Faculty Postgraduate Seminar held to promote vibrant research culture

With the aim to foster a dynamic research atmosphere among students, FLASS organised the Faculty Postgraduate Seminar on 9 April 2024. While eight postgraduate students from various departments under FLASS shared their research works during the poster presentation session in the morning, eight other postgraduate students—four at each of the social science and science panels—orally presented their research projects in the afternoon of the one-day seminar. Two veteran scholars from the faculty also shared their experiences in conducting research with research postgraduate students and other attendants at the seminar.

Professor Li Wai-keung, Dean of FLASS, kicked off the seminar by delivering a welcoming speech, highlighting that the seminar is a testament to faculty’s commitment in fostering a vibrant research culture among the student body. “It is a platform for our research students to exchange ideas, explore new knowledge, and establish research collaborations. The seminar will promote students’ engagement in interdisciplinary research,” Professor Li said.

The seminar features three enriching sessions. The first session, which consisted of keynote speeches from two esteemed faculty members, was included with the aim to enrich our research students’ mental preparation as well as give them practical tips for doing research. In this session, Dr Bill Yeung Chi-ho, Associate Dean (Quality Assurance and Enhancement) of FLASS and Associate Head (Research and Postgraduate Studies) of the Department of Science and Environmental Studies (SES), and Dr Lawrence Ho ka-ki, Assistant Professor from the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies (SSPS), shared their expertise and insights on good research practices.

In his sharing, Dr Yeung recalled an experience of visiting the old home of Albert Einstein, one of the most eminent scientists in the whole of human history. He said, “Einstein lived in a small apartment in Bern of Switzerland for three years with his first wife Mileva and their elder son where he wrote his four ground-breaking papers and published them in 1905. Back then when he wrote his papers, Einstein didn’t hold any position at any university but worked as a patent clerk in Switzerland.” Dr Yeung said Einstein’s story teaches us that if there are one or two overarching factors behind scientific discoveries, these must be having a curiosity mind and an insatiable interest in the subject.

Dr Ho’s talk covered a wide range of topics about how to conduct research, including different methods used in social science research, and key concerns of supervisor and examiner when assessing research work, and so forth. He gave valuable tips to fellow research students that research should be done in a systematic and controlled manner and should be based not on experience but empirical findings. “Research work is a disciplined process. It starts with formulating questions, followed by good planning, data collection, analysing and interpretation of data before the final task of reporting results. The primary aim of doing research is to answer carefully formulated questions and discover new knowledge for the benefit of humankind,” he said.

After the keynote speeches by Dr Yeung and Dr Ho, eight postgraduate students presented their research project at the poster presentation session that took place outside the lecture hall. Assisted by a poster and graphics that highlight the key points of their research projects, participating students explained their research ideas and outcomes to faculty members, fellow classmates, and other members of the broader EdUHK community. They also answered questions raised on the spot.

The seminar continued in the afternoon with the third session, which featured oral presentations by eight postgraduate students from various departments of the faculty. In this oral presentation session, four students explained their research works and took questions from the floor in each of the social science and science panels. Dr Izzy Jian Yi, Assistant Professor from SSPS, moderated the social science panel, and Dr Zeng Chen, Assistant Professor from the Department of Health and Physical Education (HPE), acted as the moderator for the science panel in this session.

A vote took place to select the best speakers for the social science and science panels and to determine the best poster presenter. Ms Qiu Yue from the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts (CCA) and Ms Wu Chen from SES were voted the best speakers for the social science and science panels respectively. While Ms Qiu’s research was titled “Visual Arts Learning Experience and Teaching Practice of Novice Kindergarten Teachers”, Ms Wu’s research was named “Synthesis and Characterization of Biocompatible metal-organic Frameworks for Environmental Applications”. Ms Jasman Pang Wing-yan from CCA, with her research project titled “Design a Gamified Software on Cantonese Opera Movements”, was voted the best poster presenter.

Mr Lo Shing-him from SES, one of the participants for poster presentation, said the seminar provided an opportunity through which he could expand his perspective about different ways to conduct research. “Even though not all research projects presented here are in the same field as mine, but I still observed other research students about how they approach a research question. For example, social science researchers use an interview group to collect data. This certainly stimulated my thoughts about research method,” he said.

Ms Kay Lee Wing-Ki from CCA attended the social science panel presentation. She said the one-day seminar provided research students an opportunity to know what types of research projects other students from the faculty are working on. “Over the course of their research works, research students need to join academic conferences elsewhere, locally or overseas. Today’s faculty seminar gave us a chance to hone our public presentation skills. It served as a rehearsal through which we became more mentally prepared for larger scale presentations in the future,” she said. Ms Lee’s research project won her the best oral presentation from the social science panel in last Faculty Postgraduate Seminar held in November 2023.

Professor Daniel Chow Hung-kay, Associate Dean (Research & Postgraduate Studies) of FLASS and the chief moderator of the seminar, said, “The seminar provided a platform for postgraduate students to share their research ideas with their fellow schoolmates, supervisors and other interested parties today. Particularly, I hope they learnt from the two keynote speakers, Dr Bill Yeung and Dr Lawrence Ho, about how to do research and how to sustain their passion for doing research. They have received much constructive feedback today too which I am sure will be helpful to their research projects,” he said.

FLASS has organised the postgraduate seminar since 2019/20 academic year. Over the past few years, we have accumulated substantial experiences in running the seminar. The faculty has decided to make the seminar a regular event being held twice every academic year in November and April. We are also actively exploring the possibility of inviting scholars from prestigious universities overseas as keynote speakers, and their PhD students to join future seminar as poster or oral presenters. The faculty is also thinking about how to open the seminar to include more members of the EdUHK community.

Click here to read the story about best poster presenter and best oral presenters.

Awards

Poster presentations:

Oral presentations:

1. Science Panel, Moderator: Dr Zheng Chen, Department of Health and Physical Education

2. Social Science Panel, Moderator: Dr Izzy Jian Yi, Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies (SSPS)