The University of Hong Kong 
Prof Guy Abel
Professor (joining soon)
guyabel@hku.hk
+852 3917 2057
Biography
I am a statistical demographer working predominantly with migration data to better predict past and future movement patterns and gain a richer understanding of how migration varies by core demographic variables such as age, sex and education. Prior to joining the HKU Department of Sociology, I was a professor at the Asian Demographic Research Institute based at Shanghai University and a researcher at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis in Austria.
I have also worked as a consultant for Facebook, the International Organization for Migration, International Labour Organization and the World Bank and taught courses on using R at the KOSTAT-UNFPA Summer Seminar on Population.
Courses taught
Education
Ph.D. University of Southampton
Research interests
Migration
Demography
Quantitative Methods
Current research
Recently published papers on techniques for estimating migration patterns using digital data, migration and climate change, migration and education and measuring global migration.
Honours and recognitions
2021, 2022 Elsevier Award for Highly Cited Chinese Researcher in Sociology
Selected publications
Abel, G.J. and Sander, N. (2014). Quantifying global international migration flows. Science. 343 (6178) 1520–1522.
Abel, G.J., Bakarat, B., K.C., S. and Lutz, W. (2016). Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals leads to lower world population growth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (50) 14294–14299
Abel, G.J. and Cohen J. E. (2019). Bilateral international migration flow estimates for 200 countries. Nature Scientific Data. 6 (82)
Abel, G.J., Brottrager, M., Crespo Cuaresma, J., Muttarak, R. (2019) Climate, Conflict and Forced Migration. Global Environmental Change. 54, 239–249.
Abel, G.J. and Cohen J. E. (2022) Bilateral international migration flow estimates updated and refined by sex. Nature Scientific Data. 9 (1), 1-11