All posts by Lily CHU

From June 5, 2023, to June 10, 2023, a group of 34 enthusiastic COMS PRA students embarked on a captivating 6-day Osaka study tour, marking the perfect culmination of an academic year.

What could be more thrilling than embarking on a “見學” (Japan’s local term for a field trip) as a means of learning! During the trip, the students immersed themselves in the local culture and experienced the Japanese teaching style through engaging conversations with local students, attending captivating lectures, and exploring the campuses. It brings great joy to report that our students have already forged new friendships during their stay. Additionally, they were deeply impressed by the meticulous process of newspaper publication at Yomiuri Shimbun and the media production in NHK BK Plaza.

The students also explored the rich cultural and historical offerings of Osaka, including visits to the awe-inspiring Shitennō-ji temple, the enlightening Mint Museum, the majestic Osaka Castle Park, the esteemed National Museum of Art, and the vibrant shopping areas of Shinsaibashi-suji and Tsutenkaku Tower. To add a touch of excitement, the students also ventured to Universal Studios Japan.

This comprehensive exploration of Japanese culture and history made the study tour an experience to be cherished forever.

[給PR同學們的畢業禮物] 圓通財經公關顧問創始人陳民傑 (Thomas Chan)在最後一堂的PRAD4045 Advanced Public Relations Writing 帶來近3小時的特別guest lecture ——「大人物的左右手——公關之道」，分享處理香港經典PR案例時發生的精彩故事。而大師兄Thomas就是公關領域的活字典，總能解答大家對PR行業的各項難題，以下是一些Year 4 PR同學對這份「畢業禮物」的感謝句：

「今日喺大師兄身上完全感受到作為公關嘅專業同霸氣，好有魅力！可以喺3個case sharing即場體驗公關嘅臨場感同埋決策力，好玩同時大開眼界！」

「今日講嘅嘢好實用，尤其是的情境題。好實實在在，同埋睇得出做PR轉數要快同好準！」

「好多謝大師兄嘅分享，令我對畢業之後嘅路向有更加清晰嘅諗法。」

[A special gift to PR graduating students] Mr Thomas Chan, founder of Yuan Tung Financial Relations and COMM distinguished alumnus, gave a 3-hour special guest lecture to students in PRAD4045 Advanced Public Relations Writing. Thomas is a walking dictionary and addressed all sorts of issues/questions related to the PR field. Here are a few notes from Year 4 PR students expressing their gratitude to Thomas:

“Really helpful and down-to-earth advice! The way Thomas explained what PR is and what PR must do is crystal clear. The case sharing revealed his mindset in managing the PR issues and crises, which is valuable as it cannot be extracted from any other places. The most impressive part of his sharing is that Thomas aroused my interest in gaining financial knowledge to better equip myself. I really enjoyed myself during the talk.”

Under the supervision of a PRA lecturer, Ms. Barbara Fu, eight students from the School of Communication won a Bronze award and a Merit award at HK4As Students’ Award 2022 with their creativity.

Lai Yin Tsun Parco, Yip Shuk Man Bonnie, Tsoi Wing Yi Zoey and Ng Pui Yi Wendy won the bronze award with their entry “Distance is Needed in Certain Relationships”; Yang Yuhe, Chow Yee Ting, Chen Beiying, and Yang Bingshi won the merit award with their campaign “A Monologue by a Boar.” This year’s theme is “Don’t Feed Wild Boars.”

The HK4As Students’ Award, knowns as the “Grand Prix” of Hong Kong’s advertising industry, is part of the Kam Fan Awards organized by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong (HK4As). It aims to discover and cultivate talented young people and provide a stage for creators.

On February 13, 2023, Mr. Adrian Ts’o, Head of Strategy of the Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) Group Hong Kong, gave an insightful seminar to the PRAD3056 Campaign Planning and Management class on NFTs and marketing, entitled “What the FUD? NFTs through the lens of marketing.”

Using the Yin-and-Yang diagram, Adrian shared the ideas about NFTs applied in marketing, including how the creators and holders of the NFT projects would have different viewpoints, values and foci, and how NFTs can reframe a loyalty program’s value, investment and ownership for consumers and brands. Adrian further pinpointed the risks and challenges of using NFTs for marketing. Finally, Adrian concluded the sharing with three suggestions for students to prepare themselves for the NFT era.

Professor Kara Chan, Associate Dean and Professor of the School of Communication, has recently been ranked as the top 5% of the most-cited researchers based on the data in the Exaly database, which includes data from almost all services by Google Scholar, Web of Science, Publons, Scopus, Crossref, and ResearchGate combined. Exaly is an unbiased and independent database of scholarly literature and scientometric data with no human contribution/alteration.

Prof Chan’s research interests include economics and business, cross-cultural studies, and health communication. Since 1994, she has published 109 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, with a total of 2,076 citations. She currently has an h-index of 25, which makes her h-index in the top four percentile among 4.9 million authors. Prof Chan has made significant contributions to her respective fields.

Prof Chan has also been listed among the world’s top 2% of the most-cited scientists based on a database compiled by researchers at Stanford University, USA. The rankings are calculated based on standardized information of citations, h-index, co-authorship-adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions, and a composite indicator.

Link:
https://exaly.com/author/2301261/kara-chan/
https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/4?fbclid=IwAR0u4xhKMuKGIsi_prZLxOIOaMPzV-LNCmoIlDYua90eybIVIyE6Sl70vyc

The Top Honors Project Awards Ceremony was held on Friday. Thirty COMS graduates received this award recognizing their academic achievements and outstanding performance in their honors projects.
Congratulations to all the recipients!

List of top honors project awardees 2022:

The 63rd Commencement (11th Session) was successfully concluded on 18 November 2022.

Congratulations on your accomplishments and good luck with your next journey. We wish you a bright and successful future!

Happy graduation!

The 63rd Commencement (11th Session) will be held on 18 November 2022 (Friday). The Top Honors Project Awards Ceremony organized by the Department of Communication Studies is also scheduled for the same day.
These two events celebrate and recognize the achievements and endeavors of our graduating students. We invite you all to join the ceremony so that you can witness this important moment and share in the happiness of all the graduates and awardees.

Details:
The 63rd Commencement (11th Session)
Date: 18 November 2022 (Friday)
Time: 12:00-13:00
Venue: Academic Community Hall (AC Hall)

Top Honors Project Awards Ceremony 2022
Date: 18 November 2022 (Friday)
Time: 9:30-10:30
Venue: CVA1022

Before joining Hong Kong Baptist University, Dr. Vivien Zhou was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community & Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health. She received her Ph.D. in Communication from Cornell University.

Recently, her research on ethnic minorities’ perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines and challenges in the pandemic was published in Health Communication.

Vivien is an enthusiastic teacher committed to helping students become critical thinkers and competent professionals. She promotes active learning in the classroom and appreciates different learning styles. She encourages herself and her students to “always look at the two sides of the story before judging.”

At her leisure, she enjoys watching and playing live drama. By playing characters in dramatic performances, she learned how different people feel and think in various situations. She wants to expand that to research and uses narratives to disseminate health information. According to her, narrative-based health communication allows people to feel and experience the message rather than being told what to do.