Previous Award Recipients (Faculty Award 2023)

An effective and versatile teacher, Dr. Jason Eng Hun Lee's emphasis on student-oriented collaboration and creative-led pedagogy helps to foster a learning environment that is both engaging and knowledge-based. Besides his strong reputation for quality pastoral care and supervision to students for MA and PhD studies, Dr. Lee has an impressive track record of connecting his students with the local literary scene, via his collaboration with festival partners and his leadership of OutLoud HK. Through his multiple roles as a creative writer, performer and literary advocate, Dr. Lee's promising teaching and research trajectory focuses on local and diasporic Asian writing, and the global reception of Shakespeare across live and virtual media performances.

Since joining HKBU's Department of Communication Studies, Dr. Fung Tsz Yeung Henry has established himself as a friendly, passionate, and esteemed lecturer. With an impressive average Course Feedback Questionnaire (CFQ) score of 4.80 or above, he always takes initiative in organizing activities both in and out of the classroom to enhance his students' learning experiences. Dr. Fung is a strong advocate of student partnerships, and he works closely with students on various service-learning projects that help benefit the community. Additionally, he played a critical role in revitalizing the Department's internship program. Under his leadership and with his assistance, over 100 students have successfully placed in internships across various industries.

Dr. Kwan Hiu Yee joined the Division in 2016 as an Assistant Professor. Known for her ability to identify her students' diverse learning needs and tailor-make teaching materials based on them, she has earned an average 4.4 Course Feedback Questionnaire (CFQ) score over the past five years. Furthermore, by merging Biochemistry and Chinese Medicine in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology course, Dr. Kwan was able to cultivate her students' learning initiatives and creativity. As a lifelong learner, she has made self-development one of her top priorities throughout her teaching career. This is evident in her decision to apply for the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Fellowship.

In her young career which started only in 2021, Dr. Chen I-Ling has already made significant scholarly achievements. She was the first foreign female scholar to win the first prize in the Korean Doctoral Award competition in 2019. It is also worth noting that she was successful in attaining funds from the Research Grants Council (RGC) Early Career Scheme (ECS) and General Research Fund (GRF) which is rare for a scholar of her age. Furthermore, Dr. Chen has been instrumental in facilitating regional collaboration with reputable universities in both Hong Kong and South Korea, making her one of the most remarkable researchers in the field of cross-cultural East Asian studies.

Dr. Elina Tachkova joined the Department of Communication Studies in 2021 after graduating from Texas A&M University. Her research is in the broad area of public relations with emphasis in crisis communication. Dr. Tachkova has presented at a number of prestigious conferences including the International Communication Association and the International Public Relations Research Conference. Her work has also been published in top peer reviewed journals such as Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication Management and Management Communication Quarterly. Dr. Tachkova is a co-author of Communicating in Extreme Crises Lessons from the Edge.

As a bone biologist with clinical background of orthopedics, Dr. Liu Jin has already emerged as an exceptional young researcher with remarkable accomplishments. His series of studies on exploring new molecular mechanisms and druggable targets of musculoskeletal disorders have been published in prestigious journals, such as Nature Communications, Nature Aging, Biomaterials, etc. Dr. Liu’s groundbreaking findings in the field have not only earned him two Young Investigator Awards from the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) and European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (ESCEO), but also secured his two research grants by General Research Fund (GRF).

Dr. Loke has been an Associate Professor for the Department of Religion and Philosophy since 2018. An active researcher with impactful work in religion and philosophy, he has published 7 monographs with world-leading academic publishers such as Cambridge University Press and Routledge. His scholastic know-how has earned him invitations to speak at international conferences such as the Rationality, Theism and Atheism conference organized by the Iranian Institute of Philosophy. Highly regarded as an expert in the field, Dr. Loke has been elected as a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion, and received numerous commendations from esteemed scholars hailing from Washington University and Oxford University, just to name a few.

As a physical geographer with research interest in hydrology, Dr. Li Jianfeng joined the Department in 2015. He has since secured 11 research grants as the Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI from the Research Grants Council (RGC) and other major funding bodies. He has recently been awarded the highly competitive RGC Research Fellow Scheme with HK$5 million funding to support his work for the next five years. Dr. Li is also a prominent author in his field with over 80 papers published in prestigious peer-reviewed international journals including Nature Climate Change, PNAS and Journal of Hydrology.

Dr. Benedict Rowlett has been productive in his PhD supervision and recruitment in the academic year 2021-22. He has supervised two HKBU doctoral students and co-supervised an HKU student. One HKBU student and the HKU student, both in their second year, have completed their fieldwork in Mainland China and Cambodia respectively. The HKBU student presented at the Heterotopic Junction Graduate Conference on Language, Literature and Culture in 2022. Meanwhile, the HKU student co-authored a paper with Dr. Rowlett that has been published in the top-tier Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. Furthermore, another Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) student under his supervision has had an exceptional first year, having presented at two international conferences, and winning the 3-minute thesis prize.

While being a reputed scholar of chemistry and the bioactivities of the herb polysaccharides, Prof. Han Quanbin is equally enthusiastic about his nurturing of students. Since joining the Division in 2011, he has supervised 11 PhD students and 5 MPhil students as well as 16 taught postgraduate and 8 undergraduate students. During his supervision, Prof. Han is a helper for the students to discuss and make​ decisions together with students. This approach is essential to equipping students with an inquisitive mindset. One of his PhD students has taken up as a Research Assistant Professor at HKBU while 4 PhD students have advanced to postdoctoral training in renowned institutes in Hong Kong and USA such as the Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Robert Neather became Head of Translation and Director of the Centre for Translation in 2013, and during his tenure, the Department gained terrific results in the 2020 Research Assessment Exercise. Further to leading two Academic Consultation Panel visits, he initiated curriculum developments at all undergraduate and postgraduate levels, lifting the Department’s international profile. He also took on the significant task of posthumously editing the second volume of the late Prof. Martha Cheung's Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation. Known to staff and students as a generous leader who always finds time to meet with them and responds with both empathy and insight, Dr. Neather’s selfless contributions have been invaluable to HKBU.

Dr. Lau Wai Sim has consistently and generously devoted her time to serving the Academy of Film and HKBU. She has taken up the role of Managing Director of the Academy’s international and peer-reviewed journal, Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving Images since 2020 and served as the Programme Director of the bachelor programme in Film and Television from 2019 to 2021. Her efforts in leading a study tour to Seoul in South Korea in 2016 added enormously to the student experience. Furthermore, Dr. Lau served as a member of the Research Ethics Review Committee and the working panel of the School of Communication’s HKBU Fact Check from 2019 to 2022.