Professor Poon Chung-kwong has been President of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University since January 1991, and was previously Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science at The University of Hong Kong.

Professor Poon graduated from The University of Hong Kong with the degrees of Bachelor of Science (General) and Bachelor of Science (Special), both with first class honours, obtained his degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of London in 1967 and worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology. He then served as Lecturer at The University of Hong Kong. During that period, he was also Visiting Research Associate of the California Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California, as well as Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto in Canada. He was later awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, which is a higher doctorate, by the University of London in 1979.

Professor Poon is a Fellow of the University College of the University of London, Fellow and Chartered Chemist of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London and Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Engineering. In recognition of his achievements and contributions to Hong Kong, he was honoured as one of the "Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Hong Kong in 1979"; was appointed a Non-official Justice of the Peace (JP) in 1989; received the OBE award in 1991 and the Gold Bauhinia Star (GBS) award in 2002.

Over the years, Professor Poon has chaired or been a member of numerous committees of the Hong Kong Government and of the industrial, business and educational sectors: to name a few, he was an appointed member of the Legislative Council from 1985 to 1991; was the Founding Chairman of the Government's Committee on Science and Technology from 1988 to 1991; served on the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from 1995 to 1997; and has been a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since 1998. He is now Chairman of the Radiological Protection Advisory Group. He is also the Honorary Professor of a number of top-rated universities in the Chinese Mainland. In addition, Professor Poon currently serves as Consultant of Science & Technology Consulting Committee of Shenzhen Municipal People's Government and Member of Policy Consultative Committee of Shaanxi Province in the Chinese Mainland.