The Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Dept of English and Communication

27/10/2026

🎉📖 Celebrating young voices in the AI era! 🌟

What an incredible year for the Hong Kong Secondary School Short Essay Competition! 🏆✨

This year's theme, “Fables for the AI Era,” inspired a record-breaking 1,500+ submissions from young writers across Hong Kong! Their imaginative stories explored AI, human values, and creativity.

On 25 September, about 60 people, including awardees, teachers, and families, gathered for the Award Presentation Ceremony to celebrate the achievements of our young writers. The event featured live readings of four Gold Award-winning essays on human effort, artificial companionship, truth, and empathy.

Congratulations to all our Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Merit Award winners! We were honoured to celebrate their achievements alongside Prof. Eric Friginal, Head of our Department, Prof. Hu Guangwei, Interim Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, and our Guest of Honour, Ms Jenny Yeung from the Education Bureau.

📚 The winning essays will be published in "Fables for the AI Era," an anthology showcasing our young writers' creativity. Stay tuned!

💖 A heartfelt THANK YOU to all participating students, schools, teachers, and families for making this year's competition a success!

Learn more about the competition: https://events.polyu.edu.hk/essaycompetition2026



PolyU Global Engagement Office | Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

23/10/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Dr Lucas Peltonen on receiving the PolyU PhD Thesis Award 2026 (Merit Award – Non-STEM Category)! 🎓✨

We are delighted to share that our Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr Lucas Peltonen, has been honoured with the PolyU PhD Thesis Award 2026 (Merit Award – Non-STEM Category) by the Graduate School, for his exceptional doctoral thesis, "Cultivating linguacultural competence in business English communication: A mixed methods intervention study", conducted under the primary supervision of our Chair Professor Hu Guangwei.

Notably, Dr Peltonen is the sole recipient in the Non-STEM Category across the entire University this year—a proud testament to the research excellence, originality, and real-world impact emerging from our Department and the Faculty of Humanities, 💬 reflecting on his award, Dr Peltonen shared:

"I am honored to have won the PolyU PhD Thesis Merit Award 2026. As the only non-STEM awardee this year, I am pleased to represent the Faculty of Humanities and the Department of English and Communication (ENGL). Hopefully, this award helps demonstrate the importance of business English, BELF, and business English pedagogy to the broader ELT field and academia, as well as individuals and organizations. Thank you to the multitude of folks who provided help and support along the way: a special thank you to my Chief Supervisor, Professor Guangwei Hu."

Please join us in extending our warmest congratulations to Dr Peltonen on this well-deserved milestone! 👏🏆

21/10/2026

Getting to know our international students, Angelina & Adara, from Indonesia at PolyU! 🇮🇩⭐️

Ever wonder why they chose PolyU, especially the Department of English and Communication? Spoiler alert: it's an amazing journey! 🤩

Catch all the fun, vibes, and insights in the video! 🎥

20/10/2026

We are thrilled to share that seven of the nine scholars from the Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, listed among the World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists 2026 are from our Department! 🎊

The seven scholars include five (with *) who are also recognised in the Career-long Impact list:

💎 Professor Paul Baker*
💎 Professor William Feng
💎 Professor Jenifer Ho
💎 Professor Hu Guangwei*
💎 Professor Li Shaofeng*
💎 Professor Tony McEnery*
💎 Professor Zou Di*

Please join us in congratulating them on this outstanding achievement! 👏

【九位人文學院學者榮膺全球首2%頂尖科學家👏】

人文學院於史丹福大學最新發布的2026年全球首2% 頂尖科學家名單中再創佳績，共有7名學者榮登「學術生涯引文影響力排行榜」，連同2名新入選「年度引文影響力排行榜」的學者, 合計9名學者上榜。📈

在上述獲表彰的學者中，胡光偉教授、黃居仁教授、李少峰教授、梁化樓教授及鄒迪教授再次憑藉卓越的學術成就，獲選為其研究領域的世界頂尖學者。其中，學院暫任院長胡光偉教授更在「語言和語言學」子領域躋身全球前50名。

新加入學院的講座教授Anthony Mark McEnery教授與英文及傳意學系Paul Baker教授亦榜上有名，進一步彰顯學院在跨學科研究方面的卓越實力。

同時，學院副院長馮德正教授及何詠儀教授首次入選2026年「年度引文影響力排行榜」，充分展現人文學院學者在國際學術界日益提升的研究影響力。

全球首2% 頂尖科學家名單由史丹福大學編撰，涵蓋20個學術領域及174個子領域，並分為「學術生涯引文影響力排行榜」與「年度引文影響力排行榜」，旨在衡量學者的長期及近期研究影響力。

【Nine FH Scholars Ranked Among World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists 2026 👏】

The Faculty has achieved outstanding results in the latest list of the World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists 2026, compiled by Stanford University. Seven scholars were included based on their career-long citation impact, while two additional scholars were newly listed for their single-year citation impact, bringing the total number of FH scholars recognised this year to nine. 📈

Among those recognised for career-long impact are Prof. Hu Guangwei, Prof. Huang Chu-Ren, Prof. Li Shaofeng, Prof. Liang Hualou, and Prof. Zou Di, who have once again been ranked among the world's leading scholars in their respective fields. Notably, Interim Dean Prof. Hu Guangwei is ranked among the global top 50 in the sub-field of Languages and Linguistics.

Our newly joined Prof. Anthony Mark McEnery, Chair Professor of Corpus Linguistics and AI for the Humanities, and Prof. Paul Baker, Professor in ENGL, have also been featured on the list, further strengthening the Faculty’s reputation for interdisciplinary research excellence.

In addition, Associate Dean Prof. William Feng and Prof. Jenifer Ho have been newly recognised in the 2026 single-year citation impact list, highlighting the growing global influence of FH research.

