--- title: "Ideas in Action 2026 — Hong Kong | Model Diplomat" description: "Ideas in Action: Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Conference on Humanities, Social Sciences, and Public Policy is a professional conference in…" url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/conferences/professional/ideas-in-action-undergraduate-interdisciplinary-research-conference-on-humanities-social-sciences-and-public-policy-2026" --- # Ideas in Action: Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Conference on Humanities, Social Sciences, and Public Policy Jun 26, 2026[Hong Kong, Hong Kong](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1\&query=Hong%20Kong%2C%20Hong%20Kong)In-person [Registration open](https://hkcsh-wix.chinese.hku.hk/group/call-for-papers/discussion/99e339fd-60f6-49b5-ae62-747ad65697d6) The Ideas in Action conference offers an opportunity for undergraduate students to present interdisciplinary research in the humanities, social sciences, and public policy. Hosted in Hong Kong, this event fosters intellectual exchange among emerging scholars. It provides a platform for students to share their academic work, engage with peers, and receive feedback on their contributions to these critical fields. ## Committees & topics - Topics Humanities and Cultural Studies · Social Sciences · Public Policy and Social Issues · Economics, Business, and AI Applications ## Why it matters This conference is significant for its focus on undergraduate research, providing a crucial early-career platform for students in the humanities, social sciences, and public policy. By emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches, it encourages participants to consider complex issues from multiple perspectives, a skill increasingly vital in global problem-solving. The event's location in Hong Kong places it at a crossroads of diverse cultural and academic traditions, potentially enriching the discussions and perspectives shared. The gathering of young scholars from various disciplines underscores the growing recognition that contemporary challenges rarely fit neatly into single academic categories. Whether addressing social inequalities, historical interpretations, or policy effectiveness, an interdisciplinary lens can lead to more robust and innovative solutions. This event, therefore, serves as a foundational experience for future leaders and researchers, equipping them with the analytical tools and collaborative mindset necessary to tackle multifaceted global issues. ## How to prepare Prospective participants should focus on developing research that demonstrates a clear interdisciplinary connection, bridging at least two of the conference's core areas: humanities, social sciences, and public policy. Submissions should highlight how different methodologies or theoretical frameworks inform a more comprehensive understanding of their chosen topic. Given the international setting in Hong Kong, considering how global or regional contexts influence their research questions would also be beneficial. Students should prepare to articulate not only their findings but also the process of their interdisciplinary inquiry. This includes explaining why a multi-faceted approach was necessary and how it enriched their conclusions. Being ready to engage in discussions that challenge their perspectives and to articulate the broader implications of their work will be key to a successful presentation and a valuable conference experience. ## Country perspectives Where the most-relevant 5 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile. [China](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [As a major global power, China's academic institutions frequently engage in interdisciplinary research, particularly in social sciences and public policy, to address its rapid development and societal changes.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Chinese universities and research centers are significant contributors to studies in public policy and social sciences, often focusing on governance, economic development, and cultural studies within a national and regional context. Participation from CHN scholars would bring perspectives on policy implementation and societal evolution in a large, dynamic economy.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [The United States has a strong tradition of interdisciplinary studies, with numerous universities encouraging research that crosses traditional academic boundaries in humanities, social sciences, and public policy.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Academics from the USA often lead in theoretical advancements and empirical studies across these fields, particularly in areas like behavioral economics, political science, and cultural studies. Their participation would likely introduce diverse methodological approaches and theoretical debates.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [The United Kingdom's universities are known for their robust humanities and social science departments, often fostering interdisciplinary collaboration on historical, social, and policy-related research.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Researchers from the GBR could contribute insights from established traditions in political philosophy, sociology, and public administration, offering comparative perspectives on policy development and social structures.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [India](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [India's academic landscape is increasingly emphasizing interdisciplinary research to tackle complex development challenges, integrating humanities, social sciences, and policy studies.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Indian scholars could bring unique perspectives on issues related to development, social justice, and cultural heritage, often drawing on a rich tapestry of historical and contemporary challenges in a diverse society.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [South Africa](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/south-africa) [South Africa's academic community actively engages in interdisciplinary research, particularly in social sciences and public policy, to address post-apartheid societal challenges and development goals.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/south-africa) [Role in topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/south-africa) [Participants from ZAF could offer critical insights into transitional justice, post-colonial studies, and the complexities of nation-building, drawing from their unique historical and social context.