Research Areas

HKU offers PhD and MPhil programmes in all faculties and schools/departments. Applicants will be requested to indicate the proposed department or interdisciplinary research area in the application based on your areas of interest. The list of faculties, schools/departments and interdisciplinary research areas admitting research postgraduate students are listed below. You may also search for potential supervisor from the HKU Scholars Hub.

Note: Academic units admitting research postgraduate students are marked with # in the list.

Faculty of Architecture

Faculty of Architecture

Departments:
Department of Architecture #
Department of Real Estate and Construction #
Department of Urban Planning and Design #

Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Arts

Schools/Centres:
School of Chinese #
School of English #
School of Humanities #

Disciplines:
          Art History
          Comparative Literature
          Gender Studies
          History
          Linguistics
          Music
          Philosophy

 

School of Modern Languages and Cultures #

Disciplines:
          African Studies
          American Studies
          China Studies
          European Studies
          Global Creative Industries
          Japanese Studies
          Korean Studies

Centre for Applied English Studies*
Centre of Buddhist Studies #
Centre for the Humanities and Medicine*

*Applications are not accepted for admission in 2024/25

Faculty of Business and Economics

Faculty of Business and Economics #

Disciplines:
          Accounting
          Economics
          Finance
          Innovation and Information Management
          Management and Strategy
          Marketing

Note: Faculty of Business and Economics will only consider applications for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme

Faculty of Dentistry

Faculty of Dentistry #

Disciplines: 
          Applied Oral Sciences and Community Dental Care
          Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
          Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics
          Periodontology and Implant Dentistry
          Restorative Dental Sciences 

Faculty of Education

Faculty of Education #

Disciplines:
          Teacher Education and Learning Leadership
          Social Contexts and Policies of Education
          Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences

Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre #

Note: Applicants who would like to pursue their studies in Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre can refer to the research areas available in the profile of the respective academic staff.

Faculty of Engineering

Faculty of Engineering

Departments:
Department of Civil Engineering #
Department of Computer Science #
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering #
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering #
Department of Mechanical Engineering #​​

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Law

Department:
Department of Law #

LKS Faculty of Medicine 

LKS Faculty of Medicine

Schools/Departments/Institute:
School of Biomedical Sciences #
School of Chinese Medicine #
School of Clinical Medicine 

           Department of Anaesthesiology #
           Department of Clinical Oncology #
           Department of Diagnostic Radiology #
           Department of Emergency Medicine #
           Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care #
           Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit #
           Department of Medicine #
           Department of Microbiology #
           Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology #
           Department of Ophthalmology #
           Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology #
           Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine #
           Department of Pathology #
           Department of Psychiatry #
           Department of Surgery #

School of Nursing #
Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy #
School of Public Health #
Bau Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education #

Note: Applicants who would like to pursue their studies in HKU-Pasteur Research Centre can approach the Departmental Research Postgraduate Advisor/Contact Person of the Department of Microbiology, School of Clinical Medicine for application instructions.

Faculty of Science 

Faculty of Science 

Schools/Departments:
School of Biological Sciences #
Department of Chemistry #
Department of Earth Sciences #
Department of Mathematics #
Department of Physics #
Department of Statistics & Actuarial Science #

Faculty of Social Sciences

Faculty of Social Sciences

Departments/Centre/Institute:
Department of Geography #
Department of Politics and Public Administration #
Department of Psychology #
Department of Social Work and Social Administration #
Department of Sociology #
Journalism and Media Studies Centre #
Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences #

Interdisciplinary Research Areas

Data Science

Biomedical Engineering
Participating Faculties/Departments:
Faculty of Dentistry
Faculty of Engineering
　　　　　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
　　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　Department of Mechanical Engineering
LKS Faculty of Medicine
　　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​School of Biomedical Sciences
　　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​Department of Microbiology, School of Clinical Medicine
　　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​Department of Ophthalmology, School of Clinical Medicine
　　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, School of Clinical Medicine
　　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​　​​​​​​​Department of Surgery, School of Clinical Medicine

Note: Depending on the research area and other considerations, PhD and MPhil students admitted under interdisciplinary research areas may be affiliated to another academic unit.