The Visiting Professors Scheme, initiated by the University Central, is designed to elevate our University’s research competitiveness and visibility on the global academic stage. This initiative aims to drive the advancement of targeted academic areas and foster substantial international collaborations by connecting with world-class scholars and leading institutions. Under this scheme, distinguished scholars can be appointed as Visiting Research Professors for either long-term or short-term engagements, allowing flexibility to tailor to the specific needs of the host Faculty or Department and the availability of the scholars.
The Social Sciences Visiting Fellowship Scheme underscores the Faculty’s dedication to international engagement through collaborative efforts on a global scale to elevate the Faculty’s research competitiveness and academic prominence. This scheme stimulates a vibrant intellectual network by inviting globally renowned academics to conduct aligned research with the Faculty, serving as a platform to foster not only fresh collaborative research prospects but also to bolster long-term strategic goals. Two streams operationalise these objectives, namely the Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme and the Social Sciences Visiting Professors Scheme. Scholars under this Scheme are appointed as Visiting Professors.
The Faculty also offers a fellowship scheme specifically designed to promote academic exchange with scholars from the Global South region. This scheme opens for applications twice a year. For more details, please refer to the HKU Social Sciences Global South Fellowship Scheme.
| Visiting Fellow | Host Department/Unit | Scheme |
| Professor Trevor Barnes Professor of Geography The University of British Columbia, Canada | Geography | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Dr. Christof Brandtner Assistant Professor of Social Innovation Emlyon Business School, France | Sociology | Social Sciences Visiting Professors Scheme |
| Professor Frank Dobbin Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Harvard University, US | Sociology | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor Cindy C. Fan Professor of Geography and Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement University of California, Los Angeles, US | Geography | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Dr. Kuishuang Feng Associate Professor Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, US | Geography | Social Sciences Visiting Professors Scheme |
| Professor Jixi Gao Director and Professor of Satellite Application Center for Ecology and Environment Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, China | Geography | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor Lingxin Hao Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor in Public Policy Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University, US | Sociology | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor Yixuan Ku Professor, Department of Psychology Sun Yat-Sen University, China | Psychology | Social Sciences Visiting Professors Scheme |
| Professor Michèle Lamont Professor of Sociology and African and African American Studies Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies Harvard University, US | Sociology | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor Wei Li Professor, School of Geographical Science and Urban Planning Arizona State University, US | Geography | Social Sciences Visiting Professors Scheme |
| Professor Zhenchao Qian Professor of Sociology Interim Director of Population Studies and Training Center Brown University, US | Sociology | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor James Raymer Professor of School of Demography Australian National University, Australia | HKU Research Hub of Population Studies | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor Dr. Ralf Schwarzer Emeritus Professor and Professor of Psychology Freie Universität Berlin, Germany | Social Work and Social Administration | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor Wanxiao Sun Professor, Geography and Sustainable Planning Faculty Grand Valley State University, US | Geography | Social Sciences Visiting Professors Scheme |
| Professor Dr. Tobias Wolbring Chair of Empirical Economic Sociology Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany | Sociology | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor Xiaogang Wu Yufeng Global Professor of Social Science Director of Center for Applied Social and Economic Research New York University Shanghai, China | Sociology | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Visiting Fellow | Host Department/Unit | Scheme |
| Professor Tak Wing Chan Professor of Quantitative Social Science University College London, UK | Sociology | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke Professor of Developmental Psychology, Psychiatry & Neuroscience King’s College London, UK | Psychology | HKU Visiting Professors Scheme |
| Visiting Fellow | Host Department/Unit | Scheme |
| Professor Terrence D. Hill Professor of Sociology and Demography The University of Texas at San Antonio, US | Sociology | Distinguished Social Sciences Scholars Scheme |
| Professor Alexander B. Murphy Professor Emeritus Department of Geography, University of Oregon, US | Geography | HKU Visiting Professors Scheme |