A Personal Perspective on Doing Good Research Seminar Series – Prof Raymond Chan Hon-fu: insights from a cross-institutional academic journey
Prof Raymond Chan Hon-fu (left 6) leads the opening session of the “A Personal Perspective on Doing Good Research” Seminar Series for the 2026/27 academic year, with an audience of about 70 faculty members and students.
Prof Chan retraces his academic journey and shares the experiences that have shaped his perspective as both a researcher and a supervisor.
Nelson Nyabanyi N-Yanbini, a PhD student in Urban Studies, reflects on Prof Chan’s daring and innovative approach to research and leadership, and how he turns challenges into new possibilities.
The opening session of the “A Personal Perspective on Doing Good Research” Seminar Series for the 2026/27 academic year, organised by the School of Graduate Studies of Lingnan University, was held on 29 October 2026. The seminar featured an inspiring talk entitled “My Research Journey: A Tale of Five Hong Kong Universities” by Prof Raymond Chan Hon-fu, Vice President (Academics) cum Provost and Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Scientific Computing at Lingnan University, which attracted an audience of around 70 faculty members and students, and sparked a lively discussion.
As a prominent computational mathematician and academic leader, Prof Chan was appointed to a tenure-track position at a university in the US after completing his doctorate degree. He later returned to Hong Kong, where he has accumulated extensive academic and administrative experience at five universities over the course of his illustrious career. He has published 190 journal papers and authored three books, one of which, Financial Mathematics, Derivatives and Structured Products, has exceeded 190,000 paid downloads on SpringerLink since its publication in 2019. A highly cited researcher and recipient of several prestigious awards in numerical analysis and scientific computing, Prof Chan has been on Stanford University’s list of the World’s Top 2% Scientists since the ranking began in 2019.
In this seminar, Prof Chan retraced his academic journey and shared the experiences that have shaped his perspective both as a researcher and as a supervisor. He reflected on approaches to research, learning, and problem-solving, highlighting curiosity, perseverance, and openness to new ideas as core qualities for sustained academic growth, and remarking that the essence of research is to “re-search”, underscoring the importance of continuous trial and persistence. Prof Chan encouraged postgraduate students to develop these qualities, remain prepared for opportunities, and view obstacles as challenges that may open the way to new possibilities. He concluded, “Aim high, and you will never land low.”
Reflecting on the inspiring talk, Nelson Nyabanyi N-Yanbini, a PhD student in Urban Studies, said, “Prof Chan’s research and teaching journey is an enduring legacy of daring, creative, innovative, and attentive leadership. Instead of becoming frustrated by new challenges, he takes them to his field and solves them by creating new fields.”
The “A Personal Perspective on Doing Good Research” Seminar Series offers a unique platform for academic leaders and distinguished scholars to share personal insights and experiences from their research journeys, enabling doctoral students and early-career researchers to engage in in-depth exchange with leading scholars on the way to research excellence.
The next seminar will be held on 12 November 2026, when Prof Pun Ngai, Chair Professor of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University, will give a talk entitled “Infrastructural Power of Labour: The Making of the Chinese Working Class”. Prof Pun will discuss her new book project on the remaking of the Chinese working class, where she develops the notion of labour infrastructural power to explore the dynamic relationship between capital and labour under infrastructural capitalism in the Chinese Mainland.