Biography

From 1997 to 2010, I pursued my career in life insurance and headed the Claims Department of a few multinational insurance companies in Hong Kong. During these 13 years, I obtained a top-up Bachelor's degree in Business Administration (Hons) in University of Lincoln (UK) and a Master of Arts degree in English for Specific Purposes with Credit under the supervision of Professor Vijay K. Bhatia in City University of Hong Kong. During my studies in my master's degree, I developed a genuine interest in researching into business and promotional genres. Therefore, I embarked on my doctoral studies on a part-time basis in 2007. I have also been lecturing courses in English for Specific Purposes and English for Academic Purposes in local universities since 2010.

Research Interests

While managing the Claims Department in insurance companies in Hong Kong, I found that there was an interesting area for research in insurance marketing brochures. Insurers have to inform their potential clients of both the covered items (positive messages) and excluded items (negative messages) within a single document. My thesis is therefore to investigate how writers of this promotional genre adopt discourse strategies that can strike a balance in communicating these two conflicting messages in a single document. My thesis also examines how this dilemma can be handled by insurers in Hong Kong and the Mainland differently with their distinctive cultural backgrounds. As the subject of the research is a promotional genre, advertising language and non-verbal communication tactics are also the domains of my research. In order to proceed my research in a comprehensive manner, I will conduct a text analysis of authentic insurance marketing brochures in Hong Kong and the mainland. I will also collect the opinions from insurance practitioners and agents by questionnaires on how this genre is constructed, used, interpreted and exploited in real-life situations. To voyage in this adventurous trip, I have the support from Professor Margaret Rogers and Dr. Sabine Braun who offer me invaluable guidance and advice.

Conferences and Seminars

Attendance at the Seminar "Teaching and Research: Dispelling Common Misconceptions", City University of Hong Kong, 14th July 2009

Paper presentation at the CTS PhD Research Student Seminar "Methods and Theories in and out of Translation Studies", University of Surrey, 25th September 2009