Prof. Francesch-Huidobro is a political scientist with over 25 years of academic and professional experience in public policy and environmental, sustainability, climate change and energy security policy analysis. She has undertaken consultancy (Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Civic Exchange, Carbon Care Asia, etc) and was a professor of political science and public administration at the University of Hong Kong (2005-2008), City University of Hong Kong (2009-2016), and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2019-present). She holds a BSc and MSc in Microbiology (Madrid), a master’s in Public Administration (MPA- HKU), and a PhD in Political Science and Public Administration (HKU).

She has led numerous publicly and privately funded projects which have resulted in strategies for carbon reduction implementation, assessment models, and enabling low-carbon living at a district level. Recent projects include studies on the role of cities in climate diplomacy, on low carbon transitions in isolated electricity supply systems in Southeast Asia, and on carbon pricing policies.

Maria is an author of Governance, Politics and the Environment: a Singapore Study (ISEAS 2008), and co-author of Governing Climate Change in Chinese Cities (Routledge 2015). Her work on climate adaptation governance in delta cities has been cited by the IPCC Special Report on 1.5C (2018).