Award for Teaching Excellence 2007-08

Professor John Malpas is Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Chair Professor of Earth Sciences at HKU. He came to Hong Kong from Canada in January 1995 to spearhead the establishment and development of the Department of Earth Sciences, the only department of its kind in Hong Kong.

As head of the newly formed unit he was instrumental in the formulation of its undergraduate curriculum and the initiation of a specialised MSc programme in Applied Geosciences. Apart from teaching in the Earth Science program, he also pioneered a number of general science courses which were offered Faculty-wide, building on experience from previous teaching roles in Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the UK.

Professor Malpas has research interests in the development of the Earth's oceans, magmatic systems, water geochemistry and Earth System Science, for which he has received a number of national and international awards. For many years he was a leader of the Ocean Drilling Program, a large international science program, involving more than 15 nations investigating the origin and evolution of the oceanic lithosphere.

Professor Malpas has held positions in HKU as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Acting Dean of Arts, and is an Honorary/Visiting Professor at a number of institutions world-wide. Since becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 2000, Professor Malpas has continued to teach and be involved in curriculum development, whilst following his additional passions for music and sport through various community engagements.

" The essence of successful teaching is the realization that we all learn from each other, students from their peers, students from teachers, and teachers from students"

- Professor John Malpas