Tag: Hong Kong

Chinese U of Hong Kong

WLH at CUHK

On April 10, 2013, I gave a talk entitled “Ambiguity as a Solution to the ‘Problem’ of Intercultural Weddings” at Chinese University of Hong Kong. My thanks to Dr. Yves Winkin, currently visiting professor at CUHK, for the invitation, and to his graduate students, who were an excellent audience, asking quite interesting questions relating to intercultural communication.

YW_WLH_CUHK
Winkin, Leeds-Hurwitz

While at CUHK I had the opportunity to meet with several faculty members at the School of Journalism and Communication, including Yuen Chan, Dr. Jack Linchuan Qiu, and Dr. Anthony Fung (Director of the School). Dr. Casey Man Kong Lum happened to be in Hong Kong while I was there, so I also was able to spend some time with him. I am looking forward to seeing several of the same scholars at the International Communication Association‘s convention in London in May 2013.

Leeds-Hurwitz, Qiu, Winkin
Leeds-Hurwitz, Qiu, Winkin

Thanks to Dr. Sidney Cheung (Chair of the Anthropology Department at CUHK) I had the opportunity to join him at dinner one night with a large group of others: from CUHK (including Dr. Joseph Bosco, and Tim Grunewald) media practitioners from Radio Television Hong Kong (the person I had a chance to talk with was Ng Wai In) as well as Natalie Siu, a CUHK alum now in public relations.

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Todd Sandel – Fulbright

Todd Sandel
University of Macau

Fulbright to Taiwan

From 2007-2008 I had the privilege of being a Fulbright Scholar in the traditional, 10 month, program to Taiwan. I was hosted by my friend and former University of Illinois classmate, Dr. Chung-Hui Liang at the Center for General Education, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu. We collaborated on a study of a recent trend in international migration, namely the rise in the number of “foreign brides” from such places as Mainland China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia, who through commercial brokers and/or personal connections, marry men in Taiwan. I continue to collaborate with Dr. Liang and work on this project.

Another wonderful benefit of the Fulbright Program is the financial support it provides for family members. (Be aware, however, that family member benefits are covered by the host country and vary.) My spouse and children joined me and we all had a wonderful time of cultural and language learning. Our youngest daughter became fluent in Mandarin Chinese at the primary school she attended, and my two older children, whose tuition at an American school in Taichung was paid by Fulbright, gained fluency in Chinese and learned a lot of up-to-date slang and popular culture that I was not aware of!

Finally, my Fulbright experience led me to my current position in the Department of Communication at the University of Macau. I attended a conference for all “Greater China” Fulbrighters held in Hong Kong. The last part of the conference included a visit to Macau and the University of Macau. Intrigued by Macau as a place of cultural dynamism and impressed with the university, I made a return visit a couple of months later to give lectures and a longer visit. One thing led to another and this year, 2012, I have a position in Macau. This has opened up opportunities for me to continue to do research in nearby Taiwan, Macau, and nearby provinces of China.

Fulbright can be a life changing experience for you just as it has been for me.

Google Fellowship Hong Kong

Google Policy Fellowship Program: Asia Chapter 2012

Are you a student who is passionate about a free and open Internet? Do you love debating technology, media law and Internet policy issues? Then consider applying for a Google Policy Fellowship hosted by the Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong this summer! Hosted by the Department of Media and Communication and the Centre for Communication Research at City University of Hong Kong, the Google Policy Fellowship (Hong Kong) offers successful applicants the opportunity to advance research and debate on Internet policy and freedom of expression issues for a minimum of 10 weeks from June – August 2012 in Hong Kong.

We are accepting applications for the position before April 15, 2012. Sponsored by Google, the research fellow will be rewarded a stipend of HK$58,500 (US$7,500) for ten weeks. The selection will be made by April 20, 2012.