The World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists is compiled by Stanford University, covering 20 subject fields and 174 sub-fields, and is divided into two lists in relation to scholars’ career-long citation and single-year citation impact, recognising their long-term and recent research impact.

16/10/2026

🎉 Thank you for visiting us at PolyU Info Day 2026!

It was wonderful to meet so many prospective students, parents, and friends at our booth on 10 October and share more about our BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics (BAEAL) programme. 🥰

This year’s PolyU Info Day welcomed over 49,000 visitors and featured more than 250 activities, including programme seminars, consultation sessions, student sharing, workshops and campus tours.

A heartfelt thank-you 🧡 to all our student volunteers for enthusiastically answering visitors’ questions and sharing their first-hand BAEAL experiences. Special appreciation goes to our Year 3 student, Kirsten Leung, and Year 2 student, Gloria Cheng, whose engaging presentations at our two info seminars offered valuable insights into their studies and student life at PolyU.

We hope everyone enjoyed discovering how our BAEAL can equip students with the language, communication and applied linguistic knowledge needed for an evolving world.

We look forward to welcoming some of you to the BAEAL community 🤗 in the future!

#升學攻略 #大學聯招 #香港中學文憑試 #香港理工大學 #理大

14/10/2026

📣【Online Info Session on the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship: 20 Oct】

🎓 Looking for a funded PhD opportunity in Hong Kong?

Join our online information session to discover how the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme ( ) can support your PhD journey at PolyU’s Department of English and Communication for admission in September 2027! ⚡️👍

The Scheme offers students worldwide the chance to earn a PhD at one of Hong Kong's top universities. If you are interested in cutting-edge research in areas such as Language and Professional Communication, Language Teaching and Learning, English Language and (Applied) Linguistics, Media and Communication, or Area Studies and Intercultural Communication, our Department is the perfect place for you.

The HKPFS is an amazing opportunity for bright and dedicated 💡 students to make their research dreams come true! It offers an annual stipend of HK$344,400 (~US$44,154), an Annual Conference Grant of HK$14,400 (~US$1,846), along with other cash awards, guaranteed hall accommodation for two years, and a tuition fee waiver scholarship for the entire normal study period! 🤩

You will also hear directly from our PhD students, Li Chuanqi Legend and Bernard Ayine, as they share their study experiences and insider application tips!

Take advantage of this valuable opportunity to learn more about our Department and PhD programme!

📲 Register for the talk: https://polyu.hk/eYRDV

📚 HKPFS@ENGL: https://polyu.hk/tqoxZ

30/09/2026

【Announcement of The Stephen Evans Awards 🏆 2025-26】

Please join us in congratulating 🎉⭐️ the two awardees for The Stephen Evans Awards 2025-26! ⭐️

✨ The Stephen Evans Best Thesis Award
Dr BAO Jie (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Title: “Identity Constructions of Tertiary EFL Teachers Doing Professional Doctorate”

✨ The Stephen Evans Best Paper Award
RAHMAN Mohammad Mosiur (PhD Student)
Title: “English medium instruction as a multi-scalar language policy process: Capturing neoliberal motives, English-only implementation and multilingual realities”

Their exceptional research work has set a great example for academic excellence! 👏👏

More about The Stephen Evans Awards: https://polyu.hk/AAjVH

24/09/2026

🔎 Thinking about where your passion for English could take you?

Join us at the PolyU Info Day 2026 on 10 October! Visit our department's booth, meet our students and teachers, and attend the programme seminar to learn more.

Discover our BA (Hons) in English and Applied Linguistics programme and see how it can equip you with essential language and communication skills and global perspectives, preparing you to become a competent communication professional with promising prospects 💎.

We look forward to meeting you and sharing more 🤗!

👉 Register now: https://polyu.hk/PvtFG

#升學攻略 #大學聯招 #香港中學文憑試 #香港理工大學 #理大

23/09/2026

On 16 September, the Faculty of English, French and German Philology at the Universidad de Málaga welcomed our Associate Professor Renia Lopez for an invited talk on applied linguistics.

Second-year students in the Department of English, under Head of Department Rosa Muñoz Luna, explored what applied linguists study and why the field matters, from language learning to professional communication. The session was met with strong engagement, with students contributing to thoughtful discussions.

The University of Málaga is ranked third among Spanish universities in terms of the number of student exchanges.

08/09/2026

New Spanish Teacher Joins ENGL

We are thrilled to announce that Iratxe Rico Orue has joined the Department of English and Communication as our new Spanish Teacher. Iratxe comes to us via the Spanish government's MAEC (Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) programme, which facilitates the teaching of Spanish at universities abroad. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Spanish Consulate in Hong Kong for their vital assistance in making this appointment possible.

Iratxe brings a diverse academic background to PolyU, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Hispanic Philology from UPV/EHU, alongside two Master’s degrees—one in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language from the University of Salamanca, and another in Teacher Training for Secondary Education (specialising in Spanish, Latin, and Greek) from the University of Zaragoza. Her teaching philosophy is grounded in applied linguistics and language acquisition, with a passion for methodologies that make learning both effective and engaging.

She has taught Spanish to international students at the University of Salamanca, delivered Spanish and Literature classes from Kindergarten through Grade 12 in Suzhou, China, and instructed Secondary and Baccalaureate students in Spain’s Basque Country. She also collaborated with the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council to teach Spanish to immigrant and foreigner communities of all ages.

As Iratxe herself puts it: "My goal at PolyU is to provide students with a new lens through which to see the world in Spanish. I want them to analyze, enjoy, and experience the language so that it becomes a dynamic, living tool for communication."

We are confident that her expertise, global outlook, and innovative spirit will greatly enrich our students' learning journey. Welcome, Iratxe!



Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University