CUHK
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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has approved the appointment of Professor Patrick Wong Chun-man, Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, as Associate Vice-President (AVP) on a concurrent basis for three years. He will take up the position on August 1, 2023. Professor Wong will support Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Sham Mai-har with the research portfolio. He will play an active part in promoting research and innovation, as well as assist with transforming research into practical solutions to bring a positive impact on society.

Professor Wong said, “I am grateful for the opportunity to serve CUHK in the capacity of AVP (Research). I look forward to working closely with colleagues across the disciplines to take our research and impact to an even higher level of excellence.”

Professor Wong has close to 20 years of experience in research and teaching. He is Founding Director of the Brain and Mind Institute, and Stanley Ho Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at CUHK. He served on the faculty of Northwestern University in the United States for nearly a decade before joining CUHK.

Professor Wong is widely recognised for his research in identifying cultural and biological underpinnings of individual variations in language and cognition. His interdisciplinary approach encompasses methods from imaging infant brains to fieldwork in rural China. Professor Wong’s research team is currently supported by three Collaboration Research Fund grants by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong and an R01 project by the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The general appeal of his research has attracted much attention from international media outlets such as The New York Times and Scientific American.

Professor Wong’s excellence in research and innovation has been recognised with awards including a Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury in the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva; a Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; and a Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship from the Research Grants Council. His enthusiasm for and effectiveness in teaching earned him Faculty of Arts Outstanding Teaching Awards at CUHK in 2015, 2016 and 2020.

Professor Wong graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics in 1996 and a PhD in Cognitive Psychology in 2001. He then pursued a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neuroscience at the University of Chicago in 2003.