Participants at the first postgraduate conference. Front row: from left to right-

Prof. Paul O’Connor, Prof. Nan Wang, Prof. Jin Jiang, Prof. Stefan Kühner, Prof. Ka Ho Mok and Dr. Padmore A. Amoah

In a one-day event dubbed; interdisciplinary and comparative learning: positioning the young scholar for academic excellence, the postgraduate conference was held on Saturday, 24 March 2018 by the School Graduate Studies (DGS). Approximately 35 participants including eight faculty members attended the programme. The student participants were affiliated to 9 institutions including: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, University of Stirling, The Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, University College of London, The University of Hong Kong, University of Nottingham Ningbo, China, and City University of Hong Kong.

Prof. Ka Ho Mok delivers the opening remarks

In the opening remarks, Prof. Ka Ho Mok, Vice President of Lingnan University, who is also the Director of DGS, encouraged students and colleagues to take pride in their role as researchers since their contribution to the development of societies is invaluable. He also iterated the need for the modern scholar to move beyond the boundaries of their disciplines to experience how others view the world around us. Prof. Mok further shared some of the past and upcoming academic events and opportunities such as the international postgraduate summer school, publication avenues, and a myriad of seminars and symposiums by the DGS and other departments with participants.

The programme lived up to its billing with 21 presentations from about 10 disciplines comprising Sociology, Management, Economics, English, Construction Management, Psychology, Education, Political Science, Communication and Accounting/Finance. The event attracted the praise of participants some of whom shared their impressions as follows:

“As a First Year PhD Student, this was my first time attending and presenting at a conference. I must say my expectations were met. This conference offered the platform for young scholars, like me, the opportunity to share our research ideas and also to learn from each other. I learnt a lot from each of the individual presenters. The feedback and questions on my research work, gave me a deeper insight into my work and opened my mind to consider other areas I had initially neglected in my work. It was a great opportunity and hope you could provide more of such platforms.”

Ms. Genevieve Fordjour, Department of Construction Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

“The conference was really impressive. I think Lingnan university provided a good opportunity for young scholars to gather and share knowledge from different fields of study. The experience was great and I am truly thankful for giving me the chance to present in the conference.”

Mr. Roy Chan, Department of English, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Faculty members of diverse disciplines and research backgrounds provided the students with useful feedback on the projects. Their contribution enriched the students’ experience as some of them expressed:

“I found the postgraduate conference to be a deeply engaging discussion on interdisciplinary research. The feedback and questions from seasoned researchers(Professors) were quite enlightening and gave me a chance to think further about my topic than I was before attending the conference. The conference also provided a platform for networking with other PhD students for future research collaborations, which is something every PhD student needs to consider at this stage in our career. The event was very well-organised and managed to achieve its stated aims, in my opinion. …It was worth it.”

Ms. Getrude Dadirai Gwenzi, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, Lingnan University