The School of Journalism and Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong debuts this programme offering the world’s top media professionals an opportunity to share their expertise, engage with the campus community, and collaborate with university scholars.

Media Professionals in Residence Programme

After two successful pilot iterations in the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 academic years, we are excited to expand our programme with a new design. For the 2024/2025 academic year, we are assembling a global cohort of practitioners, change-makers, and experts from various stakeholder groups around the theme “Living with AI.” This one-of-a-kind hybrid residency programme enables fellows to work individually and collaboratively within a community of practitioners and intellectuals. Together, they will produce cutting-edge knowledge, experiments, and provocations that culminate in a “Festival of Ideas,” highlighting the most critical and urgent questions that will help us understand and shape the future of media and society.

Visiting fellows in Fall Semester 2024

	CHAN Yuen Yung Sherry Sherry is the head of International Desk and Senior Editor in The Initium. She worked as lecturer in Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin Madison. Before that, she wrote political columns and commentaries for various newspapers, magazines, and TV/ radio programs. As an independent journalist, Sherry covered Iranian elections and international political issues for Hong Kong local outlets. She published her first book on Middle East Politics in 2014.
	Gabriella Gómez-Mont The founder of Experimentalista, a creative studio dedicated to transdisciplinary, emergent, experimental, and collaborative practices. The project advises the Vice Presidency of Colombia for the design of the National Care System – to reimagine the possibilities of AI for collaborative and dynamic governance models related to complex issues such as climate justice and care. She is also a Visiting Professor of Practice and Senior Policy Fellow at UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, to explore AI’s transformative potential.
	QIU Chen Qiu Chen, the consultant and the partner of Co-Wisdom Coach, a leading Chinese coaching center focus on coaching services in corporate environment. She has worked for diverse media platforms with different roles, ranging from new media director, podcaster, content creator, curriculum design developer, reporter and editor.
	Evelyn WAN Dr. Evelyn Wan is an award-winning media and performance studies artist-scholar on AI, professional performer, dramaturg, and public speaker. Her research area also includes emerging technology and decolonial methodologies, with a research-based artistic practice. She is now Assistant Professor working in Media, Art, and Society, Department of Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University. Before that, she worked as Postdoctoral Researcher in Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society, Tilburg University. With multiple roles as researcher, dramaturg and independent dance artist, Dr. Wan has conducted interdisciplinary and international profile; set up and led collaborative research, performance, and education projects with deliverable results.
	WEI Xing Mr. Xing WEI founded the first independent fact-checking project in China, which has published around 1000 fact-checking reports that comply with IFCN standards and have received tens of millions of views on the Chinese Internet. Before this project, he was a founder of Sixth Tone, and a co-founder and deputy editor-in-chief in Pear Video Shanghai, the first short-form news video platform in Mainland, China. Mr. WEI also worked as senior editor in The Paper, Oriental Morning Post and Youth Daily.

Talk Series of Media Professionals in Residence Programme (2024-2025)

CHAN Yuen Yung Sherry

Learning Call

In the fourth learning call was held by Sherry, who is the head of the International Desk and a Senior Editor at The Initium. At the same time, she also worked as a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She possesses extensive experience in writing political columns and commentaries for various newspapers, magazines, and TV/radio programmes. During the call, she explored how to apply AI in a smaller newsroom and examined the possibilities of using open-source techniques to assist with the fact-checking function in the newsroom. The discussion delved deeply into the characteristics of smaller newsrooms, the potential challenges faced when constructing this project, and possible solutions to those challenges. The learning call concluded with a constructive discussion regarding some technical and practical matters suggestions

Fellow’s Spotlight

Throughout the Fellow’s Spotlight, Sherry shared her perspective on journalism, reflecting on her past experiences and the challenges she faced while gathering writing materials. She also raised fundamental questions about journalism, exploring the role of the “I” in objectivity and the importance of contextualising information—what she called “Foucauldian Journalism.”

Following her sharing, participants engaged in a lively discussion, raising questions about her organisation and her views on journalism. This led to a thoughtful and enriching exchange, making the Fellow’s Spotlight insightful and engagin

Gabriella Gomez Mont

Learning Call

In our third learning call, Gabriella, the founder of Experimentalista, led the discussion. During her call, Gabriella presented the politics of care, highlighting her research and initiatives aimed at creating caring societies. She discussed the intersection of art, policy, and social practices, emphasising the importance of care in addressing polycrises like climate change and democratic challenges. Gabriella shared her experiences with the Mexico City Constitution and the Playful City agenda. Iterative learning and transdisciplinary approaches are essential in project development, particularly in the context of residencies in Hong Kong and new projects. The learning call concluded with constructive conclusions and feedback.

