CUHK Geographer Wins AAG Wilbanks Prize

Prof. Kwan Mei-po, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Geography and Resource Management and Director of the Institute of Space and Earth Information, has received the 2021 Wilbanks Prize for Transformational Research in Geography from the American Association of Geographers (AAG). Professor Kwan is the first Asian researcher to receive this honour.

A world-renowned geographer, Professor Kwan is interested in environmental health, sustainable cities, human mobility, urban/social issues in cities, and geographic information science (GIScience). In the citation, the AAG praises Professor Kwan as having revolutionized geo-visualization by adopting a feminist perspective and made GIScience more humanistic. The AAG notes also her contribution to advancing the conceptualization of such ideas as uncertainty and bias by proposing a more dynamic way of studying the connections of everyday life and the space in which it takes place.

Named after the late Dr. Thomas Wilbanks, former AAG President and a long-standing member of the association, the Wilbanks Prize for Transformational Research in Geography recognizes geographers who have made transformational contributions to geography, GIScience or science and society more broadly. Professor Kwan said, ‘I am truly honoured to receive the Wilbanks Prize, as all former recipients are highly respected scholars in the field. I will try my best to contribute to innovative research in geography to live up to this prestigious recognition.’