On April 15, 2025, the Fudan Institute for Global Public Policy (IGPP) organized the 20th lecture of the Fudan-Arab Lecture Series. Dr. Wonhyuk Cho from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, delivered a lecture on the theme of Staffing through Predictive HR Analytics: Case of Health Workforce Forecasting. Professor Yijia Jing, Dean of IGPP, chaired the lecture, with Associate Professor Ziteng Fan serving as the discussant.

Dr. Cho is a a Visiting Scholar at the Fudan-Arab Research Centre for Global Development and Governance and a Senior Lecturer of Public Management and PhD Programme Director at Wellington School of Business and Government, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His research interests foces on HR analytics, digital government, law enforcement organizations, and Asian public policy.

At the beginning of the lecture, Dr. Wonhyuk Cho provided an overview of traditional HRM practices, noting that such decision-making has historically relied heavily on managerial intuition and experience, with limited data utilization. He then highlighted the transformative impact of emerging technologies—particularly machine learning and artificial intelligence—on the HR field. These innovations are reshaping key processes such as recruitment, training, and performance evaluation, enabling a more scientific and efficient approach. As technological advancements continue, data-driven HR analytics has become increasingly prevalent in large organizations. However, Dr. Cho noted that public sector adoption of these tools tends to be more cautious, hindered by resource constraints and the need to balance multiple, often competing, public values.

Dr. Cho then offered a systematic overview of the core framework of predictive HR analytics, outlining key elements such as evidence-based decision-making and technology integration. He outlined the progressive stages of HR analytics—from descriptive, to predictive, and ultimately to prescriptive analytics—and explained the implementation processes. To illustrate real-world applications, Dr. Cho presented several compelling cases, such as how to use data to promote diversity in recruitment in Australian public sector. Through these examples, Dr. Cho underscored the pivotal role of HR analytics in advancing evidence-based organizational strategies and addressing emerging workforce challenges, particularly within public administration.

During the Q&A session, students and faculty engaged in a lively discussion on topics such as data quality. Dr. Cho emphasized that the success of HR analytics hinges on high-quality data and a problem-oriented approach. He underscored the necessity for context-sensitive and methodologically rigorous practices, noting that effective HR analytics must be both context-sensitive and methodologically rigorous to generate meaningful, actionable insights.

After the lecture, Professor Jing presented a commemorative gift to Dr. Cho. The event concluded with a group photo of the faculty and students.