The 2026 CityUHK Workshop in Econometrics and Statistics, co-organised by the Department of Decision Analytics and Operations, the Department of Economics and Finance, and the Fintech and Business Analytics Centre of the College of Business, City University of Hong Kong, successfully took place on 8 and 9 January 2026 at the City University of Hong Kong campus. This event marked the second edition of the workshop series, following the inaugural workshop held in 2019.
The workshop featured two distinguished keynote speakers: Prof. Jianqing Fan from Princeton University and Prof. Xuming He from Washington University in St. Louis. Their presentations showcased the deep insights and expansive vision of leading scholars, and provided strong academic support for the conference.
Prof. Alan Wan, CityUHK Associate Provost (Academic Affairs), welcomes the workshop participants.
The workshop also included 24 invited talks from prominent researchers in econometrics and statistics, covering a wide range of topics including, but not limited to, causal inference, high-dimensional and matrix/tensor data analysis, machine learning and interpretability methods, financial and risk econometrics, time series and panel data methods, network and spatial statistics, and semiparametric and Bayesian methods.
About 100 participants from various institutions around the world attended the workshop, including university faculty, students, and industry practitioners. They contributed to rich academic discussions, cross-institutional exchanges of perspectives, and opportunities for future collaboration.
Prof. Jianqing Fan from Princeton University gives his keynote speech on “Factor Informed Double Deep Learning For Average Treatment Effect Estimation”.
Prof. Xuming He from Washington University in St. Louis shares his insights on “Expected Shortfall Regression“ during his keynote session.
The workshop comprised four econometrics sessions and four statistics sessions, featuring invited talks by leading researchers such as Prof. Yundong Tu from Peking University, Prof. Xinyu Zhang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Giuseppe Cavaliere from the University of Bologna, and 21 other distinguished scholars from institutions worldwide. Eight session chairs participated, including Prof. Yingying Li from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Building on this momentum, the workshop is poised to become a focal point for advancing methods and applications in econometrics and statistics. By fostering open collaboration, mentoring emerging researchers, and linking academic inquiry with practical challenges, the event aims to shape future research agendas and further strengthen CityUHK’s role in addressing real‑world problems.