Neuroscience Paper Ranked among Top 100 by Scientific Reports 2019

Have you ever wondered what is actually going on inside your brain when you read a text? Did you know your brain will work differently when you read expository texts? In a research article recently published by Scientific Reports, our Faculty Dean Prof. Li Ping and his team shared their research findings on the reading brain in scientific text comprehension as well as the effects of e-device usage on learning. The paper is one of the top 100 downloaded neuroscience papers for Scientific Reports in 2019. Read more: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/fh/en-us/newsletter_details/view/97

PolyU Linguistics Ranked 45th Worldwide

PolyU Linguistics ranks among the top 50 in the world for the eighth year in a row. The subject of linguistics – the discipline in which a majority of FH staff members are engaged – is ranked 8th* in Asia and 45th worldwide according to the newly released Quacquarelli Symonds University Rankings by Subject 2020.  QS rankings are based on universities’ subject performance in terms of academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact. *By regional filtering of Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings by Subject 2020.

PolyU-trained Student Wins Bronze Medal in Online Olympiad in Linguistics 2020

A representative from the Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad (HKLO) team1, Bui Ka (Amber) Chan, won bronze medal in the second Online Olympiad in Linguistics 2020 which was held in January this year. Online Olympiad in Linguistics 2020 started on Friday, January 24 (7:00 am UTC) and lasted till Monday, January 27 (10:00 pm UTC). This event brought together more than 500 high school students from 32 countries/regions. It is the first time for 6 Hong Kong delegates to attend this competition. These students were jointly trained by Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS) and Department of English (ENGL). For more information, please visit the Online Olympiad in Linguistics website: https://onling.org 1The Hong Kong team has six delegates.

Paper Selected as Lingua Editors' Choice

The paper “Directionality of linguistic synesthesia in Mandarin: A corpus-based study” written by Dr Zhao Qingqing (CBS PhD graduate), Prof. Huang Chu-Ren(CBS) and Prof. Kathleen Ahrens(ENGL) has been selected by Lingua as one of its Editors’ Choice articles of 2020. Selected by the Editors as noteworthy and likely to be of high interest to the community, this paper will be available free of charge until the end of this March:  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384119304930

25th Congregation - FH Sessions

First Session Date 9 November 2019 Time 10:00am Venue PolyU Jockey Club Auditorium The programme will be conducted in English. Invitation Letter Notes to Graduands Notes to Awardees Second Session Date 9 November 2019 Time 1:00pm Venue PolyU Jockey Club Auditorium The programme will be conducted in English. Invitation Letter Notes to Graduands Notes to Awardees Third Session Date 9 November 2019 Time 4:00pm Venue PolyU Jockey Club Auditorium The programme will be conducted in English. Invitation Letter Invitation Letter (BAEBPC Only) Notes to Graduands Notes to Awardees Conferment Procedure on the Stage: Video Congregation Arrangements: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/ar/web/en/for-graduates/congregation-arrangements/index.html Award Parchment Collection: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/ar/web/en/for-graduates/award-parchment/index.html

Faculty of Humanities Welcomes New Dean

The Faculty is pleased to welcome Prof. Li Ping, who took up the role of Dean of Humanities on 2 September 2019. Prof. Li has concurrently been appointed as Chair Professor of Neurolinguistics and Bilingual Studies in the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies.  Prior to joining the University, Prof. Li was faculty member at The Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1996 and the University of Richmond in USA from 1996 to 2008. He served as Professor of Psychology and Linguistics at the Pennsylvania State University in USA since 2008. Some of his key leadership positions include Co-Chair of the Inter-College Graduate Programme in Neuroscience, Associate Director of the Institute for CyberScience, and Programme Director at the US National Science Foundation (NSF).  Prof. Li is an internationally renowned scholar and has a very strong track record of obtaining research grants from national and international funding bodies. He has been continuously supported by major research grants from the NSF for various projects since 1999. His research aims at understanding the developmental, neural and computational bases of language learning and representation, and the relationships among language, culture, and technology. He is currently Editor-in-Chief for Brain and Language, Associate Editor for Frontiers in Psychology: Language Sciences and Editor Emeritus for Bilingualism: Language and Cognitionand Journal of Neurolinguistics, among other editorial memberships.  The Faculty will continue to create synergies among language, culture and science in education and research and strive for excellence under its new leadership. Taking the opportunity, we would like to wholeheartedly thank the former Dean, Prof. Chu Hung-lam, for his dedication and contributions to the Faculty. Upon completion of his term as Dean, Prof. Chu will continue to serve as Chair Professor in the Department of Chinese Culture.

PolyU-trained Team Excels in 1st Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad

The Hong Kong team jointly trained by PolyU Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS) and Department of English (ENGL) achieved outstanding results in the first Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad (APLO) – winning one silver medal, three bronze medals and four honourable mentions. Modelling after the International Linguistics Olympiad, APLO is a regional Olympiad for secondary school students which aims to escalate attention to language and linguistics in the Asia Pacific region. The inaugural APLO was held simultaneously in ten countries/regions around the world on 5 May 2019. A total of 264 participants competed to solve problems on diverse languages and writing systems. All eight official participants1 from Hong Kong received awards. Prof. Chu-ren Huang from the Organising Committee of the Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad (HKLO), also Chair Professor of PolyU CBS, is pleased about the results, noting that the team has only been trained for half a year and the APLO2019 is their first participation in international linguistics Olympiad events. In the APLO award ceremony, Prof. Louise Cummings and Dr Dennis Tay from ENGL, and Dr Stephen Politzer-Ahles from CBS all recognised students’ performance in the competition and encouraged students to continue developing interests in languages and linguistics. Following the first-ever HKLO2 held earlier on 24 March 2019 and the APLO2019, the Hong Kong team will receive further training from PolyU and compete in the 17th International Linguistics Olympiad in Seoul this summer. 1 Top eight students from each country/region are regarded as official participants. The Hong Kong team has 19 registrants. 2 The IOL (International Linguistics Olympiad) competition is one of the 13 official International Science Olympiads. HKLO has already been officially accredited by IOL.

Generous Donation in Support of Chinese Humanities Education

[This article was originally published in excel@PolyU Issue 118] The Sin Wai Kin Foundation has generously donated to PolyU in support of the development of Chinese humanities education. In relation, “The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Sin Wai Kin Chinese Humanities Development Fund” will be set up to promote the learning and research of Chinese culture, language, history and philosophy. The University’s Council Chairman Dr Lam Tai-fai and PolyU Foundation Chairman Dr Katherine Ngan expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Dr David Sin Wai-kin for this philanthropic act.

Dr Candice Cheung Discovers a Key Factor Impeding the Communication of Children with Autism

Dr Candice Cheung from the Faculty of Humanities was invited by PolyU Milestones to talk about her findings regarding the communication difficulties of children with autism in the March 2019 issue. Dr Cheung has found evidence of a key factor impeding the communication of children with autism – a deficit in their ability to comprehend presupposed information from received information during conversations. The research finding opens up an important pathway for future studies of the same category. Read full story:

PolyU’s Linguistics Ranked 48th Worldwide

PolyU’s Linguistics, the discipline in which a majority of FH staff members are engaged, is constantly ranked among top 50 in the world. It is ranked 48thworldwide in the 2019 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject. PolyU’s Arts and Humanities is ranked 13th* in Asia and 89th in the world.  QS rankings are based on universities’ subject performance in terms of academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact. (Source: Quacquarelli Symonds University Rankings 2019) *By regional filtering of Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings by Subject 2019.