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