Research Degree Programmes (RPg)
The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) at CityU provides leading educational programmes in the field of Humanities and Social Sciences. It is home to seven academic units spanning a wide range of subjects. These are the Departments of Chinese and History; Linguistics and Translation; English; Media and Communication; Public and International Affairs; Social and Behavioural Sciences; and Chan Feng Men-ling Chan Shuk-lin Language Centre.
In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024, CLASS is ranked 100th in Social Sciences and Management and 151th in Arts and Humanities among over 1000 universities. With respect to individual subjects, CLASS also puts in a strong performance, in which Linguistics is ranked 51st amongst world’s top universities by QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024. The College prides itself in its research reputation, and is also concerned to provide excellent opportunities for research degrees at the level of MPhil and PhD studies.
The following academic units of CLASS offer research degree studies:
Department of Chinese and History (CAH)
Research foci and expertise in the Department include: (1) Chinese Language and Literature: Classical Chinese Literature, Modern Chinese Literature, Chinese Classical Studies (jingxue), Chinese Literary Criticism, Chinese Philosophy, Classical Chinese Language; (2) Cultural Heritage and Cross-cultural Studies: Art History, Anthropology, Cultural Heritage, Digital Humanities, Comparative Literature; and (3) Chinese History: Archaeology, Tang-Song-Yuan Studies, Ming-Qing Studies, Modern History, Urban History, History of Buddhism, History of Medicine, History of Cultural Exchange. The programme places equal importance on the use of both Chinese and English languages.
Department of Media and Communication (COM)
Research foci of the Department includes: (1) New Media and Technology: diffusion, use, and effects of communication technology; impact of online and mobile media; computer-mediated communication; human-computer interaction; policy and regulation; business strategy; (2) Media Institutions and Society: state-society-media relationships; news production; media organizations; journalists and professionalism; social influence of media content; (3) Political Communication: public opinion, civic and political participation, political campaigns; (4) Media Psychology and Effects: cognitive processing, media effects; interactive advertising; (5) Computational Communication Research: social media/network analysis, big data mining; computational social science; (6) Health Communication: persuasion, healthcare narratives, health message processing; (7) Strategic Communication: public relations, advertising, integrated marketing communications.
Department of English (EN)
Research strengths in the Department include: (1) Discourse Analysis: conversation analysis, corpus-assisted discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, genre analysis, mediated discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, pragmatics, semiotics, and text analysis; (2) Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching: identity, intercultural communication, language policy and planning, pedagogical grammar, second language acquisition, second language writing, self-access learning, language teacher identity; (3) Professional Communication: business communication, English for specific purposes, language and law, persuasive communication, rhetoric of science, health and risk communication; (4) Language, Technology, and Media: computer-assisted language learning, digital literacies, language and mobile communication, and online discourse; and (5) English-medium Instruction: incidental language acquisition in the English-medium environment, pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning in EMI settings, professional discoursal skills in EMI; and (6) Literary Studies: World literature in English, postcolonial literature, modern and contemporary novel, nineteenth-century literature and culture, crime fiction, travel writing and comparative literature. (7) Theatre and Performance Studies: Modern and contemporary drama, performance studies; (8) Cultural Studies: Film studies and visual culture, fashion studies, creative industries and popular culture.
Department of Linguistics and Translation (LT)
The Department of Linguistics and Translation takes a systematic approach to the study of language from a number of different perspectives with a broad range of methodologies. Research foci and expertise cover (1) Empirical and Experimental Linguistics, including computational linguistics, corpus linguistics, neurolinguistics, and psycholinguistics; (2) General Linguistics, including formal linguistics, e.g. semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology, phonetics (and their interfaces), functional linguistics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and text linguistics; (3) Pedagogical Linguistics, including applied linguistics, second language learning and teaching, linguistics-based pedagogy to language teaching, contrastive linguistics of English and Chinese, and teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages; (4) Translation and Interpretation, including translation and interpretation studies, translation theories, computer-aided translation, machine translation and terminology.
Department of Public and International Affairs (PIA)
The Department of Public and International Affairs (PIA) is an internationally-leading research hub for public policy, international studies, philosophy, and urban governance. Our staff come from top universities around the world, and our PhD students are very successful in gaining positions in government, academia, business, and with non-governmental organizations. We are one of the leading departments for winning HKPFS awards, and guarantee excellent training and resources for our doctoral students. Studying in PIA exposes students to leading debates and techniques across the field and its subdisciplines as well as provides students with the opportunity to discuss their research with visiting scholars from around the world.
PIA graduates are people who can communicate effectively, possess strong leadership skills and have the necessary analytical skills to dissect societal problems and make improvements to the world. Our faculty have well established track records in taking their academic research and making an impact on Hong Kong and global institutions. PIA professors are frequently interviewed in the international and local media on issues of daily concern.
The personal and professional development of PhD students is central to PIA’s education strategy. Students will have opportunities to gain international experience, publish their research, and develop their pedagogical skills alongside top faculty members; all of which leaves our PhD students well-placed for careers in academia, thinktanks, private and public sectors after graduation. Joining PIA means joining one of the leading departments in Hong Kong and across Asia. According to the QS World University Rankings 2023, CityU ranks the 54th in the world, and the 4th for the “top 50 under 50”. As for the 2023 Global Ranking of academic subjects, our public administration is the 1st in Hong Kong, and 2nd in Asia, 23rd in the world, while political science is also the 1st in Hong Kong.
Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences (SS)
The Department’s research expertise encompasses a broad range of topics across several disciplines, including: (1) Applied Sociology: work, labour, class, organization, community, family, gender, ethnicity, deviance, welfare, politics, quality of life, social capital, social movement, social policy, social problem, civil society, and social development; (2) Psychology: cognitive biases, self-concept, educational psychology, intimate relationship, stress and emotional regulation, health psychology, positive ageing, creativity, aggression, resilience, and human values; (3) Social Work: casework, groupwork, community work; working with children, youth, elderly and family; population ageing, social determinants of health, family violence, empowerment-oriented practice with socially disadvantaged groups, conflict management and mediation, volunteerism, and social work management and supervision; (4) Counselling: cognitive behavioural therapy, narrative therapy, family therapy, parent education and support, marriage enrichment, and psychotherapy process; school bullying, childhood and adolescent aggression, peer victimization, depression and suicide; and (5) Criminology: restorative justice, youth justice, organised crime, juvenile delinquency, Chinese criminology, anti-corruption, policing, crime prevention, school bullying, gang and outreach youth work, and cybercrime. Existing research works often tap on the expertise of different disciplines. For example, the development of caregiver assessment model is supported by a team from social work, and psychology disciplines.
More details about research degree programmes at CityUHK are available at website of Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies.
