Research Direction
The Department of Religion and Philosophy operates as an integrated whole which includes both disciplines of philosophy and religious studies. As the only department in Hong Kong which combines religion with philosophy, our vision is to be an international powerhouse of research in interdisciplinary studies of religion and philosophy. According to QS University Subject Rankings 2019, for Theology, Divinity and Religion our ranking is #51-100 and for Philosophy our ranking is #101-150. According to same ranking in 2021, for Theology, Divinity and Religion our ranking is #100-120 and for Philosophy our ranking remains #101-150. Both of these two rankings show that we are on the right track to achieve our goal.
Since RAE 2014, the Department has implemented more dynamic and research-based policies and practices to support faculty members in their research. The entire research team has been actively involved in research, either in his/her own field of interest or in collaborative research projects. A vibrant research environment is provided. This includes Department colloquia, internal research seminars, international conferences and symposia, and specially tailored workshops for junior staff and research students.
Major research areas of religious studies:
- Christian studies which includes Christian theology, philosophy of Christian religion, history of Chinese Christianity, Christian ethics, and sociology of Christian religion;
- Chinese religions which include Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Chinese folk religions; and
- Cross-cultural religious studies such as missionaries in Chinese history, inter-religious dialogue, and religion and gender.
Major research areas of philosophy:
- Analytic and continental philosophy such as Kantian studies, epistemology and philosophy of language;
- Philosophy of religion, which includes the epistemology of religious experience, Kantian philosophy of religion, and cosmological arguments for and against God;
- Chinese philosophy which includes Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism; and
- Cross-cultural or comparative philosophy such as the political philosophy of Mengzi with Marcus Aurelius, Freedom in Sartre and Daoism, Chinese war ethics with Western just war theory, Kant considered through the Yijing, and Neurogenomics and Buddhism.
Much of our research is multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural. While the Department endorses individual research projects, it values collaborative works with special attention to comparative and cross-cultural studies, which have been further supported by our two research centres, namely, the Centre for Sino-Christian Studies (CSCS) and the Centre for Applied Ethics (CAE). In addition to theoretical exploration, we focus on research into philosophical or religious traditions in their cultural and cross-cultural contexts.
Research Grants
Although we are a relatively small department, our faculty members are active in applying for internal and external research grants. Over the past years, we have successfully obtained a remarkable number of grants, in which 15 of them are GRF/ECS grants from the RGC in the past five years. These grants allow our faculty members to work on their high quality research projects, such as applied ethics, philosophy of language, the social engagement of Christians in Hong Kong, and Kantian studies in a contemporary context.
Our two research centres, Centre for Applied Ethics and Centre for Sino-Christian Studies, have also secured a decent amount of external grants and private donation that makes more collaborative research projects possible.
Some notable recent examples of research grants obtained can be found below. You can also browse our individual faculty members’ profile for details.
Research Impact
Research in the Department of Religion and Philosophy covers four specialized areas, namely “philosophical studies”, “Christian studies and comparative religion”, “interdisciplinary study of religion”, and “ethics and society”. Supported by the Centre of Applied Ethics and the Centre of Sino-Christian Studies, the academic staff in our Department are conducting a variety of research projects and research-led teaching on topics such as human rights in Confucianism and Christianity, religion and science, church-state relations, religion and social movements, comparative study of war ethics, ethics of life and death, religion and gender, and pedagogical practices in ethics education in Hong Kong. The Department’s academic staff are attentive to their research’s potential for bringing constructive changes or benefits to society and put effort into realizing such potential.
Approach to Impact
The Department has been encouraging its academic staff to enhance the impact of their research beyond academia through the following means:
- Providing policy advice to government bodies
- Providing an in-service education programme for secondary school teachers and offering talks at secondary schools in Hong Kong
- Developing networks with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), schools, and churches
Strategy and Plans
The Department’s strategies for encouraging its academic staff to carry out research that is impactful in society include the following:
- Consolidating relationships with partners and beneficiaries through well-established research projects that have already demonstrated social impact
- Identifying and developing new research projects that have the potential to be impactful and building relationships with new partners and beneficiaries
- Prioritizing old and new research projects that demonstrated varying degrees of impacts and giving due resources to support them.
- Organizing training seminars with the Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) at HKBU for the Department’s academic staff and postgraduate students to assist them in enhancing the social impact of their research
Impact Cases (Completed and Developing)
