Professor John Chi Kin Lee is Director of the Academy for Applied Policy Studies and Education Futures and the Chair Professor of Curriculum and Instruction. He joined The Education University of Hong Kong (then the Hong Kong Institute of Education) in 2010. He was Vice President (Academic) from 2010 to 2019 and Vice President (Academic) and Provost from 2019 to 2023. Professor Lee was previously Dean of Education and a Professor at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He graduated from The University of Hong Kong and subsequently received an MSc degree from the University of Oxford, as well as an MA (Education), PhD, and Diploma in Education (with distinctions) from CUHK. His research interests focus on curriculum and instruction, geographical and environmental education, life and values education, teacher development, and school improvement. He actively leads education research and development projects and has a solid track record securing external grants. Professor Lee was named among the top 2% most-cited scientists in the world in the field of education under the category of career-long impact in an annual list released by Stanford University in 2022. The views presented in this special issue and related papers are personal only and do not necessarily represent those of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) or UNESCO, and they do not commit the respective organizations.