The Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (IAS) is an academic unit established under the University of Macau (UM) towards the end of 2019. It is committed to building a university-level, cross-faculty research platform to help the UM develop world-class inter-disciplinary research teams in humanities and social sciences, and plans to form a strategic structure that facilitates the sharing of academic resources for synergy. On the one hand, the IAS advances the university’s research on humanities and social sciences, trains young talent, and promotes collaboration between humanities and science and technology (S&T). On the other hand, it also shoulders the responsibility of giving back to Macao society. By serving as a comprehensive local think-tank featuring cross-disciplinary research, and through the theory development and empirical studies for various policies and fields, the IAS aspires to make its due contributions to the long-term sustainable development of Macao, and to help Macao integrate into the development of and participate in the construction of the Greater Bay Area.

In addition to a planned series of academic activities, such as Culture@UM talks, Culture@UM community forums, and regular cross-disciplinary dialogues over lunch, in its early stage, the IAS will also build research teams in three Signature Research Clusters with the designated themes of Chinese culture in diverse cultural environment, new opportunities at the intersection of humanities and sciences, and Macao in a global perspective. By means of top-down design, the IAS will invite internal scholars with research achievements to be the principal investigators of these three Signature Research Clusters, responsible for carrying out sub-projects centred around the themes. Through this kind of cross-disciplinary and collaborative teamwork between humanities and sciences, the IAS hopes to achieve academic breakthroughs with far-reaching impacts.