The School of Modern Languages and Cultures offers Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and 3-year and 4-year Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) research degree programmes in both full-time and part-time study modes.

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Applicants need to complete the graduate School Administrative requirements for eligibility and scholarships. They should also connect with a potential supervisor in the School to locate a suitable willing supervisor for their proposed thesis.

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Applicants should bear in mind that the allocation of higher degree places in the University of Hong Kong is a very competitive process. Applicants need an excellent undergraduate record – at the very least an Upper Second Honours – to even be considered. If you come from a university that does not have an Honours system you will need to be in the top 20 percent of students to be considered.

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Graduate School requirements

Applications should be submitted to the Graduate School via the Online Application System. Applicants for admission to the full-time MPhil and PhD programmes can also apply for the postgraduate studentship.

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Prospective students may also find it useful to consult the step-by-step explanation provided by the Graduate School.

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School of Modern Languages and Cultures requirements:

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You will need to demonstrate to the selection committee processing applications that you are hard-working and have initiative.

This means that you must design a research proposal that will indicate to the committee that you have already started thinking seriously about your topic.

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The research proposal should be between 3-5 pages, and it should illustrate that you are familiar with the basic literature and positions in the field. [MPhil 3-4 pages; PhD 4-5 pages].

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Details of research proposal requirements for both MPhil and PhD are found under the Faculty of Arts headings on the Graduate School website.

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These are research degrees that require the ability to work independently. You demonstrate initiative and your suitability for the programme by writing this proposal on your own. Do not expect your potential supervisor to design the proposed topic for you.

Contact the appropriate supervisor in your proposed field of research to see if they are willing and able to serve as your supervisor. 

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Postgraduate Admissions Advisor

Prof. Stefan Auer
Tel: 3917 2911
Fax: 2548 0487
Email: stefauer@hku.hk

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RPG discipline descriptions 2025-26:

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African Studies:

The programme offers students the opportunity to undertake research on Africa and its connections with other continents, including Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the programme explores Africa’s rich and complex history, literature, music, society, and politics.It welcomes students interested in examining African societies from diverse perspectives, fostering critical understanding of the continent’s past and present. While based in the Faculty of Arts, the programme is open to students from all faculties who have an interest in African Studies.  

 

Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact Professor Samson Abebe Bezabeh, whose research focuses on state-society interactions, citizenship, and religious studies (including Islam, Christianity, and traditional African religions).  

 

The African Studies Programme provides a supportive environment for innovative research and contributes to a deeper understanding of Africa’s place in the global context. 

 

American Studies (Latin American Studies):

The MPhil/PhD programme in Latin American Studies at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at HKU offers a vibrant interdisciplinary environment for research on the region’s contemporary cultural production, with specific strengths in literature, film, and gender studies. We welcome applications from candidates interested in exploring how Latin American artists and intellectuals engage with pressing social issues such as social/gender inequality, migration, or memory. The programme encourages critical approaches drawing from feminist theory, postcolonial studies, and visual culture, fostering original research that contributes to global conversations on identity, representation, and power. With access to expert supervision, and a dynamic research community, students are supported in developing projects that are both regionally grounded and theoretically innovative. We also favour comparative work that introduces nuanced readings of Sino-Latin American cultural and diplomatic relations. Candidates should be proficient in Spanish and/or Portuguese languages (level B2 minimum) to approach primary sources. 

 

European Studies:

European Studies field encompasses History of Ideas with a focus on European Integration; International Relations with a regional focus on EU-China relations; European politics, diplomacy and security; European diplomatic history (20th century); Asia's role in contemporary European politics; study of European nationalisms; European efforts to combat money laundering and illicit trades. 

 

Global and Area Studies:

Global and Area Studies (GLAS) is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the in-depth study of a specific region or regions of the world—such as North America, South America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, or Europe—while also considering global contexts. 

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GLAS can have a disciplinary focus or combine insights from history, political science, literature, art history, economics, anthropology, and cultural studies to analyze regions and their global interactions. The goal is to develop a nuanced understanding of specific areas, their histories, cultures, and/or contemporary issues. RPG students in GLAS should develop their theses in the areas of expertise associated with the relevant advisor, and possess, or be advanced in the study of, the languages necessary for area studies work. 

