The Chinese University of Hong Kong Communication Visiting Scholar Program 2023

"The Resilience, Recovery and Reconnection of Media and Society" Workshop

Introduction

The School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong has been organizing the annual Communication Visiting Scholar Program since 2008. The Program aims to promote academic exchange and links among Chinese-speaking scholars in cultural China and improve the quality of research of the Chinese research community. The Centre for Chinese Media and Comparative Communication Research (The C-Centre) of the School of Journalism and Communication will play host to this program in 2023.

Program Theme 2023

The world has been going through a difficult and stressful time of pandemic, war, climate crises, disasters, and social confrontations. The media industry is also in crisis: global journalism has experienced a recession for more than a decade, and in recent years it has been under multiple pressures from politics, business and populism. Social media platforms have brought many problems such as the proliferation of fake news, polarization, privacy concerns, exploitation of labor, cyber violence, and damage to mental health.

This workshop aims to explore the possibilities of positive changes. Topics can either focus on how to solve the crisis of media (e.g., how to build a sustainable business model, how to regain trust), or examine the positive roles of the media in society (e.g., how to rethink the role of journalism in crises and disasters, how social media platforms can improve rather than harm mental health). We understand that many related cases and attempts are still in the developing stage, but we encourage timely observation and discussion of recent cases.

The context of the issue is mainly Chinese societies. Attempts to construct a general theory are also welcome. The specific contexts of Chinese societies provide more complexity for the study of this topic. For example, “solutions journalism” in an authoritarian context may be appropriated and become political propaganda to cover up the problems. Another example is that polarization in different Chinese societies have distinct underlying causes, and the response to them also needs to be based on understanding the root of the problem. This complexity is both a research challenge and an opportunity to make new theoretical contributions.

Visiting Period

The visiting scholars participating in the workshop are expected to stay in Hong Kong for 13 days from 5 January 2023 to carry out intensive academic exchange and research. The School will provide a daily living allowance of HK$350 and accommodation for each visiting scholar.

Call-for-Paper

All participants are required to present a paper related to the said theme at the workshop in Chinese. The deadline for the submission of extended abstracts is 15 June 2022 and the full paper submission deadline is 15 October 2022. All submissions should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Please refer to the Chinese version of the workshop pamphlet for details.

The Annual Workshop Committee

Prof. Ran Wei (Standing Convener)
Prof. Kecheng Fang (Theme Convener)
Prof. Joseph Chan
Prof. Francis Lee
Prof. Donna Chu
Prof. Hai Liang

Enquiry

Dr. Daisy Cheng
Phone: 3943 8709
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.