English

This course explores the consequences and crisis that biodiversity is facing under global change, with a focus on the effects of climate change on biodiversity and how it affects human societies. In particular, it addresses key questions such as: How do climate and climate change lead to changes in biodiversity on land and oceans at genetic, species and ecosystem levels? Does climate change interact with other global change drivers (e.g., invasive species, habitat alteration) to influence biodiversity? What are the effects of climate changes on species extinctions and interactions between species? Do changes in biodiversity affect human wellbeing and society? In order to address these questions, the course reads and discusses the primary literature, participate in lectures and discussions, and engages in a series of exercises and experiments.

This course delves into the shadows of the criminal underworld and explore the complexities of global crime. It is structured into three parts. The first section introduces the foundational theories, concepts, and terminology in global crime and justice. It covers the growing importance of knowledge production beyond traditional Anglo-American bases of power and how colonialism has shaped our understanding of the crime. In the second part, the course delves deeper into responses to global crime, from the controversial death penalty for drug trafficking to the rising militarization of borders. Students investigate how vulnerable populations can become ensnared within these complex frameworks. It untangles the complex and interwoven nature of global crimes through an in-depth study of trafficking in its many forms (human, wildlife, diamonds and antiques). This course investigates how global crimes can blur the boundaries between victims and offenders and shape borders through policing responses. Finally, it investigate state crimes, online ‘sleuthing’, and the phenomenon of ‘true crime’ consumption to illustrate how key social changes such as globalization, technology and media influence crime policing, perception and victims. Global crime offers a multidisciplinary, critical and comparative perspective in criminology.

This course covers research methods that evaluate the effectiveness of not only traditional persuasion strategies but also new forms of strategic communication using entertainment such as narratives and games. Through subsequent projects, students develop research planning and execution skills that can be applied to commercial campaigns or public campaign realities. 

Topics include Strategic communication in contemporary organizations, Concepts of strategy, Planning, Research and measurement, Stakeholder management and engagement, Media, Branding, Identity, Crises communications, Ethics and CSR. 

Public administration in Hong Kong is shaped by its colonial legacies and by the Hong Kong government’s position as a local government of the People’s Republic of China. Since 2020, authorities have centralized power over Hong Kong and within Hong Kong to implement executive-led government. Political appointees and civil servants play critical roles in the policy process, but they co-produce most policy with civil society. This course examines the role of civic engagement and elite cooptation in the policy process. The course combines extensive reviews of scholarly research on Hong Kong with lectures (including guest lectures), discussion, and a group project that helps expand the collection of articles about public 102 administration in Hong Kong on Wikipedia.

This course exposes students to a range of state-of-the-art developments in biomedical engineering. It invites students from various disciplines to discuss the long-term societal impacts and ethical implications of these technological advances, particularly in human enhancements beyond therapy. The course starts by illustrating the many amazing designs in the human body and yet how vulnerable it is in terms of injuries, diseases and ageing. Examples on how modern biomedical engineering helps us face our human conditions are given, such as musculoskeletal prosthetics and orthotics, cardiovascular implants, neuro-engineering, stem cells and regenerative medicine, gene editing, bio-nanotechnology, intelligence and artificial intelligence, and senses and artificial senses. A historical account of human quest for “living” machine, including a brief coverage of modern movies on bionic human then follows. The course wraps up with some social, ethical and philosophical reflections on the above issues and on the meaning of being human, opening up questions concerning the perennial human quest of becoming super human.

This course teaches practical programming skills relevant for students in any discipline (science, social science, or humanities), emphasizing its broad application in diverse academic contexts. Being grounded in foundational programming techniques and theory, the course builds a strong basis for understanding computational advancements and challenges in our contemporary world. Furthermore, it provides hands-on experience with diverse applications, enabling you to apply your programming skills throughout your (academic) career. Our course provides a comprehensive, hands-on introduction to the fundamentals of programming, progressing from basics like statements and variables, to programming patterns and development techniques. Beyond experience with these skills, the course provides relevant theoretical and historical context on the development of computers and programming languages, to help gain a deeper understanding of the skills you are applying. After mastering the primary competencies, the course displays the broad applicability of programming within academia. In groups, apply a selection of modern and academically relevant programming techniques such as simulation, text analysis, database programming, and experiment programming, within the context of academic problems across disciplines. These techniques showcase the inter- and multidisciplinary nature of computational methods and equip you with the tools and understanding to use programming in your own field of interest.

This course examines the core vocabulary and approaches that are common in global development today. It covers strategies to stay up to date with the ever-shifting terrain of development practice, and develop the sensibilities to work effectively with a range of development partners. Students will gain critical insight into how to make development ‘inclusive’ for all people, regardless of gender, (dis)ability, sexuality, socio-economic background and so on.

This course familiarizes students with the kindred relationships between film and literature as well as their essential mediumistic differences such as film and the novel, film and drama/theatre, film and poetry, etc. Their similar or different uses of time and space, and problems of adaptation are discussed in some works which have both filmic and literary versions. Examples include examining the enduring lives and afterlives of the cyborg, the alien, the undead, and the living dead, and consider why they matter. Staging thought experiments where opposites thrive and converge, the course explores how imaginative fiction challenges and destabilizes the boundaries between the human and the non-human, self and other, and life and death. 

This course covers the following topics: Calculus of variations: functional, variation, extremals, Euler-Lagrange equation, Beltrami identity, brachistochrone, catenary, natural boundary conditions, isoperimetric constraints; Conservation laws: transport equation, Burgers' equation, method of characteristics, weak solutions, Rankine-Hugoniot jump condition, Oleinik entropy condition; and Wave equation: Spherical means, Euler-Poisson-Darboux equation, Kirchhoff's formula in 3 dimensions, Poisson's formula in 2 dimensions, energy method, finite speed of propagation, domain of dependence.

This course introduces Chan Buddhism from historical, philosophical, and textual approaches. With respect to historical developments, it examined the transition of this tradition from India to China. With regard to philosophical and doctrinal aspects, it explored the characteristics of Chinese Chan through a comparative study with Indian, Tibetan, and Japanese Buddhist traditions. Besides lectures, seminars are arranged to read and discuss selected core texts.