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/south-africa) ## Topics & background The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it. 1 ### Humanities and Cultural Studies The humanities — encompassing history, literature, philosophy, languages, religious studies, and the arts — have long served as the interpretive backbone of how societies understand themselves and others. Their modern institutional form emerged from 19th-century European universities, but the field has been profoundly reshaped over the past half-century by postcolonial critique, the linguistic and cultural turns, and digital methods. Cultural studies, in particular, grew out of the Birmingham School in the 1960s as a response to the perceived elitism of traditional literary scholarship, foregrounding popular culture, race, class, and gender as objects of serious inquiry. Today the field confronts overlapping pressures: declining enrollments and funding in many Western universities, contentious debates over decolonizing curricula and repatriating cultural artifacts, and the disruptive arrival of generative AI in textual and artistic production. At the same time, governments in East Asia, the Gulf, and parts of Africa are investing heavily in heritage preservation and soft-power cultural diplomacy, repositioning the humanities as a strategic asset. Researchers are increasingly asked to demonstrate public value while defending the autonomy of interpretive scholarship. For undergraduate researchers, the central questions are how cultural production shapes political identity, how memory and heritage are contested across borders, and how humanistic methods can engage urgent issues such as migration, climate, and technology without collapsing into instrumentalism. Key players - [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Hosts the largest humanities research infrastructure and leads debates on academic freedom and AI in scholarship.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) - [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Origin of cultural studies; central to ongoing decolonization and museum-restitution debates.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) - [France](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) [Major exporter of cultural theory and a key actor in repatriation of African heritage objects.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) - [China](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Invests heavily in Confucius Institutes and heritage diplomacy as instruments of cultural soft power.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) - [India](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Drives postcolonial scholarship and active negotiations over the return of looted artifacts.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) - [Nigeria](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/nigeria) [Leading voice in restitution claims (e.g., Benin Bronzes) and African humanities renewal.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/nigeria) 2 ### Social Sciences The social sciences — sociology, political science, anthropology, psychology, geography, and related fields — coalesced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as scholars sought systematic, evidence-based accounts of industrializing societies. The post-1945 era brought rapid professionalization, quantification, and the rise of behavioral approaches, while the late 20th century saw a partial return to qualitative, ethnographic, and critical methods. The field has always negotiated tension between aspirations to scientific rigor and recognition that social phenomena are historically and culturally embedded. In the 2010s and 2020s, the social sciences experienced a 'replication crisis,' particularly in psychology and experimental economics, prompting reforms around preregistration, open data, and transparency. Simultaneously, the availability of large-scale digital trace data, computational methods, and machine learning has transformed empirical practice — raising new questions about privacy, algorithmic bias, and the ethics of studying online populations. Polarization, misinformation, migration, and democratic backsliding have become central research agendas, and Global South scholars increasingly challenge the discipline's historically Western-centric assumptions. Key questions for undergraduate research include how to combine computational and interpretive methods responsibly, how to study politically sensitive topics across regimes with different research freedoms, and how social-scientific evidence can inform policy without overreaching its empirical base. Key players - [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Largest producer of social-science research; epicenter of the replication-reform movement.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) - [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Home to influential survey infrastructure (e.g., ESRC, British Social Attitudes) and mixed-methods traditions.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) - [Germany](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) [Anchors European comparative social research via Max Planck institutes and the ESS.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) - [China](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Rapidly expanding computational social science, with distinctive constraints on field research and data access.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) - [Brazil](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/brazil) [Leading Global South voice on inequality, urban studies, and democratic resilience research.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/brazil) - [South Africa](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/south-africa) [Hub for African social science and decolonial methodological debates.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/south-africa) 3 ### Public Policy and Social Issues Public policy as a distinct field emerged in the mid-20th century, blending economics, political science, and public administration to analyze how governments design and implement interventions. Its evidence-based turn, accelerated by the work of bodies like the OECD, World Bank, and What Works centers, has pushed for randomized trials, cost-benefit analysis, and behavioral insights ('nudge units') in everything from tax compliance to public health. Yet the field has also been criticized for technocratic narrowness and for underweighting power, identity, and historical injustice. Contemporary policy debates are dominated by overlapping crises: post-pandemic fiscal strain, housing affordability, demographic aging in advanced economies and youth unemployment in much of the Global South, climate adaptation, migration governance, and rising inequality. Many democracies face declining trust in institutions, complicating delivery of even technically sound policies. Meanwhile, the rise of industrial policy — from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act to the EU Green Deal and China's strategic-sector planning — has reopened long-dormant debates about the role of the state in markets. For undergraduate research, central issues include how to evaluate policy interventions rigorously, how to balance efficiency and equity, how to design institutions resilient to political shocks, and how lessons travel (or fail to travel) across very different governance contexts. Key players - [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Major laboratory for industrial policy revival, federalism, and contentious social-policy debates.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) - [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Pioneer of behavioral public policy and What Works evidence centers.