Christina Schönleber

Christina Schönleber is the Chief Strategy Officer at the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) based in Hong Kong. In this role, she drives policy engagement on key Asia Pacific challenges, co-creates high-impact, multi-stakeholder collaborations, and mobilises resources for large-scale, multi-year research programmes. She is widely recognised for convening multidisciplinary academic and cross sector leaders to tackle complex socio-technical issues and translate research into policy and practice.

Previously, as the inaugural Head of Knowledge Exchange at the Royal College of Art in London, Christina developed and implemented the institute’s first Knowledge Exchange strategy, establishing major industry and cross-sector partnerships with organisations such as Tata Consultancy Services and Visa Europe. Earlier, at the University of Kent, she led the university’s knowledge exchange and transfer initiatives across the sciences and social sciences, strengthening academia–industry collaboration and innovation capacity. She also served as a business consultant in Hong Kong, advancing Sino-German business partnerships.

Before entering the higher education sector, Christina held senior positions within international media corporations, managing intellectual property and licensing portfolios. Alongside her professional roles, she co-founded and co-led a charitable German Saturday School supporting bilingual and multilingual children.

Born in Germany and educated in Germany, the USA, the UK, Finland, and Hong Kong, Christina holds an MSc in Sustainable Development from SOAS, University of London, an MBA, and has studied Mandarin for non-Chinese speakers.