Fellow’s Spotlight

In Gabriella’s Fellow’s Spotlight, she shared her past experiences with various organisations, including the Experimentlista, where she served as Chief Creative Officer in Mexico City. She also offered her perspective on transforming the city into a space for conversation, using this as a starting point to discuss its relationship with art and creativity, as well as how AI can provoke discussions about art and culture.

She further cited the example of “Urban Parasite” as an illustration of this provocation in art and culture, influenced by machines. This led the conversation towards the dilemmas posed by AI, such as AI and geopolitics, and the language used in AI, prompting questions about how AI is shaping our new reality. The Spotlight concluded with several meaningful questions and discussions.

Qiu Chen

Learning Call

Qiu Chen also hosted the last learning call of this year’s programme. During her learning call, she explored her ideas surrounding the topic of cyberbullying, highlighting different characteristics and using the example of the pink-haired girl to illustrate the impact of cyberbullying. Throughout the call, she also guided us in exploring her concept of using AI to create a narrative game that could help victims escape and defend themselves against bullies. She presented several possibilities and options to further refine and consolidate her ideas. The discussion was also sparked by quality questions and suggestions from the audience. Ultimately, all the learning call sessions concluded with applause, rewarding not only the fellows and students but also the faculty from our school and other universities and industries.

Fellow’s Spotlight

Qiu Chen shared her experience in 4 different industries, her dramatic changes from journalism to Design, then from design to a part time debating coach, then she also shared her experience “ I can I BB”

Then she further shared her experience when she is with the “I can I BB” team, she also talked about some of her insights and the production of the side product of this famous variety show in China. Adding onto this, she has shared some of her insights of making this paid knowledge product and her involvements as well.

Evelyn Wan

Learning Call

During her call, she mentioned that many might have experienced the trauma of losing someone they love or care for during the pandemic. The advancement of technology and various COVID restrictions have led to the emergence of virtual tomb sweeping, raising questions about the role AI can play in the human mourning process, along with multiple examples. During the call, she designed a link to prompt reflection on whether, when we sign up to create this bot, we are also selling ourselves. Additionally, she questioned how we will be represented in the metaverse and what form we might take. Will we simply be merely data?

ARE YOU THERE? ARE YOU NOT THERE?

Link to the Bureau of Postmortem Future:
https://bit.ly/postmortemfutures

Fellow’s Spotlight

Evelyn’s Fellow’s Spotlight was divided into three sections, each focusing on a different aspect of time. The first session invited the audience to reflect on their schedules and whether they were using their time effectively. In the next section, she explored the concept of “One World Time,” encouraging participants to consider how they live and relate to time across different time zones. Throughout, Evelyn used metaphors and cultural references to emphasize the importance of being mindful of time.

The Spotlight concluded with interactive activities that helped the audience slow down and become more thoughtful about their time, ending with a joyful and fruitful discussion.

Wei Xing

Learning Call

Our very first learning call was with Wei Xing, who founded the first independent fact-checking project in China, which has published around 1,000 fact-checking reports that comply with IFCN standards. Before this project, he was a founder of Sixth Tone and a co-founder and deputy editor-in-chief at Pear Video Shanghai, the first short-form news video platform in mainland China. He also worked as a senior editor at The Paper, Oriental Morning Post, and Youth Daily. During his learning call, he introduced his topic on building a fact-check accelerator, which ideally aims to popularise the fact-checking culture and refine the existing fact-checking materials. He also mentioned some challenges that the fact-check industry in China is facing and different possible actions to improve the industry. The call wrapped up with a fruitful discussion and constructive feedback regarding Wei Xing’s project.

Fellow’s Spotlight

Our first Fellow’s Spotlight kicked off with Wei Xing, where he shared some of the challenges he and others in the industry have faced. He talked about the history of fact-checking and how “refuting rumors” has become an alternative approach, especially in the way governments use it to manage misinformation.

Wei Xing also highlighted current issues in the fact-checking field and discussed his motivation behind this project, along with his plans for moving it forward. The session wrapped up with a lively Q&A, where attendees asked questions about the future of fact-checking and its impact.

Fellow’s Panel

In the Fellows’ Panel, each Fellow shared their vision on this year’s theme, Living with AI. They presented their research focus, goals, and the motivations behind joining the programme and choosing Hong Kong as their base. The panel concluded with a lively Q&A session, where Fellows responded to thoughtful questions from the audience. The event wrapped up with excitement and anticipation for the next stage of the programme.