PhD_positions

I teach interdisciplinary courses on digital media and human communication, multimedia storytelling, AI policy and regulations, and applying digital technologies for innovation and social impacts.

I have supervised eight postgraduate students (as the capstone project supervisor) and four research students. Most of them are either continuing doctoral studies (in Hong Kong, Europe, and the US) or working as full-time university faculty members in Hong Kong or mainland China. My students have won best paper awards at the ICA, presented their papers at major international conferences in media and communication, and published papers in top internationally peer-reviewed journals.

I am looking for PhD students in the areas of (1) digital journalism (news production and presentation), (2) political communication (digital popular culture and beliefs), and (3) computational social science (social media data analytics and experiment design). Please email me your CV and credentials if you are interested in working with our team. You are also welcome to apply for the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) under my supervision in the 2025/26 academic year.


1. research supervision (2018 - present)

  1. Research students
    • Jingyi Pu (principal supervision, Ph.D., 2020 - ) in-progress
    • Tianlun Zhou (principal supervision, Ph.D., 2022 - ) in-progress
    • Ruifeng Qie (principal supervision, Ph.D., 2020 - ) ABD
    • Xiaohang Deng (co-supervision, M.Phil., 2020 - 22) Graduated, PhD researcher at the Tampere University, Finland.
    • Zhi Lin (co-supervision, M.Phil., 2019 - 21) Graduated, PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin, the US.
    • Wenshu Li (co-supervision, Ph.D., 2018 - 22) Graduated, Lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University.
  2. Research intern and research assistants
    • Yitong Gu (2021 - 22)
    • Yuanyuan Chang (2021 - 21)
    • Hiu Yan Ping (2021 - 21)
    • Wenshu Li (2021 - 22)
    • Rui Zhu (2020 - 21)
    • Minyi Chen (2019 - 20)
    • Xiaohang Deng (2019 - 20)
    • Jingwen Ma (2019 - 20)
    • Can He (2018 - 19)
    • Qile Wang (2018 - 19)
    • Jiehu Yuan (2018 - 19)
    • Mengyi Zhang (2017 - 18)
    • Wanting Xu (2017 - 18)

2. courses @ CityU (2014, 2018, 2024 - presesnt)

Course code and title Level
COM5111 AI and Digital Marketing for Entrepreneurs (elective course for MA in Integrated Marketing Communication Postgraduate
COM2510 Generative AI for Multimedia Authoring (elective course for BA (Hons) in Media and Communication) Undergraduate
COM5101 Communication Fundamentals (core course for MA in Communication and New Media) Postgraduate
COM3109 Media and Communication in Chinese Contexts (core course for BA (Hons) in Media and Communication) Undergraduate
COM5507 (guest lecturer in 2018 Fall) Social Media Data Acquisition and Processing core course for MA in Communication and New Media (Course Repo) Postgraduate
COM3119 International Communication (core course for BA (Hons) in Media and Communication) Undergraduate
COM5502 Multimedia Communication (core course for MA in Communication and New Media) Postgraduate

3. courses @ HKBU (2016 - 23)

Course code and title Level
AIDM7460 Digital Media Research Project Postgraduate
AIDM7410 Computational Journalism Postgraduate
AIDM7340 AI for Digital Media Postgraduate
COMM7190 Issues and Cases in Mass Communication Postgraduate
JOUR4036/JOUR3137 Communication Theory Undergraduate

4. courses @ PolyU SPEED (2014 - 16)

Course code and title (all at the undergraduate-level)
SPD4488 Integrated Study - Capstone Project for the BA (Hons) in Professional Communication Programme
SPD4458 Integrated Study - Capstone Project for the BA (Hons) in Marketing & Public Relations Programme
SPD4347 Languages, Cultures, and Communication (subject leader)
SPD2315 Films and Storytelling (subject leader)
SPD2314 Culture and Ways of Life (subject leader)
SPD2312 Contemporary China
SPD2303 Introduction to Communication

(updated: May 2024)