Chiu Yu Ko obtained his B.B.A. (Insurance, Financial and Actuarial Analysis) and M.Phil. (Economics) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2005 and 2007. He received his MA (Economics) and Ph.D. (Economics) from Boston College in 2009 and 2012. Upon graduation, he worked in the National University of Singapore between 2012-2020 as an assistant professor. He currently works in the Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics (renamed as Department of Decisions, Operations, and Technology since 1 August 2023) in the Chinese University of Hong Kong as an associate professor. He also holds a courtesy appointment as Associate Professor from the Department of Economics.

His research focuses on game theory, industrial organization, and political economy. His research has been published/accepted in peer-reviewed journals including Canadian Journal of Economics, Economic Inquiry, Economic Modelling, Games and Economic Behavior, Global Finance Journal, International Economic Review, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Economic and Management Strategy, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, Journal of Public Economic Theory, Mathematical Social Science, Management Science, and Theory and Decision.

He subscribes to the philosophy that effective learning requires an understanding of multiple facets in both depth and breadth. He also believes that giving students continuous feedback during the course is crucial as it means they learn from their mistakes, consolidate the knowledge they have acquired, and gives them the motivation to explore further and deeper.