The Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (IAS) of the University of Macau (UM) recently held the Second IAS Annual Conference with the theme ‘The Power of “Truth”: A Dialogue across Disciplines’. The event attracted scholars from various renowned universities, including Stanford University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and Zhejiang University, who exchanged ideas with scholars in the institute on different interdisciplinary topics in areas such as literature and culture, history and society, science and technology, economics and law, as well as medicine and health.
In his speech, Rector Yonghua Song said that the conference provided an interdisciplinary platform for scholars from different backgrounds to engage in in-depth discussions on ‘truth’ in the Chinese cultural context, global context, market context, and local context of Macao. The scholars also discussed topics related to ‘truth’ brought by science and technology and epistemology. In the future, the IAS will continue to invite outstanding scholars to participate in its academic activities, with the aim of increasing UM’s academic influence.
The three-day conference included a total of eight keynote speeches and nine panel discussions. Revolving around the central topic of ‘truth’, the participants explored its definition in three different contexts, namely a global context, the Chinese cultural context, and the local context of Macao. The participants also discussed a wide range of issues, including those from the past and the present as well as in China and abroad, which helped facilitate the integration and communication of different disciplines.
The speakers presented their latest research findings on hot topics in disciplines such as language and translation, finance and markets, artificial intelligence applications, East Asian maritime research, and land rights reform and changes. Some of the studies involved local research that contributed to the construction of the Greater Bay Area, such as the study of the educational environment in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, the legal history of Macao, and the musical narrative of songs in Macao. Some speakers also discussed mental health problems against the backdrop of COVID-19, public space and mass communication, literary contemporaneity, and other social issues that are of the general concern. The event combined both online and in-person elements and received over 700 views on the internet.
The IAS is committed to organizing high-quality academic activities to promote multidisciplinary interaction and dialogue in humanities and social sciences. The conference aimed to bridge the gap between different academic disciplines and provide a platform for scholars from different backgrounds to engage in in-depth discussions from an interdisciplinary perspective.
