Head of Charities (Youth Development & Poverty Alleviation; and Talent & Sector Development), The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Winnie Ying, a seasoned leader with 30 years of experience in the non-profit and philanthropic sectors. Currently at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, she has been initiating several innovative programmes aimed at addressing key social issues through evidence-based interventions; impactful initiatives include CLAP@JC sets a ‘Hong Kong Benchmark’ for high-quality Career and Life Development (CLD) provisions in territory-wide schools, significantly enhancing the industry standard. CoolThink@JC, which promotes computational thinking for primary students, and CUHK JC AI for the Future, enhancing AI education for secondary students. Both are now integral to the Education Bureau’s public school innovation and technology curriculum, ensuring equitable access to digital literacy education for all. Additionally, JC CoolPlay fosters exploratory learning in kindergarteners through the Home-School-Community Network, producing 25 award-winning Exploratory Learning “JumpStarter” resource kits for teachers and parents. LevelMind@JC encourages student-led LevelMind Hubs and LevelMind Clubs in 130 secondary schools, promoting a culture of well-being in school.
Winnie started her career as a frontline social worker. Her achievements earned her honors like the Outstanding Social Workers’ Award and she received Best Practice Awards for projects empowering the underprivileged and addressing social withdrawal and school-related issues. Before joining HKJC, Winnie served as the Secretary General of the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund (CIIF) under the HKSAR Government. During her tenure at CIIF, she played a key role in strategic planning, managing public funds allocation, and developing community programmes to build social capital.
She has also been actively involved in public service, serving on committees including the HKSAR Steering Committee on Promotion of Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET) and Qualifications Framework (QF), as well as being a member of the Overseeing Board of Education Bureau Diploma of Applied Education, under Federation for Self-financing Tertiary Education (FSTE).
Student empowerment is at the core of education and school is an ideal place to provide students with the skills and mindsets they need to make informed decisions that are important and relevant to them and to be productive members of societies. The panel will explore how schools can build in key platforms and infrastructure to support and empower students through their development.