The Department of Sociology of the University of Macau (UM) Faculty of Social Sciences recently held a criminology workshop series. During the event, experts and scholars from around the world exchanged ideas and had in-depth discussions on topics in criminology via Zoom. Organised and chaired by Prof Xu Jianhua, head of the Department of Sociology, a total of more than 700 people participated in the first three workshops of the series.
The first workshop held on 24 April, titled ‘How Did We Publish Our First Criminological Articles?: Sharing From Young Scholars’ featured five speakers, namely Prof Wang Peng from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Prof Li Enshen from the University of Queensland, Prof Grace Mou from SOAS University of London, PhD candidate Zhang Ian from the Australia National University, and PhD candidate Eddie Wei from the University of Cambridge. Topics in the discussion included the motivation to complete the first research article, experiences in data collection, as well as the process of writing, submitting, and editing the article. Both Prof Xu and the speakers shared their experience in detail with the audience.
Titled ‘The Art of Quantitative Criminology: Sharing from Distinguished Scholars’, the second workshop held on 15 May, featured four top Chinese criminologists, namely Prof Xie Min from the University of Maryland, Prof Zhang Lening from the Saint Francis University, Prof Liu Lin from the University of Cincinnati and Guangzhou University, and Prof Cai Tianji from UM. During the workshop, the speakers discussed the goals and development of criminological research in China and they all agree that Chinese criminologists should strive for publishing opportunities in top international academic journals. Prof Zhang as a pioneer in Chinese criminology expressed his high hopes for the next generation of Chinese criminologists. He believes that the young scholars should not only familiarise themselves with conventional Western theories and methodologies, but should also work towards building a paradigm of criminological theories that are tailored to the Chinese context through research studies conducted locally.
The third workshop held on 5 June and was titled ‘Fieldwork in Criminology and Social Legal Studies’. Speakers in the workshop included Prof Chin Ko-lin from Rutgers University, Prof Sheldon Zhang from the University of Massachusetts Lowel, Prof Zheng Tiantian from the State University of New York Cortland, Prof He Xin from HKU, and Prof Liu Sida from the University of Toronto. The five speakers discussed how scholars conducting qualitative research can cope with the current performance evaluation system at many universities around the world. They also gave detailed advice to students in criminology and legal studies.
The workshop series was well attended by scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Currently, the Department of Sociology is actively preparing for a follow-up series of criminology workshops on topics such as the study of hard-to-reach populations in criminological research, including police officers, offenders, and how to study organised crime.
澳門大學社會科學學院社會學系舉辦了一系列犯罪學學術工作坊，通過Zoom在線會議平台與全球各地的專學和學者進行深入的交流和討論。工作坊由社會學系主任徐建華召集和主持，前三期工作坊已圓滿舉行，累計參與者接近700餘人。
第一期工作坊的主題為“人生第一篇英文犯罪學論文——群青年學者的分享與反思”，由香港大學教授王鵬、昆士蘭大學教授李恩深、倫敦大學亞非學院教授牟鈺、澳洲國立大學博士生張彥和劍橋大學博士生魏帥主講。工作坊於4月24日圍繞幾個青年學生最關注的議題展開，包括完成第一篇論文的動機、收集資料的經歷、寫作的過程、投稿和修改的過程，幾位講者分別結合自己的發表經歷做了細緻入微的分享。
第二期工作坊於5月15日舉行,主題為“量化犯罪學的熱鬧與門道——傑出學者分享”，邀請到四位犯罪學領域內的頂尖華人學者，分別是馬里蘭大學教授謝敏、聖法蘭西斯大學教授張樂寧、同時在辛辛那提大學和廣州大學任職的教授柳林及澳大社會學系教授蔡天驥。四位講者普遍對中國的犯罪學學科發展持積極態度，並認為國際頂級學術期刊仍應該是學者們追求的目標。張樂寧表達了自己對中國青年犯罪學研究者的期待。他認為青年學者既要高度熟悉西方犯罪學理論和科學的研究方法，另一方面，也要在西方研究的視野之外努力探索中國本土的特殊性，發展出中國社區社會控制的本土理論和範式，提出能夠解釋中國問題的普遍性理論，即發展出中國的犯罪學理論。
第三場工作坊以“犯罪學和法學田野的江湖”為題，於於6月5日舉行,由美國羅格斯大學傑出教授陳國霖、美國馬薩諸塞大學洛厄爾分校教授張曉東、美國紐約州立大學傑出教授鄭田田、香港大學教授賀欣及多倫多大學教授劉思達主講。五位講者針對當前大學考核制度下定性研究者如何生存，分享了自己的見解，並且給從事犯罪學和法學研究的學生提出了詳實的建議。會議得到來自美國、英國、歐洲、澳洲、中國、港澳台等地學者的廣泛關注。
目前，澳大社會科學學院社會學系正積極籌備 “犯罪學工作坊”的後續系列，議題包括如何研究員警、如何研究犯人、如何研究有組織犯罪等。澳門大學犯罪學研究力量在亞洲首屈一指，該系列學術工作坊能夠進步提升澳大犯罪學研究在亞洲乃至國際的影響力，為華人社會犯罪學研究做出積極貢獻。
