Sitting in a painfully dull biochemistry class as an?undergraduate, Alex Koon often imagined how he?would have pepped up the lecture with a?few jokes.

Twenty years later ¨C with a?PhD, a?postdoc and several lectureships under his belt ¨C the Hong Kong-based scientist is?making good on his vow to?bring laughter into the classroom wherever possible.

On 24?May, he is also co-hosting the , with speakers from the US, Europe and Asia talking at the event about how to enhance university teaching with comedy.

¡°Those lectures were just terrible ¨C the professor would usually photocopy a textbook, project the transparency to the front of the class and read it line by?line. My soul would leave my body,¡± recalled Dr?Koon, a senior lecturer in the Chinese University of Hong Kong¡¯s School of Life Sciences, on his uninspiring lectures at a leading US university.

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Although his research into neurological diseases using fruit flies might not exactly lend itself to comedy, Dr?Koon said he was always keen to plant gags, wordplay or light-hearted anecdotes?in his teaching.

Campus resource:?How to use humour to boost student understanding and creativity

¡°It¡¯s sometimes said the best humour is spontaneous ¨C and maybe it is ¨C but, as educators, we don¡¯t need the best humour. We?just need something that connects,¡± he said, adding: ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with planning jokes well ahead, which is?what most comedians?do.¡±

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For instance, he will illustrate his microbiology class on gram staining ¨C?a process involving the dye safranin, which identifies bacteria ¨C by making a link to the saffron used in Michelin-starred restaurants to flavour food. ¡°That safranin-saffron pun isn¡¯t a?laugh-out-loud gag, but it¡¯s enough to get students to remember it,¡± said Dr?Koon, whose classes also compare amino acids to Disney characters. ¡°When students can see these links, it makes them motivated to?learn.¡±

Even a joke that fails to land can be a useful talking point, Dr?Koon continued. ¡°It?doesn¡¯t need to be the funniest joke ¨C just something that is humorous and applicable to the teaching,¡± he?said.

In the age of remote learning and recorded lectures, however, humour can be a risky thing, admitted Dr?Koon. ¡°Dark humour and even sarcasm might work for a stand-up comedian, but it can often offend students ¨C you don¡¯t really need to take those risks,¡± he said, adding that slapstick and toilet humour were also dicey territory.

¡°Analogies, puns and absurdity are generally the best way forward,¡± he?added.

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Having won a HK$1.6?million (?162,000) grant to examine how humour might improve university teaching in Hong Kong, it seems that Dr?Koon¡¯s brand of comedy is gaining more than laughs.

¡°I was surprised that jokes could get funding, but why not if it makes university teaching more effective?¡± he said.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com