International Scholars share insights at the 9th Global Social Sciences Graduate Student e-Conference

The Faculty of Social Sciences hosted the 9th Global Social Sciences Graduate Student e-Conference on 28 April 2022.  Centering on the main theme of "Living with New Normal: Diversity, Integration and Transcendence", the e-Conference gathered more than 167 participants around the world to exchange views and present their latest studies on a wide ray of hot topics in social sciences.

 

The e-Conference comprised two major sessions.  The morning parallel presentation session showcased young scholars' research findings, while renowned international speakers from the UK, Portugal and France delivered insightful keynote and plenary speeches in the afternoon session. In his opening remarks, Prof. Qiming Zhou, Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Social Sciences, spoke of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of people and changed the landscape of academic fields, especially that of social sciences.  Under the "New Normal", human beings constantly adapt to new challenges as the world keeps changing.  Through this interdisciplinary event, Prof. Zhou hoped that participants could benefit from the discussions and build an academic platform together.

As the key programme of the e-Conference, 28 local presenters and 53 international presenters presented their latest research results and exchanged opinions with each other in the 11 parallel sessions on several transdisciplinary topics such as "sport and healthy lifestyle", "environmental sustainability", and “challenge and response of social work in the new normal”.  In recognition of the outstanding performance of presenters, 12 Best Presentation Awards were given.  Half of the winners were from overseas universities, reflecting the international dimension of the e-Conference.  The full list of awardees is available from the website of the Faculty of Social Sciences. 

In the afternoon session, Prof. José Augusto Pacheco from the University of Minho and Prof. Rachael Gooberman-Hill from the University of Bristol delivered their keynote speeches.  Prof. Pacheco made a conceptual analysis of the “New Normal” from the perspective of pedagogy and brought into discussion numerous educational issues such as students’ learning needs in the post-epidemic era and the interaction between teaching and technology.  Prof. Gooberman-Hill deeply analysed the theoretical and empirical significance of qualitative research methods in social sciences from the perspective of public health.  She advocated that social science research should adopt an interdisciplinary approach.  The e-Conference also featured a plenary speech delivered by Dr. Salomé Aubert from Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance.  She explored with participants the impact of children’s physical activity on global sustainable development.   The keynote speeches sparked intense exchange of ideas among audience members.