Media

Professor Daniel Chua, Mr & Mrs Hung Hing-ying Professor and Chair of Music of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), has been elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences, with a Fellowship of over 1,600 of the leading minds in these subjects from the UK and overseas.

Professor Chua is among 29 outstanding scholars elected to the Corresponding Fellowship this year. The Fellowship is the highest honour that the British Academy confers on non-UK residents in recognition of their scholarly distinction in the humanities and social sciences.

Professor Chua said, “It’s such a joy to receive international recognition from the British Academy, but I am even more delighted that this honour consolidates the global position of a university that is so close to my heart.  In this regard, I must thank my colleagues in the Music Department for honing my thinking, and for their collective leadership in shaping the study of music in Asia and across the globe.  I learn from them regularly.  It’s amazing to see how a small but exceptionally talented team of scholars can have so much impact.  When it comes to music, people in academia are listening to HKU!  And that deserves a little fanfare and, with my election to the British Academy, provides an excuse to blow our own trumpet (having taken a PCR test beforehand, of course). Toot!”.

HKU Dean of Arts Professor Derek Collins congratulated Professor Chua on his distinguished accomplishments. “Professor Daniel Chua is a world-renowned musicologist.  His election as a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy is a tremendous personal and professional honour.  It's also a testament to the scholarly excellence and diversity we celebrate in the Faculty of Arts at The University of Hong Kong,” said Professor Collins.

Before joining the University of Hong Kong in 2008 to head the School of Humanities, Professor Daniel Chua was the Director of Studies at St John’s College Cambridge, and later Professor of Music Theory and Analysis at King’s College London. He is the recipient of the 2004 Royal Musical Association’s Dent Medal.  He was elected as the Corresponding Member of the American Musicological Society in 2018.  He is currently the President of the International Musicological Society.  Professor Chua is an advocate of global musicology, and promotes the role of the humanities in leadership development.  He has sought to create a cultural ambience in HKU, particularly through the MUSE concert series, as a form of immersive learning.  He has written four monographs on music, focusing on a different aspect of musicology ­ – theory, history, philosophy, and technology.  He is currently completing a fifth book on music and joy in the hope of bringing some good cheer in these trying times.

Media Enquiries:
Communications and Public Affairs Office, HKU
Ms Jaymee Ng (Tel: 3910 3612/ Email: ngjaymee@hku.hk)