Professor Stuart McManus of Department of History has received this year’s Dan David Prize, the world’s largest history prize, making him the first scholar from an Asian university to receive the honour since it was established in 2001.

“It was an unexpected honour to be named among this year’s Dan David Prize winners. This is a recognition of my work over the last decade or more,” says the professor. He thanks the University for its support, and looks forward to further contributing to the scholarship on global Renaissance around the time of 1350 to 1750 and East-West relations. He adds that the prize will support his ongoing efforts to apply digital approaches to the study of the history at CUHK.

Professor McManus studies the spread of Renaissance culture from a global perspective, uncovering links between regions that are traditionally studied separately, such as North America, Latin America, West Africa and South China. His work examines both brighter and darker sides of this important early period of globalisation, from the histories of slavery through the spread of Renaissance humanism and the connected histories of law and religion.

Recipients of Dan David Prize—there’re nine this year—will each receive a sum of US$300,000 which supports their future endeavours.