Ha Thuc Vien is Vice President of the Vietnamese-German University, was also Acting President (2016–2018), and cum Director of the VGU’s Project Management Unit (VMU, a designated unit to manage the VGU New Campus Construction Project under the USD 200 million World Bank loaned project). He graduated Ph.D. in Resource Economics at Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. Before joining VGU in 2012, Dr. Vien was Head of the Natural Resources and Tourism Department and also Founder and Director of Center for International Education of Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry. His earlier career includes Senior Lecturer in Resource and Land Economics, Resource Management, Land Use, and Project Management. He has published a number of books, book chapters, and articles in his specialized fields. He has strongly been interested in institutions, economic institutions, and sustainable development. He has been applying a new institutional economics approach in his research on economic reforms, land reforms and development, and management and utilization of land and resources. Recently, he has been also interested in climate change, institutions, and livelihoods. His expertise has been also developed intensively in the field of Higher Education and ODA. Ngoc Hieu Nguyen is Senior Lecturer of urban governance and also Academic Coordinator of the Master Study Program “Sustainable Urban Development”(SUD), Vietnamese-German University (VGU). He graduated Ph.D. in development planning at UCL and worked for over 20 years doing research and teaching, consulting in urban development and planning. His recent research concentrates on the institutional arrangement in urban development, planning tools, and solutions to integrate development management, smart growth, building consensus, and strategy to collaborate to reduce congestion and flooding in Ho Chi Minh City and other large cities in Vietnam. He has published an extensive number of articles, reports, and book chapters in his specialized fields. Hans-Joachim Linke studied at the University of Bonn Geodesy with the focus on land readjustment and real estate valuation. After two years of trainee on the job for the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, he went back to the University of Bonn and worked there as Fulltime Assistant and Postdoc Assistant for 6 years. In 1997, he got his Dr. Title. Then he worked for 5 years for the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen to develop new public and industrial areas. In 2002, he got the full professorship of Land Management at the Technical University of Darmstadt. Since 2012, he is Academic Director of the Master Study Program “Sustainable Urban Development” that is offered by the TU Darmstadt and the Vietnamese-German University. His research is focusing on land development models, real estate valuation, and new infrastructure systems for fast growing cities. He is Author and Co-author of a number of books and articles.
