Prior to joining The Education University of Hong Kong, Professor John N. Erni was Fung Hon Chu Endowed Chair of Humanics, Chair Professor of Humanities, and Head of the Department of Humanities & Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University (2013-2021). He also taught at the Lingnan University (2007-2013), City University of Hong Kong (2000-2007), the University of New Hampshire (1993-2001), and the University of Wisconsin at River Falls (1990-1993). 

Professor Erni specialises in media and cultural studies, communication theory, and international law. He studied for his bachelor’s degree in English at Whitworth University, his master’s degree in Film Studies at the University of Oregon, and doctoral degree in media and cultural studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2005, Professor Erni obtained his second master’s degree in human rights law from The University of Hong Kong.

Professor Erni has been a Corresponding Fellow of Australian Academy of the Humanities since 2019. He was the Elected President of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities in 2017-18, and the recipient of Gustafson, Rockefeller, Annenberg, Lincoln, and William Lim Siew Wai Fellowships in 1997, 1999, 2008 and 2018 respectively.