Young scholars and media communication students will be offered a platform that will be tap their talents for good stories about the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The event will be the two-day Asia-Pacific Communication Graduate Forum: Greater Bay Area Macao to be held on Nov 23 and 24.

Organized by the Asia-Pacific Communication Exchange Association - a Macao-based communication organization dedicated to boosting the region's educational and academic development - the forum be useful for graduates in the region seeking career prospects and opportunities in the Bay Area.

The conference kicks off in the Hengqin Free Trade Zone, Zhuhai, on Saturday before moving to the University of Macau the following day. The theme of the forum is "Stories of GBA: New trends, new development and new challenges".

Keynote speakers will include world renowned scholars like Jonathan Zhu, chair professor of computational social science and director of the Centre for Communication Research at the City University of Hong Kong; Daya Thussu, professor of international communication at Hong Kong Baptist University; Steve Guo, professor and chair of the Research Postgraduate Studies Committee at Hong Kong Baptist University; and Chao Naipeng, professor and dean of Shenzhen University's College of Mass Communication.

Development projects in the 11-city Bay Area cluster are in full swing, coinciding with celebrations this year marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland.

This forum will provide a platform for young scholars to explore the unprecedented opportunities for development and cooperation created by the innovation and advancement of new media technology.

How to tell good stories about the Bay Area, overcome communication barriers caused by political, economic and cultural systems, and enhance the discursive power of the Bay Area globally will be discussed and explored at the gathering.

Postgraduate students, especially those from the University of Macau, are enthusiastic about the opportunities for scholarly dialogue. Many students have signed up as forum volunteers. They believe the event will be a rare window to project a new vision for the future of Macao and the Bay Area, as well as their own future opportunities. They also reckon that their efforts can make a difference in cultivating the Bay Area's global reputation.

"This is a golden opportunity for us. We live and study in Macao and may very likely work in the journalism and communication fields in the Bay Area. It's a great honor for us to participate in this forum and learn from other postgraduates and big names in the field," said a postgraduate student of the University of Macau.

(HK Edition 11/22/2019 page8)