Professor Joseph Man Chan is Emeritus Professor of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and former director of the Universities Service Centre for China Studies and the Centre for Chinese Media and Comparative Communication Research. His research interest lies  in the intersection of international communication, political communication, and journalism studies. He was elected an ICA (International Communication Association) Fellow in 2014 and served as a Changjiang Chair Professor at Fudan University. He has published numerous articles in books and international journals and has been the founding chief editor of Communication & Society. His current projects deal with communication and social movements as well as collective memory.

In the decades straddling the change of sovereignty in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed the rise of social activism in place of apathy. Protest has become a significant part of its political culture, as embodied in such critical events as the July 1 massive demonstration in 2003 and the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Based on these case studies, Professor Chan's presentation examines the interaction patterns among collective behaviours, media, public opinion, and political power centres, as well as how they change in tandem with shifts in political configuration, media ecology, and movement organization.