Tributes York university lecturer Dr Antonia Keung

Dr Antonia Keung died on Tuesday, October 1 at York Hospital; a lecturer at the University of York, she leaves a legacy of influential research focused on children wellbeing, child poverty, and fiscal welfare and inequality.

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Originally from Hong Kong, her work informed and steered policy including the modelling of the £20 uplift of the Universal Credit at the height of the pandemic and subsequently the impact of its removal on fuel poverty and incomes.

The Press covered her wedding to Kris Milkowski in 2011 as the couple were the first people to get married at the city's historic Mansion House.

The couple have two children Alexander, 12, and Dorothy, seven.

Kris Milkowski and Antonia Keung on their wedding day at the Mansion House in York (Image: Newsquest) In a tribute in The Press her family said Antonia will be greatly missed by her immediate and wider family in Hong Kong and Poland and friends and colleagues in the UK and Overseas.

They say that her early research led to the rollout of the new Scottish child payment as a top-up benefit for all low-income families in Scotland and development of the first National Wellbeing Survey for Children and Young People in the UK, and the establishment of the Good Childhood Index providing a blueprint for the National Wellbeing Survey of the Office for National Statistics.

Antonia came to the University of York from Hong Kong in 2000, after completing her higher diploma in public administration and management at the City University of Hong Kong, to read for a BA in social policy. After completion of her BA, Antonia continued on to postgraduate studies at York, all the way up to PhD in Social Policy, which she completed in 2007.

Thereafter she held a number of short-term associate positions supporting teaching and research projects in Social Policy at York before securing her first established Research Fellow position in 2008, where she worked on a range of high profile projects, including studies funded by the Cabinet Office, Audit Commission, Children’s Society, British Heart Foundation and the Economic and Social Research Council.

In 2013 Antonia secured a teaching position in Social Policy and from then on combined teaching – particularly in specialisms around quantitative methods, child well-being and poverty and inequality - with  her research on major topics including poverty and child well-being.

A university spokesman said: "For us, her colleagues, Antonia will be remembered for deploying kindness, graciousness and enthusiasm at work. Antonia was a beloved and highly respected colleague and her commitment to child poverty and well-being as well as her personal determination will be inspirational for us all. Our thoughts are with her family, especially her husband and children who she loved dearly.

"Antonia’s most recent work on fuel poverty paved the way for a long debate on the impact of fuel price increases for millions of households, resulting in many families and their children experiencing fuel poverty and social insecurity.

"Her work provided an early warning on the impacts of rising fuel prices on household incomes and raised awareness that larger families with children, and lone‐parent families with two or more children, are more likely to be experiencing fuel poverty, and exposed the detrimental impact that this can have for children and young people. This work was a key driver in the formation of the University of York’s cross-departmental cost of living research group. Such was the profile of this work that the UK government Department of Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) made a visit to York in 2023 to draw on the expertise of York researchers.

"Antonia’s hospitalisation came at a time that her research had particularly significant traction among policymakers. During her brief return to work, she continued her research with the same commitment and enthusiasm. Sadly, time was not on her side."

A funeral service will be held at the York Cemetery chapel on Tuesday (October 15) at 1pm.

Donations in Antonia's name can be made to UNICEF into a collection box in the chapel. 

The couple were the first to be married at York's historic Mansion House (Image: Newsquest)