{"id":26861,"date":"2025-03-27T11:01:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T03:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/?post_type=school_news&p=26861"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:21:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T08:21:35","slug":"exciting-addition-to-the-faculty-professor-robert-thomson-joins-as-head-of-the-department-of-politics-and-public-administration","status":"publish","type":"school_news","link":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/tc\/school_news\/exciting-addition-to-the-faculty-professor-robert-thomson-joins-as-head-of-the-department-of-politics-and-public-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Exciting Addition to the Faculty: Professor Robert Thomson Joins as Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere\u2019s an increasing awareness that good governance is one of the key drivers of human development \u2026 The department\u2019s breadth of expertise in Politics and Public Administration combined with Hong Kong\u2019s unique location between East and West makes it uniquely placed to develop global perspectives and new knowledge about what good governance means.\u201d \u2013 Professor Robert Thomson<\/em><\/p>\n

\"GLC \"MoU \"Spring \"Spring<\/p>\n

Professor Robert Thomson, the recently arrived Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, shares his long-standing fascination with Hong Kong and China and his plans for the Department<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On July 1, 2024, Professor Robert Thomson arrived in Hong Kong to take up the post of Professor and Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration (PPA) at the Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong (HKU).\u00a0 The move surprised many of Robert\u2019s colleagues, as most of his research to date has focused on Western democracies and the European Union.\u00a0 He explains that he was drawn to the international standing of HKU, the excellence of the colleagues he found in the PPA Department, and the opportunity to support the further development of the Department.\u00a0 For a Political Scientist, Hong Kong is one of the most interesting places to be in the world, explains Robert, \u201cIt offers a front-row seat from which to examine the effects of the global shift in power brought by the rise of China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert\u2019s international career has been characterised by a deep interest in and frequent visits to the region.\u00a0 He was born in Scotland, where he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Strathclyde, which has been ranked as the top research department in Politics in the United Kingdom.\u00a0 \u201cSince my student days in the 1990s, I\u2019ve been fascinated by China and Hong Kong,\u201d he says. \u00a0\u201cThe negotiations between the United Kingdom (UK) and China about Hong Kong at that time were very prominent, and part of my fascination for this topic.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has also been a regular visitor to China, although this is the first time he has lived in an Asian country.\u00a0 He served as a Professor of Politics at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, where he spent seven years and became an Australian citizen before coming to HKU. \u00a0While in Australia, he visited China several times on behalf of the university.\u00a0 \u201cObviously in Australia, the links with China are very important and very interesting,\u201d he says.\u00a0 Before that, he spent four years as Professor of Politics and Head of the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, his alma mater<\/em>, a position that entailed regular visits to China as the university \u2013 like others in the UK \u2013 established relationships with Chinese universities.\u00a0 Prior to this, he spent seven years at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, in the Department of Political Science, after completing his PhD at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Understanding the Rules of the Game<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He was attracted to political studies because of its influence in determining people\u2019s lives and as a means of understanding the world around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one level, the study of politics is like any social science or natural science \u2013 we just want to understand how things work,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cBeyond that, though, there\u2019s an increasing awareness that good governance is one of the key drivers of human development. Governance is about the formal and informal rules of the games and the way in which those rules are enforced.\u00a0 That\u2019s a large part of the explanation as to why some places are better to live in than others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert\u2019s new living environment will likely influence his own research, which he continues to work on alongside his teaching and leadership responsibilities.\u00a0 He recently completed a co-authored book that explores how globalisation impacts what political parties promise voters in established democracies and what they are able to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing here in Hong Kong will undoubtedly affect the focus of my research.\u00a0 I think it will become more comparative and globally oriented than it perhaps would otherwise be,\u201d he predicts.<\/p>\n

Global Perspectives<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He says Hong Kong\u2019s uniqueness as a city with a deeply rooted Chinese culture and Western influence makes it an interesting place from which to explore the theme of \u201cdeveloping global perspectives\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s essentially a reference to the importance of understanding different points of view that are rooted in quite different social and cultural systems,\u201d he explains.\u00a0 \u201cI think that\u2019s a very important message, particularly in these times when what we see in some political systems is a lack of any sort of effort to really engage with alternative points of view.\u00a0 It\u2019s an idea that is also very much in line with the way HKU sees itself as China\u2019s global university.\u00a0 What that means for us is that we want to study politics, governance and public administration in ways that draw on ideas and experiences from around the world.\u00a0 And that has consequences for the types of people we want to engage with as academics and their fields of expertise.\u00a0 We want to have specialists on China, South Asia, but also Western countries too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department\u2019s breadth of expertise in politics and public administration combined with Hong Kong\u2019s unique location between East and West makes it uniquely placed to develop global perspectives and new knowledge about what good governance means.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building an Empowering and Open Environment<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

With the support of Robert’s leadership, those academics \u2013 there are currently more than 20 in the PPA department, with plans to hire more \u2013 will find themselves encouraged to reach their potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cI relish the opportunity to be part of shaping a small unit within a bigger university,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a job where you can help a department to reach its full potential, which is always a collective enterprise.\u00a0 A lot of academic leadership is really about empowering colleagues and making sure that they have an environment in which they can flourish.\u00a0 Many people become academics because, in addition to their commitment to their fields of expertise, they really value autonomy \u2013 they value control over the content of their work.\u00a0 Helping them to perform as well as they possibly can really requires that you create an environment in which they are really excited about their own research and can get on with it, and can bring their research into their teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew he was already off to a good start after meeting his new colleagues in the department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were exactly the sort of people I would have wanted to hire in previous institutions I worked in \u2013 all very research-active, very well trained, very outward-looking, very international,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good department is one where there are friendly and productive conversations between lots of different people,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cWhat I\u2019ve seen here is that people are generally very willing to get involved in developing the department.\u00a0 Our department needs to make the most of that energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contributing writer: Liana Cafolla<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","school_new_categories":[],"school_news_tag":[989],"thought_leadership_category":[797],"department_category":[],"class_list":["post-26861","school_news","type-school_news","status-publish","hentry","school_news_tag-ppa_hku","thought_leadership_category-featured-scholars"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school_news\/26861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school_news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/school_news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"school_new_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school_new_categories?post=26861"},{"taxonomy":"school_news_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school_news_tag?post=26861"},{"taxonomy":"thought_leadership_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thought_leadership_category?post=26861"},{"taxonomy":"department_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.socsc.hku.hk\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department_category?post=26861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}