History at HKU > Welcome to the Department of History. Hong Kong is a modern, vibrant, international city that bridges East and West, and the past and the present. Our staff members and their research and teaching interests reflect the exciting dynamics that make Hong Kong truly unique. Our academics are world-renowned researchers who have published widely in top academic journals and with prestigious university presses and commercial publishers. Most of our staff members have received generous research grants from important governmental and non-governmental funding bodies. Many serve on editorial boards of premier journals and assessment committees of grant giving organizations and agencies. In the University Grants Council's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, our department received a perfect score. We believe in the intrinsic value of creating knowledge of the past through research and the importance of disseminating this knowledge through publications, teaching, and engagement with our community. A symbiotic relationship between research and teaching exists in our department and most undergraduate courses offered by staff are direct offshoots from their respective research. Over the past ten years, we have built up an innovative and flexible curriculum that focuses not only on "national histories" or histories of key events, but also introduces students to many key thematic approaches to history. These include religious, environmental, urban, economic, gender, imperial, and international history, as well as the history of technology, medicine, material culture, sports, warfare, and famine, disease, and natural disasters. We look forward to sharing our research passions and specialized historical knowledge with students at all levels of study. Our programme gives students the historical understanding, skills, and confidence to think critically and creatively about the past. We hope that this will also influence the way they see the present and, as global citizens, perhaps even shape the future.Dr. Charles Schencking |
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