Hello! I’m James Simpson. I am a Professor in the Division of Humanities at HKUST, where I have worked since 2021. I carry out research in language education and migration, and the sociolinguistics of mobility. Since coming to Hong Kong, my interest in belonging as a research topic has grown, alongside my personal interest in what it is to belong in a new place. My work in general coheres around a concern with language and social justice, particularly for people on the move. In my research I analyse communicative practices relating to migrant language education, language diversity, language policy, and literacy, identity and culture.

Hello! I’m Jennifer, and I’m currently a PhD student in the Division of Humanities (Linguistics) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. My MPhil research concerns language learner investment, which is related to belonging to a large extent. I joined the Belonging Research Network team in February 2022. My understanding of the notion of belonging has become more thorough, and I have become more interested in it through getting involved in a series of events and workshops since then.

Hello, I am Anish and am currently pursuing a PhD in Humanities (Philosophy and Religion) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) working on the idea of ecological aesthetics. Having been in Hong Kong since 2021, this city has been incredibly kind to me, allowing me to meet a whole host of amazing people, while at the same time shedding light on some under-discussed questions. The idea of belonging – what it entails and how it is often challenged based on factors out of one's control – has been one of them. Nexus-BRN allows me to contribute to bringing researchers, social workers, and people across disciplines and spectrums to examine the idea of belonging and non-belonging.

Hey! I am Ahnaaf, a member of the BRN team. Hailing from diverse backgrounds, I was often asked the daunting question, where are you from? I never had a direct answer and my Accounting major was not of much help. That is when I decided to embrace the humanities courses/department that HKUST had to offer. Through it, I am able to meet interesting personalities from around the world that each have valuable insight and experiences. Finally, I want to help others who may be interested in learning more about themselves.

Greetings! I am Michelle, an aspiring language researcher who weaves multimedia creations—web design, illustrations, film-making, and music—into my academic work. As an inquisitive learner and avid story-listener, I explore the intersection of language, society, and identity through an ethnographic lens, focusing on how identities manifest in narratives and evolve across time and space. My research ethos is rooted in developing authentic relationships with the people and the spaces I work with and honouring their narratives. I've been with Team Nexus since February 2022, and I'm looking forward to continuing my journey with the team!

Hello there! I'm Christine, a Hong Kong-Filipino writer and co-founder of be/longing, a community arts-for-education lab. be/longing responds to the historical exclusion and invisibility of HK’s minoritised im/migrant communities, leveraging the transformative power of storytelling and the arts to co-create anti-racist spaces for critical public pedagogy. Situated at the intersection of memory, migration, and global racial capitalism, my research problematises the ways in which we document minoritised im/migrant hi(stories): How might we reimagine modes of documentation that move beyond mere preservation and toward praxes of care that resist institutionalised forms of memory? This question guides my PhD research which explores the role of creative practice and collaborative storytelling in transforming processes of knowledge production.

I am an Indian by descent and a Hong Konger at heart. I am the Senior Social Worker at Christian Action’s Center for Refugees, Chungking Mansions, Kowloon, and my clients are refugees and asylum seekers from countries including India, Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Egypt, Yemen, Rwanda, Iran, and Sri Lanka. I advocate locally through government, media and public channels, and make regular appearances in the press and digital media discussing refugee and asylum seeker rights and issues. I am passionate about soccer, and in 2015 captained the UCCA (United Colours of Christian Action) soccer team, winners of the 2015 Hong Kong Street Soccer League.

Hello, I am Jessica Bradley and I am a Senior Lecturer in Literacies and Language in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, UK. My academic background is in modern languages, translation studies and applied linguistics. My research focuses mainly on artistic practices and what happens when people come together to create things. This includes exploring language as entangled with wider semiosis. I’ve recently been exploring journaling groups for mothers and birthing parents, including ethnographic research with groups in Yorkshire as linked to global practices. Belonging features quite strongly as a theme within this work.

Hello! I’m Venera Khalikova, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I have lived and worked in Russia, India, the United States, and Hong Kong, which partly explains why I have always been fascinated with migration stories and the ways in which people make themselves at home in a new culture. I pay special attention to how belonging is stratified by race, ethnicity, and language, i.e., how people of various sociocultural backgrounds experience structural inclusion or exclusion in their claims of belonging. My current project probes into some of these questions by examining the interplay of race, gender, and class among South Asian highly skilled professionals in Hong Kong.

Hei! My name is Sari Pöyhönen, and I am a professor of applied linguistics at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. My research expertise lies in the fields of language, identity and belonging, arts-based research and linguistic ethnography, minorities and language rights, and adult migrant language education. My visit to Hong Kong in autumn 2023 prompted me to reassess the concept of (non)belonging and its continuous negotiation, with language serving as just one avenue for its expression. It was important to experience and see some of the spaces in which the NB team study, work and live on a daily basis.

Hi! I am Chenye, an MGCS student at HKUST. I used to be a journalist and have worked in newspapers and TV stations. I enjoy listening to people tell their stories, and recording them on camera and in writing to reach more people. I am very delighted to have participated in the BRN team to explore belonging in Hong Kong.

Hello there! I’m Adeline, and those that know better know me as Adi. I’m one of the members of the BRN team, and my limited expertise involves running commentary in a Trans-Atlantic accent as well as the resident sounding board. Pivoting from a 2 year period in HKU MBBS, I am currently studying English Language and Literature in Oxford University this coming October. My interests include writing letters, neurodivergence and learning the recipes of my cultural heritage. The highway to my heart is paved with good food and good company, so if you’ve got a good story with food recommendations, I’m your man!

Hi guys, Fancia here! So glad to have joined the team! I really cherish the opportunity I got to know our interviewee’s stories of their sense of belonging. Having majored in sociology during college and currently doing a degree in Global China Studies at HKUST, I have always loved the qualitative method which allows me to feel the personal experiences of others. Attracted by the diverse and inclusive culture in Hong Kong, I started my narrative of belonging in HK as part of the BRN team.

Hi! My name is Li Yijun and my friends call me Winnie. I was in the MGCS Program at HKUST. As an ethnic minority girl (Hani) from Yunnan China, I kept asking myself where my sense of belonging came from, and I was lucky enough to be included in the BRN project, exploring belonging with other interesting people. I find that a large part of social life nowadays is that people struggle to maintain unfamiliar relationships. But being curious about the world, I find that the strangers around me are my pivot point to the bigger world and concrete interactions give me courage to face bigger challenges.

Hello! I'm Ping. My undergraduate studies in the Department of Chinese Studies offered me a valuable experience of approaching a culture with both an insider’s intuitive familiarity and an outsider’s analytical curiosity. This dual lens likely sparked my interest in ethnographic research. During my MAILE studies at HKUST, I was fortunate to encounter BRN, where the themes of ‘belonging’ and ‘artistic ethnography’ captured my interest. This eventually led me to join the Navigating Belonging project as a student RA. Through transcribing audio, I immersed myself in the participants’ stories, traveling across time and space within the soundscapes they created, while viewing participants' artwork allowed me to touch their narrative of belonging in a non-verbal world.