Multilingual Simulation-Based Communication Training for Nursing and Medical Students
Research Grants Council, Hong Kong
HK$741,700
Dr Margo
Turnbull
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English & Communication
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
IRCAHC · MHRC · Visiting Academic, UQ Sociohealth Lab
Health communication researcher. Exploring cancer, migration, and intercultural healthcare across Asia and Australia.
138
Citations (Google Scholar)
h7
h-index
HK$6.79M
Research funding
4
Current HDR students
Research focus
Dr Margo Turnbull works at the intersection of applied linguistics, health communication, and public health policy. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, Foucauldian frameworks, and qualitative methods, her research attends to how communication shapes health outcomes for some of the most marginalised communities in Asia and beyond — migrant domestic workers living with cancer, older adults navigating digital health systems, patients and families approaching end-of-life.
Her forthcoming book with Cambridge University Press, Intercultural Communication and Cancer (2026), is the culmination of five years of research with migrant women living with cancer across Hong Kong, building from community-based fieldwork to psychosocial and systemic analysis.
Forthcoming book
Intercultural Communication and Cancer
Cambridge University Press · Elements in Intercultural Communication · 2026
This book brings together five years of qualitative research with migrant women living with cancer across Hong Kong to examine how health, disease, and wellbeing are understood and communicated differently across cultures. It traces how kinship, storytelling, and collective memory shape responses to cancer diagnoses, treatment decisions, and the experience of illness in a foreign country.
Drawing on critical discourse analysis and intercultural communication theory, the book argues that for migrant women navigating cancer in Hong Kong, the healthcare encounter is not simply a medical event — it is a site where culture, language, power, and belonging are negotiated simultaneously.
Current & recent projects
All projects
Funded Research
Approximately HK$6.79 million in combined PI and Co-I funding, including two externally competitive RGC grants.
Cancer and Migration in Hong Kong
Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
HK$517,500
COVID-19 and End-of-Life Care in Hong Kong and Australia
Research Grants Council, Hong Kong
HK$535,000
Selected recent publications
Full list
Publications
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2026
Journal Article
The emotional labor of end-of-life care work: Findings of a mixed methods study in Hong Kong
Palliative & Supportive Care
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2026
Journal Article
'What would happen if I die in a foreign country?': Indonesian migrant domestic workers' experiences of personal uncertainty with cancer
International Journal for Equity in Health
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2025
Journal Article
Cancer as communication work: A qualitative study of Filipino migrant domestic workers with cancer in Hong Kong
Social Science & Medicine, 118477
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2025
Journal Article
Navigating migration and cancer in Asia: A narrative analysis of stories told by Filipino migrant domestic workers with breast cancer
Journal of Migration and Health, 100337
News & updates
2025
Winner, Individual Award for Knowledge Transfer: Industry, Faculty of Humanities, PolyU — second consecutive Knowledge Transfer award (Society, 2024).
2026
Paper accepted at the International Communication Association Annual Conference (ICA 2026), South Africa.
2026
Intercultural Communication and Cancer forthcoming with Cambridge University Press — the culmination of five years of research with migrant women with cancer in Hong Kong.
Jan–Mar 2026
Visiting Academic, Sociohealth Lab, School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland — connecting research to Australia's First Nations health communication context.
Get in touch
Research collaboration, media enquiries, or HDR supervision
Margo welcomes enquiries from researchers, journalists, policymakers, and prospective postgraduate students with interests in health communication, migration, and intercultural healthcare.
Contact Dr Turnbull