Research interests

• Language and Identity
• Digital trans-literacies
• Multilingualism and mobility
• EMI in Higher Education
• Family language policy
• Social media

RGC-funded GRF projects as Principal Investigator (PI)

1. The impact of online social networking (OSN) practices on adolescents' online identity and self-concept clarity (SCC): Patterns and mechanisms (2025-2027) HK$739,483
2. Youth digital literacy practices, online social networking and well-being: antecedents, patterns and interplay (2024-2026) HK$820,226
3. Investigating Adolescents’ Digital Citizenship through Social Media: (Trans)Formation, Digital Literacy Practices and Influential Factors (2023-2025) HK$1,095,862
4. The interplay of language-in-education policy, language ideology and linguistic practices within discourse of internationalization in higher education – a comparative study (2018-2020) HK$ 623,992
5. Second Language(s) Learning Motivation and Identity Construction of Ethnic Minority Students in Hong Kong (2014-2016) HK$368,500

PICO-Funded Public Policy Research (PPR) Funding Scheme (Special Round) as Principal Investigator (PI)

• A Foucauldian Perspective on Citizenship and Identity (Re) Construction among University Students in Social Movements in Hong Kong (2020) HKD$458,735

Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) project as Principal Investigator (PI)

1. Family Language Policy among Underprivileged Families in Hong Kong in the digitalized Era: Antecedents, Processes and Effects on English Language Learning. (2024-2026) HK$1,348,698
2. The Effects of Family Socialisation on Second-Generation South Asian Adolescents in Hong Kong: Academic Identity Construction and Second Language Learning (2018-2020) HK$1,022,254

Research impact

• Publications received policy citations from policy documents such as those from UNESCO, World Bank, and OECD, across 4 countries/regions.

World University Network (WUN) Funded projects as Co-Investigator (Co-I)

• World Universities Network (WUN) Project Funding: Multilingualism & Mobility in the Northern & Southern Hemispheres (2015-2016) (PI: Prof Kristine Horner): working with researchers from the following universities: University of Sheffield, University of Cape Town, University of Auckland, University of Southampton, University of Alberta, University of Sydney, University of Leeds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Luxembourg
• World Universities Network (WUN) Project Funding: Negotiating Multilingual Identities in Migrant Professional Contexts (2012-2013) (PI: Prof Suresh Canagarajah), working with researchers from the following universities: Penn State University, Bristol University, University of Cape Town, Leeds University, University of Rochester, University of Sydney, University of Wisconsin at Madison, York University

Recognition and Awards

• Elected Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities (from 2025)
• Listed as the world’s top 2% scientists by Stanford University
• President's Award for Research Excellence, The Education University of Hong Kong (2022)
• Research Excellence Award, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2017)
• Young Researcher Award, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2015)

Editorship

• Associate Editor of Linguistics and Education (Q1 in Linguistics and Languages)
• Co-Editor of Multilingual Education book series, Springer
• Co-Editor of the Book Series of Critical Perspectives on Language, Mobility and International Education, Bloomsbury Publishing
• Co-Editor of Critical Inquiry in Language Studies (2020-2023)
• On editorial board of Ethnicities
• On editorial board of Research Methods in Applied Linguistics
• On editorial board of TESOL Quarterly
• On editorial board of Journal of ChinaCALL
• On editorial board of Critical Inquiry in Language Studies

Research Methodology

Sociolinguistics