OTHER ISSUES

RECENT FOCUS

The Faculty of Humanities of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is pleased to announce the laureates of the 2026 Yuen Ren Chao Prize in Language Science. Initiated and hosted by the Faculty, the Prize is awarded on a biennial basis and was first conferred in 2024. It recognises distinguished contributions to language science research.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded to Professor Brian MacWhinney in recognition of his pioneering and sustained contributions to the field through integrative research spanning psycholinguistics, corpus and computational linguistics, neurolinguistics, and systems theory.

The Early Career Contribution Award is conferred upon Professor Charles B. Chang for his influential research on bilingual speech, linguistics, phonetics, and language development.

Together, the 2026 laureates have made significant contributions with far-reaching impact on language science research worldwide. Click HERE to read more.

The Faculty has achieved a notable advancement in the 2026 QS World University Rankings by Subject. Linguistics at PolyU was ranked 45th globally in 2026, up from 51st in 2025, reflecting the strength and impact of the Faculty’s research and education in the field. In addition, the broad subject area of Arts and Humanities has also moved up in the latest rankings, reaching 72nd place worldwide this year and indicating ongoing progress across the humanities. Click HERE to read more.

Prof. Sun Xin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Language Science and Technology, won the Early Career Research Excellence Award in the 10th Annual Conference for the Association for Reading and Writing in Asia (ARWA 2026). This award aims to recognise a talented early-career researcher who shows outstanding research potential in an area of reading and writing research that is related to Asia. Click HERE to read more.

Associate Dean Prof. Hang Xing participated in the UK–HK Higher Education (HE) Arts & Culture Network Workshop, organised by the British Council Hong Kong in London on 26–27 February. The workshop brought together 26 delegates from universities and cultural institutions across both regions for meaningful exchange and collaboration. Click HERE to read more.

Is GenAI changing the way we learn? While GenAI is now a non-negotiable in the classroom, student creativity and critical thinking remain the heart of education. Assistant Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Renia Lopez, shares her perspectives in Times Higher Education on redefining ‘learning by doing’ for a digital-first world. Click HERE to read more.

EXPLORING THE HUMANITIES