The University of Macau (UM) today (28 August) held the Welcome Reception and Orientation for New Academic Staff 2024/2025 to welcome a new batch of distinguished scholars. With its growing international reputation and influence, the university has recruited 67 outstanding scholars from around the world this academic year.
The new academic staff include outstanding young scholars and internationally renowned academics. They come from diverse cultural backgrounds, with some born and raised in Macao, and some from other parts of the world. They engage in cutting-edge research in a variety of fields, including data science, cognitive neuroscience, computational biology, smart energy, financial econometrics, and the humanities and social sciences. Many of the new faculty members are also leading figures in their respective fields. They include Yu Jun, chair professor and dean of the Faculty of Business Administration (FBA); Fan Lianghuo, chair professor and dean of the Faculty of Education (FED); Liu Xiufeng, chair professor and director of the Educational Testing and Assessment Research Centre in FED; Pan Wei, chair professor and director of the Institute of Global and Public Affairs in the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS); Xu Jun, professor and head of the Department of Sociology in FSS; and Stanley Hui, college master of Henry Fok Pearl Jubilee College (HFPJC).
In addition, many of the new academic staff are graduates of world-renowned universities, including the University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, Columbia University, University of California, Los Angeles, National University of Singapore, University College London, Duke University, University of Tokyo, Nanyang Technological University, University of Hong Kong, and University of British Columbia. Their diverse and international perspectives and experiences will help enhance the teaching quality and research development at UM.
At the event, Vice Rector Michael Hui, speaking on behalf of the rector of UM, said that adhering to the philosophy of ‘firmly rooted in Macao, jointly developing the Greater Bay Area, integrating with the nation, and going global’, the university will continue its commitment to providing high-quality education and advancing key research initiatives with international influence. He also wished the new faculty members a fruitful academic career and happiness at UM.
During the sharing session, Vice Rectors Michael Hui, Rui Martins, Ge Wei, Mok Kai Meng, and Claudia Xu shared UM’s latest developments in academic affairs, global affairs, research, student affairs, and administration. In addition, Victoria Lei, representative of the Committee on Gender Equity and associate professor in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, provided information on the university’s initiatives for gender equity. Elvo Sou, representative of the scam prevention task force and head of the Student Counselling Section (SCS), also briefed the new academic staff on the current trend of fraud cases in Macao, and provided useful tips on scam prevention.
Going forward, UM will continue its efforts to cultivate and recruit high-calibre talent, and to create favourable working conditions for its faculty members to give full play to their strengths and achieve academic breakthroughs, thus developing a teaching and research team with international influence.
