Dr. Yuanyi Mao (’25) has been appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Beijing Normal–Hong Kong Baptist University (BNBU). Dr. Mao earned his PhD in 2025 under Prof. Ki Joon Kim’s supervision and served as a postdoctoral fellow at City University of Hong Kong until joining BNBU. His research focuses on human–AI communication in healthcare as well as online aggression and incivility, and his work has appeared in leading journals, including Social Science Computer Review, Behaviour & Information Technology, Technology in Society, Social Media + Society, and Computers in Human Behavior.

Congratulations to Dr. Mao!

Dr. Yuheng Wu has been awarded the prestigious Junior Research Fellowship by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. The fellowship will support his postdoctoral research over the next two years in the Department of Media and Communication (COM) at City University of Hong Kong, under the supervision of Prof. Ki Joon Kim.

Having joined COM in 2021 as a dual-PhD student, Dr. Wu earned his first PhD from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2025 and is currently completing his second PhD at COM under Prof. Kim's supervision. Dr. Wu's research aims to advance a socio-psychological understanding of human–AI interaction and human–machine communication, with particular attention to how increasingly agentic AI systems shape human experiences, psychological well-being, and agency. His work has appeared in leading venues, including the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, New Media & Society, and the Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Congratulations to Dr. Wu!

Prof. Kim will be on sabbatical leave from mid-December 2025 to late July 2026. All research activities and doctoral supervision will continue as usual during the leave period. 

The latest release of Stanford University’s top 2% scientist list has recognized Prof. Ki Joon Kim as one of the world’s most cited scientists for six consecutive years since its first release in 2020. According to the ranking based on the 2024 Scopus citation database, Prof. Kim is among the top 0.5% of the most cited scientists worldwide and ranks number 3 in Asia in the field of human factors (top 0.3% across all scientific fields).

Dr. Sai Wang (’21) and Dr. Bo Hu (’25), Prof. Ki Joon Kim’s doctoral advisees and former lab members, have recently landed tenure-track faculty positions at leading universities in Hong Kong and Macau. Dr. Wang has been promoted from Research Assistant Professor to Assistant Professor in the Department of Interactive Media at Hong Kong Baptist University after receiving General Research Fund for two consecutive years from the Research Council of Hong Kong.

Dr. Hu has been appointed Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Arts at Macau University of Science and Technology, where he will lead interdisciplinary research on human–machine communication.

A big congratulations to these two rising scholars!

Yuanyi Mao and Bo Hu, both supervised by Prof. Ki Joon Kim, successfully defended their dissertations, titled "Understanding Doctor–Patient Dynamics in AI-Enabled Healthcare: The Effects of AI Doctors’ Communication Styles on Psychological and Health Outcomes" and "The Roles of Verbal Socialness and Visual Anthropomorphism in Mental Health Chatbot Counselors for Individuals with Social Anxiety." As generative AI is being integrated into society as a powerful tool that presents opportunities and challenges across diverse fields, their dissertations offer timely insights into the roles and strategic applications of AI, especially in the healthcare domain.

Congratulations to Dr. Mao and Dr. Hu!

Prof. Ki Joon Kim has received the Teaching Development Grant funded by the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong. The funded project, titled “Theories and Skills for Designing Generative AI-based Chatbots from a Communication Perspective,” aims to enable students enrolled in Prof. Kim’s courses to learn various communication theories and concepts that inform how users engage with technology and guide them in developing theory- and evidence-based design strategies that foster overall positive user experiences when interacting with generative AI. By bridging theory with practical applications, this project aims to prepare students for future opportunities in an AI-driven landscape.

The latest release of Stanford University’s top 2% scientist list has recognized Prof. Ki Joon Kim as one of the world’s most cited scientists for five consecutive years since its first release in 2020. According to the ranking based on the 2023 Scopus citation database, Prof. Kim is among the top 0.5% of the most cited scientists worldwide and ranks number 2 in Asia in the field of human factors.

The latest release of Stanford University’s top 2% scientist list has recognized Prof. Ki Joon Kim as one of the world’s most cited scientists for four consecutive years since its first release in 2020. According to the ranking based on the 2022 Scopus citation database, Prof. Kim is among the top 0.6% of the most cited scientists worldwide and ranks number 2 in Asia in the field of human factors.

Two Ph.D. students, Bo Hu and Yanfei Wu, have joined the lab.

Bo holds a B.A. degree in Journalism from Northwest University and an M.A. degree in Journalism and Communication from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He is currently a 4th-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong.

Yanfei holds a B.A. degree in Network and New Media from Sichuan University and an M.A. degree in Emerging Media Studies from Boston University. She is a new Ph.D. student joining the Department in the fall of 2023.

The recent update of Stanford University’s top 2% scientist ranking recognized Prof. Kim as one of the world’s most cited scientists for three consecutive years since its first release in 2020. According to the latest ranking based on the 2021 Scopus citation database, Prof. Kim is the world’s top 0.5% most cited scientist in the field of human factors and top 0.4% in all scientific fields considered together.

Prof. Kim is currently on sabbatical leave until early January 2023. All research activities and doctoral supervision will be carried out as usual during the leave period.

Prof. Ki Joon Kim has received a competitive research grant from the Academy of Korean Studies, Ministry of Education, Korea. The funded project, titled “Effects of South Korean Homogeneity on the Perceptions of Patients with Coronavirus Disease: A Comparison of Hybrid Social Identities in Hong Kong,” will examine how the South Korean people’s homogeneous identity emphasizing pure Korean-ness influences the way they perceive and respond to COVID-19 patients by comparing with the role played by the Hong Kong people’s complex, hybrid social identities (“Chinese, but also Hongkongese” or “Hongkongese, but also Chinese”), with implications for greater understanding and sociopsychological healing of polarized individuals during the pandemic and post-pandemic eras.

