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 and Area Studies
  Global Creative Industries
  Japanese Studies
  Korean Studies

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

*Applications are not accepted for admission in 2025/26

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:
  Language and Literacy Education
  Human Communication, Learning, and Development
  Mathematics, Science, and Technology
  Social Contexts and Policies of Education

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

Schools/Departments:
Department of Civil Engineering #
School of Computing and Data Science #
Department of Data and Systems Engineering #
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering #
Department of Mechanical Engineering #

Notes:

Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering has been renamed as Department of Data and Systems Engineering on September 2024.
The School of Computing and Data Science was established in July 2024. The new School shall encompass the two existing Teaching Departments (viz. Department of Computer Science and Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science).

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Law

LKS Faculty of Medicine

LKS Faculty of Medicine

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 #
School of Computing and Data Science #
Department of Earth Sciences #
Department of Mathematics #
Department of Physics #

Note:

The School of Computing and Data Science was established in July 2024. The new School shall encompass the two existing Teaching Departments (viz. Department of Computer Science and Department of Statistics and 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.