HONG KONG (SE): The Hong Kong Metropolitan University [HKMU] will award an honorary fellowship to Oblate Father John Wotherspoon. The Honorary University Fellowship Presentation Ceremony will be held on November 14, it announced on October 21.
Father Wotherspoon, from Australia, has been in Hong Kong since 1985, except for seven years spent in mainland China as an English teacher.
In 2017, he helped establish two NGOs: MercyHK and Voice for Prisoners. MercyHK operates several centres dedicated to caring for vulnerable people, especially the homeless and drug addicts.
Voice for Prisoners works to stop drug trafficking into and inside Hong Kong and helps prison inmates undertake correspondence study courses.
His prison ministry has seen him dedicate his holiday time over the past decade to travelling to the home countries of drug mules to combat drug trafficking into Hong Kong.
Father Wotherspoon, from Australia, has been in Hong Kong since 1985, except for seven years spent in mainland China as an English teacher
In 2017, Father Wotherspoon received the South China Morning Post’s People’s Choice Award in “The Spirit of Hong Kong Awards.
Since 2009, he has been based in Temple Street, Jordan, serving one of the neediest parts of Hong Kong.
In its press release, the university also named two other honorary fellowship recipients, including Chan Man-chong, an alumna of HKMU and a renowned pipa artist, music educator, and conductor with a global performance record, and Dr. John Leung Lai-yin, a senior practitioner in radiology, who has made tremendous contributions to the development of parasports.
Chan worked at the Government Music Office from 1979 to 2004, focusing on Chinese instrumental music and orchestral training. Currently the director and resident conductor of the Hong Kong Plucked String Chinese Orchestra, she was honoured at the “Embracing the Plucked Strings Legacy” concert in February for her 60 years of dedication to Chinese music.
In 2025, she received the “Arts Contribution Award” at the Bauhinia Arts Awards. She holds a BA in Chinese Humanities, earned in 2001, and is actively involved in cultural and musical initiatives.
Dr. Leung has been the team doctor for the Hong Kong, China Delegation at major parasport events, including the 2017 Asian Youth Para Games and the 2018 Asian Para Games. In 2024, he became the chef de mission for the Hong Kong delegation at the Paris Paralympic Games, which achieved a record eight medals.
His expertise has also benefited the community in various roles, including serving on the HKSAR 6th Election Committee for the medical sector, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, and as a Deputy Director of the second Healthcare Committee for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation.
At HKMU, he has contributed to developing the Master of Adaptive Sports programme for the School of Nursing and Health Sciences.
