Intellectual Exchange on Organ Donation

Scholars from the United States, Iran, Hong Kong and the mainland joined an “International Workshop on Organ Donation” at CityU on 6 and 7 November 2018. The event, organised by Global China Studies of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) and coordinated by Professor FAN Ruiping of the Department of Public Policy (POL), saw lively and inspiring discussions on the theme.

The workshop consisted of four sessions in which speakers from around the globe shared their perspectives on the issue of organ donation. In the first session, speakers focused on a discussion on how to encourage a surge in honorary incentives for organ donation in the US. Professor Michael MILLIS and Ms LU Wanzi, of the University of Chicago, presented the existing literature on the underlying factors in making an honorary system work. They also highlighted several missing puzzles requiring further investigation. Professor Fan then shared valuable insights on the presentation before a 45-minute discussion among the participants.

The following two sessions focused on how to design interview questions for conducting research into Iran’s compensationalist model and China’s familist model respectively. The former was presented by Professor Mitra MAHDAVI-MAZDEH, from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, with a commentary by Dr CHAN Ho-mun, of CityU, POL. The latter session was presented by Professor CONG Yali and Dr XIE Guangkuan, of Peking University Health Science Center, with a commentary by Dr Lawrence YUNG Yeuk-yu, of CityU POL. The presenters and audience held an in-depth discussion and shared insightful views on the issue.

The final session addressed the plan of an edited book about organ donation, and was presented by Dr Lisa M RASMUSSEN, of the University of North Carolina, followed by a commentary from Dr DING Chun-yan, of CityU School of Law. This helped the participants understand their expected contribution in writing based on their research results found on each site.