Toby has a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts Valuation, as well as a MSc in Risk, Crisis, and Disaster Management and a post graduate certificate in art authentication. Toby has extensive knowledge in forensic art authentication methods and the more theoretical and academic studies surrounding art fraud. Toby has received specialist training in the prevention of illicit trafficking of artworks and cultural heritage protection from the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), as well as in provenance research and the recovery of looted assets from The Holocaust Art Restitution Project (HARP). He is multi-published in this field and has lectured to industry and academia around the world. From 1993 to 2025, Toby served in the Hong Kong Police Force. In 2014, Toby founded TrackArt, Hong Kong’s first dedicated Art Risk Consultancy. He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars and holds the Freedom of the City of London. In September 2025, Toby joined CUHK’s Faculty of Law as a Doctoral Candidate.

Angus has practises law in Hong Kong as a solicitor in many branches of the law but his recent focus is on intellectual property and personal data privacy.  For many years he has been a member of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance which includes him into a worldwide group of colleagues in 70 jurisdictions worldwide. 

Angus has been a member of the Hong Kong Society of Notaries for many years and has had a keen interest in the arts of China about which he has written the following:-

1. “Five Chinese Jade Figures, the Study of the Development of Sculptural Form in Hongshan Jade Working” Orientations Magazine May 1990.
2. Neolithic Chinese Jades in “JADE” Consultant Editor Roger Keverne, Anness Publishing Limited London 1991.
3. “Jades from China” Catalogue of an Exhibition of Chinese Jades at the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, England 1994.
4. “Ships of the Silk Road – The Bactrian Camel in Chinese Jade” – Philip Wilson Publishers Bloomsbury Publishing PLC 2019.
5. “Celestial Beings and Bird-Men – Human Flight in Chinese Jade” about Flying Apsaras, Kinnaras, Garuda and Anthroponotic Head Ornaments in Chinese Jade – Philip Wilson Publishers Bloomsbury Publishing PLC 2019.

Angus is currently working on the first volume of what will be three volumes on the subject of the representation of the human figure and face in Chinese jade over 5,000 years of which the first volume dating from the Hongshan period in 4,000 BC extends up to the Sanxingdui Shu culture in Sichuan Province at the late Shang Dynasty c. 1,200 BC.

Steven teaches equity and trusts and property law subjects. In 2013, Steven introduced a course on art, antiquities, cultural heritage and law for the LLM programme. His academic work includes 10 individually authored book titles, including Protecting Built Heritage in Hong Kong (2021), and more than 100 academic articles, conference papers and other pieces on topics associated with property. For Hong Kong’s professional sector, Steven has presented over 500 continuing professional development courses for solicitors in Hong Kong. Steven’s research interests include the law affecting art, antiquities and cultural heritage, Chinese custom and law, legal history, and property law. In 2023, Steven published the first treatise on Digital Technology and Law. He is not a technologist. 

Dr. Knothe studies and teaches the history of decorative arts in the 17th and 18th centuries with particular focus on the social and historic importance of royal French manufacture. He has long been interested in the early modern fascination with Chinoiserie and the way royal workshops and smaller private enterprises helped to create and cater to this long-lasting fashion. Dr. Knothe is currently working on the scientific developments of glassmaking in Qing China, bringing together results from both historical and chemical analysis.

Dr. Knothe started his career at The Metropolitan Museum of Art focusing on European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. Before joining The University of Hong Kong, where he now serves as Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery, Dr. Knothe was the curator of European glass at The Corning Museum of Glass overseeing the European and East Asian departments. There, he organized an exhibition on East Meets West, and afterward, lectured internationally on cross-cultural influences in art and workshop practices in Western Europe and East Asia.

Dr. Knothe studies and teaches the history of decorative arts in the 17th and 18th centuries with particular focus on the social and historic importance of royal French manufacture. He has long been interested in the early modern fascination with Chinoiserie and the way royal workshops and smaller private enterprises helped to create and cater to this long-lasting fashion. Dr. Knothe is currently working on the scientific developments of glassmaking in Qing China, bringing together results from both historical and chemical analysis.

