Postgraduate Student Life @ CUHK

Growing up in Mexico, René Rosado González was drawn to the great polymaths of history - biologists who were also philosophers, economists who were also sociologists - figures who treated knowledge as an interconnected web rather than a series of sealed compartments.

That instinct followed him into academia, where he found himself increasingly frustrated by the hyper-specialisation of Western research culture. Time and again, when he tried to articulate what he actually wanted to study, he hit the same wall. “I applied to several institutions in the past, but every time I tried to share what I wanted to do for my dissertation, they simply told me it wasn't feasible or that it didn't fit the mold of their current work,” he explains.

Then came the interview at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). “The first question my supervisor asked me during the interview was, 'What is the novelty in your research?' That was the moment I knew this was the right place.”

A Research Agenda Built for a Complex World

Now a PhD candidate in Sociology at CUHK, René's research focuses on Latin America's evolving role in global migration, a region no longer simply sending migrants northward, but increasingly a complex hub of returnees and shifting international flows. He saw in Hong Kong a compelling theoretical parallel.

“Historically, Hong Kong is an emblematic case of a global hub for migration,” he explains. “The city manages complex dynamics of sending and receiving populations, including a significant influx of returnees and migrants from Chinese Mainland. I believe there was something in the very nature of Hong Kong that served as the perfect environment to contrast the findings of my research.”

That alignment between his subject matter and the surroundings is not incidental - it is, for René, one of the most intellectually energising aspects of pursuing a PhD in Hong Kong at one of Asia's leading research universities.

The Hong Kong PhD Fellowship: More Than Funding

As a recipient of the prestigious Hong Kong PhD Fellowship (HKPFS), René has the financial freedom to conduct research at the highest level - attending international workshops and conferences, and pursuing opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach. But he is quick to point out that the fellowship's value extends well beyond the financial.

“It connects you to a network of incredible people, and seeing the amazing work they are doing pushes you to keep pace,” he says. That competitive but supportive atmosphere has already expanded his work in unexpected directions. In his first year alone, René taught a machine learning workshop for undergraduate and master's students, an initiative that reflects both his own intellectual range and the fellowship's encouragement of scholars who push beyond conventional expectations.

A Department That Invests in Its Students

Despite being only in his first year, René has already made significant progress towards high-level publication - progress he attributes directly to the culture of the CUHK’s Sociology department, currently ranked #30 worldwide in QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026.

“One of my final papers for an advanced theory course received great feedback, and my professor, Professor Cohen, encouraged me to submit it to a conference to gain further insight,” he recalls. That paper has since been accepted by the American Sociological Association (ASA) conference - a remarkable achievement for a first-year doctoral student.

Monthly meetings with his supervisor, Professor Jaemin Lee, have been equally formative. “It is a moral commitment because these mentors invest their time and effort into your success,” he says. “They provide guidance on how to structure an idea and where to aim for publication, which is incredibly refreshing.”

A City That Thinks in Layers

Hong Kong itself has reshaped the way René sees the world. Coming from Mexico, he was struck by the city's refusal to choose between its past and its future. “What is amazing about Hong Kong is that it balances both tradition and modernity,” he says. “You can observe a high-tech city and simultaneously see people practising age-old traditions on the streets. I've come to realise that modernity and tradition are not opposites; they are actually complementary.”

It is a realisation that has quietly informed his sociological thinking - and one that could only have come from living in a city as layered as Hong Kong.

Building Bridges Across Continents

René is acutely conscious of the position he occupies: a Latin American scholar trained in Asia, moving between academic worlds that rarely speak to each other. He is actively leveraging that position, presenting his work at the Latin American Sociology Association (ALAS) and participating in the Summer Institute of Computational Social Sciences (SICSS) in Bogotá. He sees himself as a “central node” connecting Asian and Western academic spheres. “When I interact with scholars outside of Asia, I notice that my training allows me to compete with the best,” he says.

A recent conference on Chinese text data brought that confidence into sharp focus. Watching his supervisor and other faculty present cutting-edge work with precision and clarity was, he says, a defining moment. “Seeing the experts I learn from, and witnessing the way they simplify complex concepts, really inspired me. That is the goal I want to aim for.”

For a researcher who once struggled to find a programme willing to embrace his interdisciplinary vision, René Rosado Gonzalez has found at The Chinese University of Hong Kong exactly what he was looking for: a place where novelty is not just tolerated, but actively demanded, and where a scholar with one foot in Latin America and another in Asia can build a career that belongs fully to neither world, and productively to both.