Leung Che Miriam Lau

A Day in my Life

Well, I teach 15 hours per week to associate degree and degree students across two campuses. Apart from teaching, I need to manage a team of part-time teachers, chair regular meetings of the grants vetting sub-committee, liaise with the head of research office on promoting research culture among colleagues. In addition, I need to conduct my own research. For example, I am the co-investigator of a government funded project on "H.C. Andersen and Worlding in His Tales" and next month, I will be giving a public seminar on children's adaptations on "A comparison of Hans Christian Anderson’s stories in the children’s books of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan". I am now a lecturer, chairperson of the grants vetting sub-committee and academic coordinator for English subjects at Hong Kong Baptist University. My university has a strong focus on humanities, which suits my research interests and professional career.

My Journey

I was already teaching at a higher institution in Hong Kong while studying part-time for my PhD in Birmingham on a split site mode. My previous employer had funded a large portion of my PhD studies, and upon graduation, I completed 2 years of working with them. 

My Birmingham Experience

The best things about the course is getting to know Prof. Michael Dobson and Dr. Abigail Rokison, who were my former PhD co-supervisors. Even after graduating for 8 years now, we have still stayed in touch! I had met them again in 2024 when I attended the International Shakespeare Conference. Also, I had invited Prof. Dobson to come to Hong Kong to give a plenary speech at the Hong Kong Shakespeare Conference at Baptist University in 2026, which he had kindly accepted. This will be a remarkable event because the last Shakespeare Conference held in HK was 28 years ago, back in 1997, a year of the handover of HK.

Birmingham's Impact

Getting a PhD from the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham had helped me to advance my career. I have also gained membership into the International Shakespeare Conference, which is a reputable conference held bi-annually at the Institute, and which membership is by invitation only.

My Achievements

Springer had published my book in 2017 on "Teaching Shakespeare to ESL Students: A Study of Four Major Plays", co-written by myself and another Birmingham alumnus, Dr. Anna Tso, who is now the English department head at Hang Seng University. My former PhD supervisor, Prof. Dobson, had written the preface for our book! Palgrave is about to publish my second book on "Post-1997 Hong Kong Shakespeare" in their "Global Shakespeare" series, which was transformed from my PhD thesis.

Advice for Students

You may not get what you most want in your career immediately after graduating.But don't worry, you will get it after some time.If you feel you are stuck, it is because you are almost there.