School of Graduate Studies at Lingnan University hosts Postgraduate Conference 2026: Bridging disciplines for global impact

The School of Graduate Studies (GS) at Lingnan University successfully hosted the eighth Postgraduate Conference on 15 and 16 April, under the theme “Pursuing Interdisciplinary and Innovative Solutions to Global Challenges”. The Postgraduate Conference 2026 brought together more than 300 postgraduate students, researchers, and academics from Hong Kong and around the world, including participants from Australia, the Chinese Mainland, Ghana, Indonesia, Taiwan region, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, with the aim of addressing urgent social, environmental, and health challenges by moving beyond traditional academic boundaries and encouraging interdisciplinary and innovative approaches. It provided a platform for integrating diverse perspectives, methodologies, and knowledge systems in response to complex global issues. 

Over the two days, nearly 60 oral presentations and keynote addresses were delivered. Distinguished scholars including Prof Angela Hou Yung-chi of National Chengchi University, Prof Lucy P Jordan of James Cook University, and Prof Clive Sabel of the University of Plymouth were invited as keynote speakers, offering valuable insights to the audience. At the same time, students from five GS programmes, including the Doctor of Policy Studies (DPS), Master of Arts in International Higher Education and Management (IHEM), Master of Cities and Governance (MCG), Master of Science in Health Analytics and Management (HAM), and Master of Social Sciences in Health and Social Services Management (MHSM), also showcased their research through poster presentations.
 

The opening ceremony on 15 April featured a welcoming address by Prof Sam Kwong, Associate Vice-President (Strategic Research) and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. Prof Kwong emphasised that no single discipline could offer solutions to all the emerging issues facing the world today, including demographic change, climate change, energy challenges, economic problems, and public health crises. He highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and positioned the conference as a key platform for fostering dialogue and exchange across disciplines.
 

On the second day of the conference, Prof Padmore Adusei Amoah, Co-Chair of the Organising Committee, delivered a short opening address, further reinforcing the conference’s commitment to interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration.

The conference featured three keynote speeches by distinguished international scholars: 

• Prof Clive Sabel delivered the first keynote speech, “Addressing Global Population Health and Wellbeing Challenges: Assembling a Big Data Response from the Social and Health Sciences”. He discussed how increasingly complex global health and environmental challenges, including urbanisation, environmental pressures, health inequalities such as infant mortality, and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, require inherently interdisciplinary responses that bring together diverse stakeholders and fields of expertise. Drawing on initiatives such as BERTHA - Big Data Centre for Environment and Health, he illustrated how Big Data can be integrated across disciplines, including journalism through social media data, environmental science through environmental data, and genetics through biomarker and personal health data, to analyse and visualise a wide range of health outcomes, such as diabetes and mental health conditions, through Geographic Information  Systems (GIS), modelling, and data mining. He concluded by referring to Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, using the painting as a reflective moment to highlight the seriousness of mental health and suicide-related issues in contemporary society. He reaffirmed the need for interdisciplinary collaboration across the social sciences, health sciences, and environmental studies to develop more holistic and effective responses to complex well-being challenges.

   

• Prof Angela Hou Yung-chi presented the second keynote speech, titled “Capacity Building in International Research Collaborations: Global Trends, Modes of Collaboration, and Key Challenges”. Prof Hou examined the growing importance of international research collaboration in an increasingly interconnected and competitive academic environment. She noted that universities with strong citation performance are often characterised by a high proportion of internationally co-authored publications, as illustrated by institutions such as the National University of Singapore, the University of Oxford, and the University of Cambridge. Drawing on global publication trends, she highlighted the importance of cultivating diverse forms of research collaboration, including partnerships within and across academic institutions, as well as collaborations with international researchers, government entities, private industry, and international organisations. Prof Hou also drew on her own academic experience to encourage young scholars to respond proactively to changes in the academic landscape by developing wider research networks at institutional, national, and international levels, engaging with different research teams, thinking beyond disciplinary boundaries, and encouraging supervisors and senior scholars to ensure fair recognition and equitable contribution-sharing with junior researchers.

   

• Prof Lucy P Jordan (delivered the third keynote speech, titled “Evidencing Knowledge to Drive Social Change: Research as a Critical Practice and Service”. Drawing on her longitudinal and cross-national research under the “Their Child Health and Migrant Parents in South-East Asia (CHAMPSEA)” project, Prof Jordan examined the impacts of parental migration on children’s wellbeing in Southeast Asia. She also referred to her contracted mixed-method research involving migrant workers, employers in the hospitality, social care, and entertainment sectors, and key informants, as well as her partnerships with the Hong Kong government in examining labour, welfare, and family-friendly policies. Through these examples, she demonstrated how empirical findings can be translated into practical recommendations for government, civil society, the private sector, and communities in responding to the challenges faced by migrant workers and their families. She concluded by highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and stakeholder-oriented research, as well as the need to translate empirical evidence into meaningful social change through collaborations with different actors.

In addition to the keynote speeches, the conference featured 16 parallel sessions with 59 oral presentations on diverse topics ranging from migration, education, health to ageing, history, economy, culture, climate, and sustainability. Among the presenters, Mr Albin Thomas and Mr Kassahun Dejene Zeleke received the Best Paper Award for their outstanding research titled “Economic Diplomacy in Xi Jinping’s Foreign Policy Concepts: A Comprehensive Analysis” and “Selective Universalism and the Inverse Care Law: How Health Systems Overlook Neglected Tropical Diseases in Low-Income Settings”, respectively.

The poster presentation sessions were another highlight of the conference, with nearly 100 posters presented by over 240 postgraduate students from five GS programmes (DPS, IHEM, MCG, HAM and MHSM). These sessions covered a wide range of pressing issues and fostered the exchange of innovative ideas and possible solutions among emerging scholars.

The conference concluded with closing remarks by Prof Maggie Lau Ka-wai, Co-Chair of the Organising Committee, who expressed sincere gratitude to all keynote speakers, presenters, MC, audience members and the organising team for their contributions. She reaffirmed the GS’s commitment to advancing interdisciplinary collaboration and invited participants to engage in future initiatives.