Director's Message

Prof. Chung Po Yin
鍾寶賢教授

The Modern History Research Centre nurtures an energetic community of historians whose research enriches the Faculty Niche Research Areas of Environmental and Urban Systems and Populations. The Centre’s historians work on a range of individual and collaborative projects which together illuminate diverse facets of Smart Societies. The MHRC contributes a much-needed historical perspective to the FNRAs by providing a long view of urban, social, and demographic change and continuity. At the same time, the Centre supports research into the contemporary issues of urban heritage and conservation.

The research supported by the MHRC is strategically aligned with two of the three FNRAs under the umbrella of Smart Societies. Several of its historians produce cutting edge work in the area of smart heritage, which is a sub-theme nested within the Environmental and Urban Systems FNRA. Smart heritage uses innovative technologies to improve the conservation and experience of historical resources and cultural heritage. The expertise of the Centre’s historians in spatial history is integrated into this theme. Secondly, the MHRC’s historians produce path-breaking research aligned with the FRNA of Populations, particularly the sub-theme of transnational networks and ethnic studies. Its scholars investigate the historical transnational pathways through which people, ideas, goods, and cultural practices circulated.