Dr Stephen James Matthews

It has been said that music is a language. Dr Matthews, a violinist, has adapted that analogy to his work with students. “Supervising students is actually like playing second violin. You’re playing the supporting role and trying to get the best out of each student according to their talents and interests,” he says.

Dr Matthews encourages his students to pursue unexplored topics and keeps an open door so they feel welcome to use his resources and discuss their research ideas at any time.

The discussions can be wide-ranging and one student, Elaine, who graduated with an MPhil in 2006, found this very helpful in developing her thesis.

“We always talked about music in our lives and meaning, and that led me to think about the relationship between music and language. I’m really thankful for these discussions because they helped me in writing my paper on Cantonese lyrics and music,” she says.

Dr Matthews also extends his advice beyond academic work, to encourage students when they are struggling. “Students often want to give up for different reasons but so far I’ve always managed to persuade them not to give up, that they can do it,” he says.

Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai

While Hong Kong is renowned for its devotion to economic development and maintaining high GDP growth, Professor Yip believes that too often human development is neglected. “It is time to ensure the gains from economic development benefit the whole community,” he says. “Our job is to find a research gap so we can make a difference to our community and make a better world.”

Over the years much of his research has been into solving social problems and suicide prevention, areas you might expect students to shy away from. Yet, armed with a strong passion for the community and fine analytical skills, Professor Yip successfully attracts students to join him in his many research projects.

He feels that a supervisor’s job is to hold the keys to open up new ideas for students and spark in them an enthusiasm for undertaking research.

Professor Yip maintains that all students are different: “It is not a case of one size fits all. We need to bring out the best in each of them so they can develop into independent researchers who will be a benefit to the community.”

Current PhD student Zhang Yi welcomes Professor Yip’s individual approach to students, saying: “He gave me space to explore the research and the social issues myself.”