PhD Workshop “Tourism and Living Heritage” (Hong Kong, 2027)

This PhD Workshop is organised by Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, France, the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (Centre d’études français sur la Chine contemporaine, CEFC) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong. At Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, this program is part of the project SPHINX – Sustaining and Preserving cultural Heritage: Innovation, Networking and eXpertise, a consortium led by twelve French cultural and research institutions that aims at harnessing expertise from the humanities and social sciences to renew perspectives on heritage and inform public debates*.

This interdisciplinary workshop that will take place in Hong Kong in November 2027 will bring together about 30 PhD students from universities of Europe, Hong Kong and Mainland China, from all disciplines related to heritage and tourism, to discuss the challenges and perspectives of relationships between tourism practices and living heritage in both Europe and Asia. This question has become the field of some of the most significant debates in contemporary heritage and tourism studies and the workshop aims at creating an international and interdisciplinary space where doctoral researchers can confront their theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches and empirical research, and critically examine how different academic traditions, governance systems and socio-cultural contexts shape the relationships between living heritage and tourism. 

The workshop will features field workshops and visits, meetings and exchanges with local stakeholders such as heritage and tourism managers, museum curators, local associations, researchers, heritage, tourism, and Masters of Intangible Heritage, as well as classroom sessions. The PhD students will work in small mixed groups and prepare projects to be presented, at the end of the workshop, to an audience of researchers and local stakeholders.

The call for participation for PhD students from European universities has just gone public and application is open until 30 November 2026. Each of the 15 participants from European universities selected to participate to the program will be granted a scholarship of € 1,500 to cover his/her expenses.

For more information, visit the Workshop webpage, or download the Call for participation (PDF EN, 1,3 Mo).

* This WS is co-funded by state funding managed by the French National Research Agency under the France 2030 program, as part of the SPHINX project (ANR 24 RSHS 0006), led by Sorbonne University.

Photo credits: Ryan Chan (@runie), Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, 2023 / Unsplash Licence.