I am excited to welcome you all to a new academic year. This summer, the world witnessed the first Olympic Games in Paris after the COVID-19 pandemic. Hong Kong witnessed, for the first time, our athletes winning more than one gold medal in the same Olympics. Such magnificent achievements might seem unbelievable initially, but they are real and firm. “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.” The Olympic motto was first introduced 100 years ago in (coincidentally also) Paris, with the word “together” added just in 2021. This spirit of collective effort is an excellent reminder of what we can achieve as a community. While athletes strike to break different kinds of records, they care about not merely individual recognition but also the success of the entire team. When we pursue our life projects, we must remember that we do not have to be alone. We understand that the journey through university is never easy, but we are here in this community to support each other in navigating all the challenges. As you embark on this new academic year, I encourage you to embrace the Olympic spirit and pursue both personal and collective achievements. Engage, connect, collaborate, and share. Let’s build a vibrant and inclusive SHSS community where everyone can grow, thrive, and more importantly, celebrate each other’s successes. “It always seems impossible until it’s done” – together. Welcome Messages CitȎɊȻ, AȘtiɉȻ, FȢȹtiɉȻ – CȢțmuȝȎɄǵr Associate Dean (UG) and GCS Program Director Professor James WONG QSA Program Director Professor David HENDRY Human beings are using digital information technology to interact with their communities, make their voices heard, monitor their health, seek employment opportunities, forge new connections, and engage in a wide range of other activities, at rates that would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago. All of these interactions leave a data trail that offers seemingly boundless new opportunities to understand human behaviour and society. Importantly, the proliferation of digital data also presents practical and ethical challenges for the appropriate use of this information by researchers in academia, government, and the private sector to gain new insights and develop new tools. The current race to develop useful generative artificial intelligence tools is a particularly vivid illustration of both the promise and potential challenges of having an overabundance of data that continues to increase. As more data proliferate, so do the opportunities for learning, the challenges for filtering out the signal from the noise, and the potential dangers from nefarious actors who might use data without our best interests in mind. The Quantitative Social Analysis (QSA) program offered by the Division of Social Science is geared toward preparing students for this rapidly-changing environment. The interdisciplinary nature of our program, with faculty from a wide range of social science backgrounds all using cutting-edge quantitative tools to investigate important issues of the day, will prepare students for a world in which diverse perspectives are more valuable than ever. Our training is intended to provide students with a skill set that will make them leaders in domain of turning quantitative data into useful insights about humanity. As QSA director, I am excited to meet all of the new and returning students. Let’s make 2024-2025 a year to remember.
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