In 2020, a study conducted by a Stanford University research team recognized Prof. Ki Joon Kim as one of the world’s top 1% most cited scientists in the field of human factors based on the 2019 Scopus citation database.

The latest update of the study based on the 2020 Scopus citation database indicates that Prof. Kim is now the world’s top 0.5% most cited scientist. He ranks 74 among 14,266 scientists who have published at least five papers in the field of human factors. Only three scientists in the top 150 are affiliated with Asian universities, namely City University of Hong Kong, Nanyang Technological University, and the University of Tokyo.

Prof. Ki Joon Kim has received the 2021 Outstanding Research Award and a prize of US$ 22,000, the highest recognition of research excellence at City University of Hong Kong. An expert panel comprising senior academicians of the University and external reviewers unanimously selected Prof. Kim as this year’s award recipient in recognition of his world-class research and scholarship. Only three humanities and social sciences faculty members have won the award before Prof. Kim since its inception in 2007. 

Two new Ph.D. students, Yuanyi Mao and Yuheng Wu, have joined the lab.

Yuanyi holds a B.A. degree in Broadcasting from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and a M.A. degree in Journalism and Communication from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU)’s School of Media and Communication.

Yuheng is a joint Ph.D. student also joining from SJTU. He holds a B.A. degree in Advertising from Sichuan University and is currently a 1st year Ph.D. student in the School of Media and Communication at SJTU.

Sai Wang, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong, successfully defended her dissertation titled “Cross-cutting Exposure in Online News Comments: How Group Identification and Uncivil Discourse Affect Deliberative Outcomes.” She will soon join Hong Kong Baptist University as a research assistant professor. 

Another exciting news is that Sai has received the 2021 Top Student Paper Award from the Communication and Technology Division of the International Communication Association for her paper entitled “Man vs. Machine: The Impact of Algorithmic Comment Moderation on News Perceptions.” The final version of this paper has been published in Digital Journalism.

Prof. Ki Joon Kim has been awarded an early promotion to an Associate Professor with substantiation effective from 1 July 2021, becoming the first and only faculty member ever awarded early promotion with tenure in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong. It was also the only early promotion in entire University in 2021. The promotion was unanimously recommended by the internal staffing committee and external reviewers, in recognition of his distinct contributions to academia and the University.

After successfully completing his earlier pedagogical project supported by the Teaching Start-up Grant (TSG), Prof. Ki Joon Kim has recently received the Teaching Development Grant (TDG) from the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong, becoming the Department’s first and only recipient of both TSG and TDG. The funded TDG project, titled “Interacting Socially with Artificial Intelligence: Learning to Code, Communicate, and Collaborate with a Smart Robot,” aims to enable students enrolled in Prof. Kim’s courses to better understand and predict the nature, processes, and outcomes of human-AI interaction and AI-mediated communication.

A recent study conducted by a Stanford University research team recognized Prof. Ki Joon Kim as one of the world’s top 1% most-cited scientists. In the field of human factors, Prof. Kim ranked 116 among 13,251 scientists (with at least five published papers) identified by the 2019 Scopus database. The ranking was prepared according to a subject-wise analysis using a composite indicator that included various citation metrics such as total citations, h-index, and hm-index.

Prof. Ki Joon Kim has received the 2020/21 General Research Fund (GRF) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. The funded GRF project, titled “Social Consensus on Ethical Dilemmas of Autonomous Vehicles in Hong Kong: A Comparison with Collectivist and Individualist Cultures,” investigates whether/how users adopt different moral reasoning strategies to process varying ethical dilemmas arising from the adoption and use of autonomous vehicles and how this process shapes their moral judgment and perceptions of the vehicles, with an emphasis on the imperative role of cultural differences (Eastern vs. Western) in perceiving and resolving ethical dilemmas pertaining to the technology. 

Prof. Kim is the Department’s only recipient of this year's GRF grant.

Sai Wang, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong, has recently published single- and lead-authored articles in top journals. The study published in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media investigates how the presumed effects of uncivil news comments on other users influence perceivers’ intention to engage in restrictive or corrective counteractive measures. Another study published in New Media & Society examines factors influencing cyberbystanders’ likelihood of intervening in cyberbullying on social media. The study published earlier this year in the Journal of Product & Brand Management explores the psychological process through which negative news coverage of a celebrity endorser influences consumer attitudes and purchase intention. “In less than a year, Sai has published three thought provoking articles in top-tier SSCI journals and presented four papers at major international conferences. She is one of the finest outcomes of our doctoral program and is already an independent, productive researcher,” said her Ph.D. supervisor, Prof. Ki Joon Kim.

Prof. Ki Joon Kim has been appointed as an associate editor of Behaviour & Information Technology (BIT), a highly regarded SSCI journal for the study of human–computer interaction and information technology. BIT, published by Taylor & Francis since 1982, focuses on the relationship between people and technology and reports original research on the social, behavioural, and psychological impact of human interactions with information and communications technology in all its forms. Prof. Kim welcomes submissions from a variety of disciplines, including human–computer interaction, psychology, ergonomics, sociology, design, and especially communication.

Prof. Ki Joon Kim has received the 2018 New Researcher Award and Teaching Start-up Grant recognizing his distinguished research excellence and innovative teaching initiatives at City University of Hong Kong. The awards were established to emphasize the University’s commitment to creating an environment conducive to high quality research and teaching at an internationally competitive level. Prof. Kim is the Department's first and only recipient of the awards.