Dr. Knothe started his career at The Metropolitan Museum of Art focusing on European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. Before joining The University of Hong Kong, where he now serves as Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery, Dr. Knothe was the curator of European glass at The Corning Museum of Glass overseeing the European and East Asian departments. There, he organized an exhibition on East Meets West, and afterward, lectured internationally on cross-cultural influences in art and workshop practices in Western Europe and East Asia.

Clifford (Cliff) Pereira is a historical geographer, researcher, museum curator and heritage consultant with a portfolio of museum projects in Britain, Canada, Qatar, Kenya and China. Pereira’s MRes History (Masters) thesis was on Africa and the African Diaspora focusing on Africans in Southeast Asia 1900-1960 (including Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR), which incorporated Portuguese, Dutch, French and British sources alongside African veteran stories and Macanese memories.

He has over three decades of work on the Western Indian Ocean portion of the Mao Kun (Zheng He) chart. Pereira has contributed to numerous publications, radio and documentary programs across the world. He is best known for his work on the “Bombay African” narrative which is featured in the UNESCO General History of Africa Vol. X. Pereira assisted the bid for Fort Jesus, Kenya to be granted World Heritage Site in 2011 and was the curator of the “Portuguese Gallery” of the National Museum of Qatar (NMQ). Pereira was featured on the Japanese TV network NHK for his work on Yasuke – the African Samurai. Pereira was Visiting Research Associate with the University of Hong Kong (2018-2024). In 2022 Pereira was the recipient of the Museum Volunteer Award by the Canadian Museum Association-Canadian Federation of Friends of Museums for his seven years of work on ‘decolonising’ the African Collection of the Museum of Anthropology (MOA at UBC) in Vancouver. This project is now in its twelfth year. Pereira is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London and sits their Collections Committee. He is also on the editorial committee of the Club-Lusitano in Hong Kong SAR.

China’s key maritime institution, Sarah is recognised as one of Asia Pacific’s most distinguished and experienced experts in the field of Underwater Cultural Heritage. A professional Maritime Archaeologist with 21 years’ experience in the cultural heritage sector, Sarah is the real deal.

Sarah has lived in five countries and worked in 35. Amongst her many maritime archaeology achievements, she has surveyed shipwrecks in Scotland, dived drowned landscapes in Denmark, investigated maritime infrastructure in Ireland, and – would you believe it – was crowned ‘Moon Queen’ in the Panamanian jungle by the local Kuna chief.

Considered one of China’s foremost Foreign Experts, Sarah is a UNESCO Consultant, a Fellow of the Explorers Club Fellow, an MIT Ocean Discovery Fellow, and amongst other things, a Nautical Archaeology Society Senior Tutor. Sarah has contributed to numerous TV and Radio Programs, including the award-winning BBC documentary film ‘Darien: Disaster in Paradise’. Click on the logo’s below to read her interviews, see her speak, hear Sarah in conversation, or to see what the press has to say!

Prof. Josh Yiu is the Director of the Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  He received his B.A. in Art History from the University of Chicago, and completed his doctorate at Oxford University.  From 2006 to 2013, he served as the Foster Foundation Curator of Chinese Art at the Seattle Art Museum.  At CUHK, he has supervised over thirty special exhibitions, acquired over 400 artworks, digitized the collection, launched online education programs, and initiated the museum expansion project.  A scholar in late imperial and modern Chinese art with over twenty publications in books and articles, he also serves as an advisor to the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and international consultant to the National Art Museum of China.

Yasmine Zahir is a barrister at Zenith Chambers, Hong Kong. Yasmine practices in all areas of criminal work (both trials and appeals) at all levels of court either as a sole advocate or a led junior counsel. She regularly appears for both the Prosecution and the Defence. She has been instructed in cases of complex crimes involving offences of white-collar crime, offences against public justice, fraud, serious violence, immigration, trademark, drugs and departmental summonses. Yasmine has experience representing police officers in disciplinary hearings and Customs and Excise in forfeiture hearings. She has also advised on legal obligations imposed on financial institutions with reference to the laws of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing.

Other areas that Yasmine has experience in include cases of personal injury, probate and breach of contracts relating to land disputes and shareholding agreements. Yasmine has advised and represented Incorporated Owners of buildings for issues of water leakage, unauthorized building works and breach of Deeds of Mutual Covenant. Yasmine also conducts cases in the Family Court and represents clients in matrimonial proceedings with a specific focus on financial disputes. Yasmine teaches trial advocacy at universities.