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) - [Germany](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) [Model for codetermination, vocational training, and energy-transition policy.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) - [Sweden](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/sweden) [Reference case for universalist welfare-state design and active labor-market policies.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/sweden) - [Singapore](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/singapore) [Influential exemplar of technocratic public administration and housing policy.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/singapore) - [Brazil](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/brazil) [Source of major conditional cash transfer (Bolsa Família) and participatory budgeting innovations.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/brazil) 4 ### Economics, Business, and AI Applications Economics and business scholarship were transformed in the late 20th century by the rise of game theory, behavioral economics, and the empirical 'credibility revolution' that brought quasi-experimental methods to the center of applied work. Business research, meanwhile, moved from descriptive case studies toward data-intensive analysis of strategy, organizational behavior, and operations. The 2008 financial crisis prompted deep reassessment of macroeconomic assumptions, financial regulation, and the social legitimacy of economics itself. The current decade is defined by the rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence into economic life. Generative AI is reshaping productivity, labor markets, and the structure of firms, while machine learning is being absorbed into mainstream econometrics and finance. Policymakers are grappling with competition concerns around a small number of dominant AI and cloud providers, the geopolitics of semiconductor supply chains, AI safety and governance (advanced through the EU AI Act, the U.S. executive actions, and the international AI Safety Summit process), and the distributional consequences of automation. At the same time, persistent issues — inflation dynamics, sovereign debt distress in developing countries, climate-aligned finance, and the future of globalization — remain unresolved. Undergraduate research in this area sits at the intersection of empirical economics, business strategy, and computer science: studying how AI affects firms and workers, how markets and institutions should be redesigned for an AI-enabled economy, and how to evaluate AI tools' real economic impact rather than their hype. Key players - [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Home to leading economics departments, frontier AI labs, and the dominant capital markets.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) - [China](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Second-largest economy and a major AI producer pursuing state-directed industrial strategy.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) - [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Global financial center and convener of the international AI Safety Summit process.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) - [Germany](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) [Industrial powerhouse navigating AI adoption, energy costs, and the EU AI Act.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) - [Japan](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/japan) [Aging-economy testbed for automation and robotics in business and services.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/japan) - [India](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Fastest-growing major economy and key supplier of AI talent, IT services, and digital public infrastructure.](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) ## Resources News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for Ideas in Action: Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Conference on Humanities, Social Sciences, and Public Policy. Recent reporting to ground your prep [Trump's Legal Battles Impact 2026 Elections](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/trumps-legal-battles-and-political-influence-shape-2026-elections) [Trump's Economic Reset](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/trumps-economic-reset-aiming-to-tackle-high-gas-prices) [GOP Conservative Factions Clash Over Trump](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/gops-conservative-factions-clash-amid-trumps-influence) [Trump's Polling Decline Impacts 2026 Midterms](https://modeldiplomat.com/story/trumps-polling-decline-alters-2026-midterm-landscape) Lessons Bite-sized lessons to build the basics [Gender Dynamics Across Cultures](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/gender-dynamics-across-cultures) [Hidden Stakeholders](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/hidden-stakeholders) [Engagement Strategies](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/engagement-strategies) [Dynamic Analysis](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/dynamic-analysis) Courses Guided courses that go deeper on the topic [Policy Brief Writing](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/courses/policy-brief) [Cross-Cultural Communication](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/courses/cross-cultural) [Advanced Negotiation](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/courses/advanced-negotiation) [Multilateral Negotiation](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/courses/multilateral-negotiation) The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance [United States](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-states) [United Kingdom](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/united-kingdom) [France](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/france) [China](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/china) [India](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/india) [Nigeria](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/nigeria) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/nigeria) [Germany](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/germany) [Brazil](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/brazil) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/brazil) [South Africa](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/south-africa) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/south-africa) [Sweden](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/sweden) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/sweden) [Singapore](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/singapore) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/singapore) [Japan](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/japan) [Country dossier](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/japan) ## Frequently asked questions - - - Free account Save conferences, research any topic with AI, build position papers, and keep your daily prep streak — free. 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