On April 10–11, 2025, the 30th Symposium on Functional Linguistics and Discourse Analysis, organized by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences was successfully convened at the City University of Macau. The Symposium adopted a hybrid format, combining online and offline participation, attracting over 40 scholars from more than 30 universities worldwide who presented their research in systemic functional linguistics.

The Symposium brought together many renowned experts in the field of systemic functional linguistics, including Professor J.R. Martin from the University of Sydney, Australia; Professor C.M.I.M. Matthiessen, formerly of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China; Professor J.J. Webster from City University of Hong Kong, China; Professor Tom Bartlett from the University of Glasgow, UK; and Professor Zhihui Fang from the University of Florida, USA. The Chinese delegation was equally distinguished, featuring 93-year-old Senior Professor Hu Zhuanglin from Peking University; Professor Huang Guowen, Changjiang Scholar of the Ministry of Education at City University of Macau; Professor He Wei, Changjiang Scholar of the Ministry of Education at Beijing Foreign Studies University; Professor Peng Xuanwei from Shenzhen University; Professor Chang Chenguang from Sun Yat-sen University; Professor Miao Xingwei from Beijing Normal University; Professor Yang Yanning from East China Normal University; and Professor Yang Bingjun from Sun Yat-sen University.

This 30^th Symposium, themed "Appliable Linguistics and Applied Linguistics," commemorated the 100th anniversary of the birth of M.A.K. Halliday, the founder of systemic functional linguistics. The discussions centered on cutting-edge topics such as the development of systemic functional linguistics, appliable linguistics, text analysis, AI-driven discourse analysis, applied linguistics, educational linguistics, ecolinguistics, and systemic functional translation studies.

The Symposium was organized and hosted by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the City University of Macau, with co-organizers including the Professional Committee of Functional Linguistics, the Professional Committee of Discourse Analysis of English and Chinese, and the Professional Committee of Ecolinguistics of China Association for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese, and the following five journals: Foreign Languages in China (Higher Education Press, China), Journal of World Languages (De Gruyter), Linguistics and the Human Sciences (University of Toronto Press), Studies of Applied Linguistics in Asia (Scilight), and WORD (publication of the International Linguistic Association) (Taylor & Francis).

Applied linguistics is one of the key teaching and research areas at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, City University of Macau, where theories and methodologies from linguistics and applied linguistics are extensively utilized. Among various linguistic theories, systemic functional linguistics holds significant guiding value for applied linguistics and language teaching and research, as both appliable linguistics and applied linguistics prioritize issues in language education. The successful hosting of this Symposium has played a positive role in promoting applied linguistics at City University of Macau, enhancing its teaching, research, and disciplinary development.