbatical in my academic career, which gave me a valuable opportunity to consolidate and expand my international research profile. During this period, I held a Visiting Fellowship at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, and was honoured to be elected a Life Member of the College. The visit allowed me to strengthen collaborations with leading scholars, deepen my engagement with the Department of Land Economy and the Lab for Interdisciplinary Spatial Analysis, and promote the Urban Analytics and City Science Research Beacon through seminars and research visits across the United Kingdom.

“I teach second- and third-year undergraduate papers, and two other postgraduate papers, in property economics and property management. I really enjoy teaching students how to apply the theories or explanations they’ve learned. It’s a useful way to prepare them for the future job market.

“This approach also informs my research. In a recent published study, I explored how embedding employability through constructive alignment enhances student learning and engagement, reinforcing the value of linking theory with real-world application.

“The findings showed that when courses are carefully structured to connect theory with real-world application, students respond with stronger motivation and better outcomes.

“Indeed, I learn from my students too. That’s a big part of what I enjoy about my role as educator – not just coaching my students, but growing with each other throughout the process.”