Prof. Billy So was educated as a historian at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and later received his PhD from the Australian National University in 1983. After teaching at Hong Kong Shue Yan College and National University of Singapore, he joined CUHK in 1993, where he later became Chair Professor of History and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor cum Registrar. In 2011, he joined HKUST as Chair Professor and Division Head of Humanities. He has held visiting positions at Toyo Bunko (Tokyo), Fudan University, George Mason University, Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard-Yenching Institute.

With a passion in exploring prosperity, justice, space and identity from a historical, comparative, and interdisciplinary perspective, Prof. So is an acclaimed scholar in the study of Chinese legal history and legal culture; Chinese business history and business culture; institutional economic history of late Imperial and Republic China; historical geographic information system, Chinese urban history etc. He authored/co-authored five books, edited/co-edited seven and published his studies on well-established international journals such as T’oung Pao (Leiden), Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (Cambridge), Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient (Ann Arbor, MI), Historical Studies (Beijing), Annales: Histoire, Sciences Sociales (Paris), Legal Science (Shanghai), Hong Kong Law Journal (Cambridge), Annals of GIS (London), Tsinghua Law Journal (Beijing), Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (Cambridge), among others. He has served on editorial boards of the Journal of Sung and Yuan Studies, National Maritime Research, and Journal of Shanghai Studies; and edited/co-edited two book series for Brill (Leiden) and Zhejiang University Press respectively.

Prof. So’s research has been continuously supported by competitive research grants from the University Grants Committee, CCK Foundation, and Harvard China Fund. In addition to his services in many university administrative bodies in Hong Kong, he is a member of the Research Grants Council and has advised Hong Kong Museum of History, Antiquities Advisory Board, Advisory Committee on Built Heritage Conservation, among other public bodies.