To apply, please send to google.fellowship@cityu.edu.hk the following material:
¬ Statement of Purpose: Provide us with an essay outlining your qualifications for and interest in the program, including relevant academic, professional and extracurricular experiences. As part of this essay, explain what you hope to gain from participation in the program and what research work concerning free expression online you would like to further via the program. (1200 words max)
¬ Resume
¬ Three References

More information about the focus of the work our Google Policy Fellow will take on is described here. More information about the Google Policy Fellowship program is available in the FAQ.

Hong Kong

On May 1, 2011, I had a chance to visit Hong Kong and connect with Dr. Saskia Witteborn (Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Prof. Ling CHEN (Hong Kong Baptist University).

Prof Leeds-Hurwitz, Dr. Witteborn
Prof Leeds-Hurwitz, Dr. Witteborn

Thanks to Saskia for a wonderful tour of the city’s highlights, from center city to the boardwalk to the mountains. Thanks to Ling for choosing an excellent restaurant, Mask, and instructions in local restaurant protocol.

Mask restaurant

Researcher profiles:
Saskia Witteborn
Ling Chen

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz
Director, Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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Simon Harrison Profile

ProfilesSimon Harrison is Associate Professor in the Department of English at City University of Hong Kong and core member of the CityU research cluster on Brain, Behaviour and Society.

Simon HarrisonHis research explores embodied and relational understandings of language, communication, and culture across diverse settings and scales with a focus on gesture. He is author of the gesture studies monograph The Impulse to Gesture: Where Language, Minds and Bodies Intersect (2018) and the interdisciplinary book Chinese Urban Shinema: Cinematicity, Society, and Millennial China (2020, with David H. Fleming).

Simon’s current book project is an ambitious monograph nearing completion entitled The Body Language Myth: Understanding Gesture in Language and Communication. Aiming to dramatically expand the micro-scope of his first phase of gesture research, this book interweaves several lines of empirical and theoretical gesture scholarship from multiple disciplines to propose a relational dynamics of gesture and gesturing bodies. These dynamics help think through different kinds of environmentally embedded gesturing that typically animate language and communication research, while unsettling common tropes surrounding the notion of ‘body language’.

In 2019 Simon co-founded the Hong Kong hub of the International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS Hong Kong), which he chaired from 2019-2023.

Erasmus Mundus grant to Hong Kong Polytechnic

“The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has received another strong boost to achieve further internationalization with the award of South East Asia’s first Erasmus Mundus (EM) Mobility Grant of nearly €1.4 million by the European Commission. The grant will support a large-scale scholarly exchange involving nine universities in Europe and South East Asia and greatly benefit faculty members and postgraduate students.

EM is a flagship European Commission programme promoting international education. The successful application for the EM Mobility Grant is the joint effort of a consortium partnership consisting of nine higher education institutions across Europe and South East Asian countries, with PolyU’s Faculty of Humanities as the initiating institution and the coordinator in South East Asia, and Université de Provence as the overall coordinator and coordinator in Europe.

The grant of nearly €1.4 million will be allocated to successful applicants of the nine consortium partners in a project titled “MULTI – Multilingualism and Multiculturalism: Linguistic approaches to Transition and Identity”. This project, which will span for about three years, aims to address the linguistic, cultural and technological aspects of multilingualism and to understand the impact of multilingualism in both European Union and South East Asia societies.

With the support of EM grant, more than 80 students at postgraduate level or above and faculty members from PolyU as well as other eight higher education institutions in Europe and South East Asia will be selected to participate in the scholarly exchanges at a host university funded by the European Commission.

PolyU is expected to send forth a total of 13 postgraduate level or above students and staff to undertake an exchange programme that will last for 1-12 months. The grant will cover their travel costs, monthly allowance, and tuition fees for participants to study at partner universities in Europe and South East Asia.

The nine universities in the consortium partnership include Université de Provence (France), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK), City University London (UK), Università di Pisa (Italy), Universität des Saarlandes (Germany), Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), National Taiwan University (Taiwan), Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and University of Macau (Macau).”

For further details, see the original press release from PolyU.