HANGZHOU—The 2021 Zhejiang University-Hong Kong Baptist University Joint Postgraduate Online Symposium was held on December 17. Themed “Journalism and Communication in the Digital Era”, the event was a joint effort of the College of Media and International Culture (CMIC) of Zhejiang University and the School of Communication and Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Prof. Huang Yu, dean of the School of Communication and Film, Prof. Wei Lu, dean of CMIC, Prof. Zhao Yu, associate dean of CMIC, together with other scholars like Prof. Song Yunya, Dr. Vincent Huang, Dr. Angela Wang Dan, Dr. Yan Yuqian, Dr. Huang Guangsheng, and Dr. Ji Yingru participated in this online symposium.
Hosted by Prof. Zhao Yu, the symposium commenced with an opening ceremony with speeches given by Prof. Wei Lu and Prof. Huang Yu. They expressed sincere appreciation to scholars and organizers who made this symposium possible despite the global pandemic and mentioned that such an opportunity was precious for academic exchanges.
Prof. Huang Yu
Prof. Zhao Yu
Prof. Wei Lu
During keynote speech session, Dr. Vincent Huang and Dr. Angela Wang Dan from HKBU shared their research “Affordances and paradoxes of social media: Exploring employee experience with digital workplace” and “Malleable Multiplicity and Social Categorization: Cases from Journalists in China in the Digital Age”. Both research focused on how digitization reconstructs organizational communication and journalism in China.
Dr. Vincent Huang
Dr. Angela Wang Dan
In the afternoon, PhD students from Zhejiang University and Hong Kong Baptist University gave presentations on their research which were later commented by Dr. Huang Guangsheng and Dr. Ji Yingru, Dr. Vincent Huang and Dr. Angela Wang Dan. The students received constructive opinions in terms of logical framework of papers, selection of research subjects, construction of theoretical concepts as well as data acquisition and analysis.
To conclude the symposium, Dr. Yunya Song, director of the AI and Media Research Lab of HKBU and Prof. Zhao Yu, associate dean of CMIC delivered their closing speeches and once again expressed appreciation to all participants. After a brief review, Dr. Yunya Song quoted a saying of Hu Shih: “boldly hypothesize and carefully verify” and affirmed that such informal academic discussion benefits the inspiration of innovative research ideas. Prof. Zhao Yu also emphasized the significance of bilateral academic exchange for professors and students and hoped that cooperation will maintain.