Research postgraduate degrees in this field prepare students for careers in international relations, development, and academia, among others.  

 

Japanese Studies:

The Department of Japanese Studies invites exceptional candidates with a strong research plan to apply in the fields of Japanese literature and culture (premodern, modern, and contemporary) and modern Japanese history. Students with interests in gender and sexuality studies; feminism and queer theory; visual and cultural studies; Marxism, labor, and solidarity studies; postcolonial and indigenous studies; and/or transnational, transpacific, and global approaches to the study of Japan, among other fields, are encouraged to apply. 

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Korean Studies 

The MPhil/PhD programme in Korean Studies at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at HKU offers an interdisciplinary environment for research on Korean modern and contemporary cultural production, with specific strengths in literature and culture. Students with interests in transnational/transpacific/global approaches to the study of Korea with focus on gender and sexuality, feminism and queer theory, popular literature studies, visual and cultural studies, postcolonial studies, Cold War studies, among other fields, are encouraged to apply. Students must have strong fluency in Korean and English.  

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Current areas of staff interest:

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Stefan Auer
European History (with a particular focus on the politics of memory); Enlargement of the European Union; Eurozone crisis; German post-1945 History and Politics; Nationalism in Central Europe; Political Theory and Political Philosophy (i.e. Hannah Arendt, Edmund Burke, Jürgen Habermas and Carl Schmitt); The self-limiting revolutions of 1989 in Central Europe; the Geopolitics of EU-Russia relations and Ukraine.

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Samson Bezabeh

Dr. Bezabeh’s research interests include diaspora studies, state- society interaction, colonialism, religion (Islam and Orthodox Christianity) as well as issues of citizenship, ethnicity, and class in Africa.

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Paul S. Cha
History of Korea, 19th century to present; Religion and Nationalism; Christianity in Asia; Colonial Modernity; Postcolonialism

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Bárbara Fernández Melleda
Latin American Studies (cultural theory, visual arts, material culture); Literary Studies (focus on poetry, narratives, self-referential writing); Southern Cone literatures and cultures (dictatorship and post-dictatorship contexts); Latin American gender studies and activism; Latin American Boom.

 

James Fichter
European studies; American studies; Maritime and business history; Histories of the following: English and other East India Companies, British and French imperialism, early modern Atlantic, colonial America, United States, US in the world, US-China relations, whaling, coal and commodities.

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Tim Gruenewald
Memory Studies (with a focus on collective memory of traumatic past in the United States); Cinematic Virtual Reality; VR film theory; U.S. cinema and television; U.S. graphic narrative; Visual Studies.

 

Loretta Kim
History of China and Inner Asia, 1600-present; Ethnic minorities and ethnic policies in China; Borderlands and frontiers; Histories of indigenous peoples; Chinese ethnic minority languages and literatures (including Manchu and Mongolian).

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Su Yun Kim
Modern Korean literature & culture; Modern Korean cultural history; Japanese empire & race, gender and sexuality; Popular narrative.

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Ji Li

Social and religious history of late imperial and modern China; History of Christianity in China; History of women and gender

 

Edwin Michielsen
Modern and contemporary Japanese and East Asian literature; proletarian and marginalized literature; transnational studies; labor and solidarity studies; critical theory

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Daniel Poch
Early modern and modern Japanese literature and culture; gender and sexuality; aesthetic theory; the novel; nineteenth-century literature 

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Michael Roellinghoff

Early modern and modern Japanese literature and culture; gender and sexuality; aesthetic theory; the novel; nineteenth-century literature 

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Monica Lee Steinberg
Visual culture, art, new media, and law and politics of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, with a specific focus on fictional attribution, legal studies, and activist humor in a global context.

 

Roland Vogt
European politics, foreign policy, and political economy; International Relations (incl. IR theory); Democratization and political culture; Sino-European relations; Latin American and African politics.

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John D. Wong
Transnational business history; Social, cultural and economic history of the Pearl River Delta and Southeast Asia.

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