Fanny Chung

Fanny Chung’s interdisciplinary scholarly interests bridge music education, cultural and educational policy, and arts management. Her research aims to enhance contemporary understanding of music and arts education within broader contexts, focusing on music curriculum development, early childhood music, creative pedagogies, and music teacher training. To extend the sociocultural impact of music education and the creative arts, her interdisciplinary research engages with educational and cultural policy, audience development through music education, and cultural arts management and advocacy.

Chung’s research has been supported by esteemed major research grants. Her recent General Research Fund (GRF) project (2025/26), awarded by the Research Grants Council (RGC), intersects music education, cultural policy, and cognitive development by exploring the connections between music education and cultural, national, and social identity, grounded in cognitive-developmental and social identity theories. Another recent GRF project awarded by the RGC investigates cultural practices in adopting a play-based approach in early childhood music education, engaging with teacher self-efficacy, the neuroscience of learning, and child engagement. Her other recent publicly funded projects include one that examines the development of cultural and creative industries, funded by the Lord Wilson Heritage Fund of the HKSAR government, and a project exploring art-technology adoption in the performing arts as well as another examining audience building through arts education and outreach within performing arts institutions, supported by the Research Direct Grant from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Additionally, her project on the curation of digital exhibitions as an approach in cultural and creative industries education through a peer-learning model was funded by the University Grants Council (UGC). Chung has also led or contributed to projects funded by major public bodies, including the Quality Education Fund (QEF) and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

Chung’s research has been published in top-ranked refereed academic journals, edited volumes, and by esteemed academic book publishers. She has recently published two books. Her monograph, Music and Play in Early Childhood Education: Teaching Music in Hong Kong, China and the World, published by Springer/Palgrave MacMillan, presents an extensive investigation into curriculum and instruction in music education in relation to globalization, westernization, cosmopolitanism, and nationalization. This book makes a vital contribution by introducing a conceptual model of music teacher education within a globally relevant framework. Focusing on community music, her recent research-based book, Transmission of Cantonese Opera in Hong Kong amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis, examines social mobilization and vocational behavioral changes in artistic and teaching practices, providing evidence-based recommendations for policymaking, arts education, artistic practice, and art-technology through the lens of cultural and arts management.

Chung's research has gained international recognition. She is frequently invited to participate in high-level international meetings and to serve on the editorial boards of esteemed academic journals, including her role as an editorial board member for Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (HSSCOMMS, Springer) [SSCI], and an article editor for Sage Journals [Scopus, Q1], and as a reviewer for numerous prominent international journals. Recently, she was invited to serve as an advisory board member for UNICEF Innocenti, where she contributes her research expertise. Additionally, she was appointed as a scientific project reviewer by the national evaluation panel of the Croatian Science Foundation (CSF). Chung’s research in music education was also selected by the European Association for Music in Schools (EAS) to be included in the world-renowned volume European Perspectives on Music Education. Locally, she has served as the Chair of the Program Validation Panel (PVP) for Early Childhood Education (Inclusive Education) in tertiary education.

Before joining the Academy of Music at Hong Kong Baptist University, Chung was a faculty member in the Cultural Management program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where she has been the awardee of “Outstanding Teaching Award” twice. Her accomplishments have been recognized by CUHK’s official Centre for Learning Enhancement and Research (CLEAR), and her research-based practices were featured in the university-wide teacher training program on Moodle as exemplary teaching practices. Additionally, Chung’s research has developed a profound impact on her fields through publications, frequent invited talks, seminar organizations, and advisory services at higher education institutions, schools, and public institutions, both regionally and internationally. Her fourteen books on creative arts education, published by Oxford University Press, have markedly influenced curriculum and pedagogical practices within the music education community. Currently, Chung serves as an Associate Professor in the Academy of Music at Hong Kong Baptist University.