Mr Lau Siu kai graduated from The University of Hong Kong in 1971 with a B.Soc.Sc. (First Class Honour) in Sociology and Economics, and from the University of Minnesota in 1975 with a Ph.D. in Sociology. He joined The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1975 and became Professor of Sociology in 1990. He retired from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and was appointed Emeritus Professor of Sociology in 2007. Mr Lau serves as the Head of the Central Policy Unit of the HKSAR Government since 2002.

Mr Lau's major research interests are: comparative political and social development, society and politics in Hong Kong, and political development in traditional and modern China. He studies both macroscopic issues such as institutional development as well as microscopic issues such as political culture and political behaviour. His favourite approach is the historical-comparative method. His publications include Society and Politics in Hong Kong (1982) and The Ethos of the Hong Kong Chinese (1988) (co-authored with Kuan Hsin-chi) and a number of articles in local and international journals.