Implementing Mindfulness in Schools

APSS has received a total of HK$1.33 million in donations from the Hong Kong Buddhist Association Primary School Head Council to implement a school-based mindfulness curriculum in eight primary schools and mindfulness groups for students with special educational needs. The principal investigator Dr Herman LO, Associate Professor of APSS, attended the cheque presentation ceremony on 19 August 2022. Also in attendance at the event were the three project donors, including The Ling Wan Temple Foundation Ltd., The Sunny Lay Buddhists, and The Vineyard.   The first batch of the teacher training was successfully launched on 7 October 2022, at the Professional Practice and Assessment Centre (PPAC), where 20 primary school teachers took part in the training session delivered by Ms Angie Bucu from the International Academy of Mindful Teaching. Dr LO and his team projected that by the end of the 2022/23 school year, more than 700 P.1 and P.3 students, and 100 students with special educational needs, would benefit from the new curriculum.   Aside from fulfilling its social missions, this project also entails a research study to investigate student outcomes and assess capacity-building for implementing a school-based mindfulness curriculum.   Dr LO expects this project can generate evidence and knowledge about how mindfulness-based programme can be further promoted in the education sector in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

Undergraduate Info Day 2022 – FULL HOUSE!

PolyU Undergraduate Info Day was successfully held on 8 October 2022. Our staff were very grateful with the overwhelming interest in our BA (Hons) Scheme in Applied Social Sciences (JS3250). This Scheme offers two major awards: BA (Hons) in Social Work; or BA (Hons) in Social Policy and Social Entrepreneurship   2023 JUPAS application for admission commences now until 7 Dec 2022. DSE students can visit JUPAS website for more information while non-JUPAS applicant can visit PolyU eAdmission platform for more detail.   APSS Information Seminars were well received by prospective students and their parents. They were keen on learning how our majors, including Social Work and Social Policy and Social Entrepreneurship, would equip students with the essential knowledge, values and skills needed for social work and human services professionals.   

Continued Contribution and Encouragement from Alumni

APSS successfully held the Alumni and CEO Forum on 3 October 2022. In the Forum, our alumni, who are CEOs and hold senior management positions in various NGOs, shared many great conversations with one another and bonded with several APSS colleagues.   The Forum began with an opening remark delivered by Prof. David SHUM, Dean of Faculty of Health and Social Sciences. Prof. Angelina YUEN-TSANG, Honorary Professor of APSS, shared her views on how APSS has helped connect social work practitioners and educators across the world as part of the departmental internationalization and social responsibility strategies. Prof. Yuk Chung CHAN, Honorary Guest of APSS, discussed how practice research can bring practitioners and researchers together in order to co-develop professional knowledge and wisdom. Apart from introducing various APSS undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to our alumni, Prof. Eric CHUI, Head of APSS, concluded, “A significant part of our success story is the continued contribution and encouragement from alumni. Your support is a driving force that we - as a department - sincerely cherish.”   APSS looks forward to collaborating and joining hands with more NGOs that share our vision and mission of providing enriching learning opportunities for students.

Welcoming APSS Inbound Exchange Students – Introducing Mid-Autumn Festival

APSS held a gathering for APSS inbound exchange students of Semester One 2022/23 on 9 September 2022. They had the chance to network and engage in cultural exchange with our local and mainland students. The exchange students also shared their experiences with living and studying in Hong Kong so far while their fellow local students offered tips to make the most of their stay in Hong Kong. The event took place the day before Mid-Autumn Festival, so traditional lanterns and mooncakes were presented to our exchange students to have a taste of the festive season.

Life Planning Programmes – Benefits to Secondary School Students and Suggestions for the Future

Dr Angel LAI, Assistant Professor, and her team have been collaborating with the Youth Life World Design team of Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service for two years to study on the benefits life planning programmes bring to secondary school students.   A press conference cum seminar on research dissemination entitled “VUCA時代青年生活世界設計服務框架 - 成效研究發佈會暨研討會” was held on 20 August 2022 at PolyU.    Their study shows that life planning programmes could bring hope to youngsters when they think of their future development; life planning education should be promoted at junior secondary or upper primary level; and support to students from low-income families should be offered.

A Wrap-up for the Junior Researcher Mentoring Programme 2022

The closing ceremony of the Junior Researcher Mentoring Programme 2022 organised by Global Engagement Office (GEO) was successfully held on 23 August 2022. This programme provides secondary school students with an opportunity to deepen their understanding of a chosen research topic and to nurture their analytical and research skills between April and August 2022. Prof. Eric CHUI, Head, Prof. Daniel SHEK, Associate Vice President (Undergraduate Programme) and Chair Professor; and Dr Angel LAI, Assistant Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences (APSS) have been mentors for their respective research projects. More details can be found below: Financial Literacy and Gambling Behaviour: Evidence from Hong Kong Mentor: Prof. Eric CHUI Qualitative Evaluation of a Positive Youth Development Program in Mainland China: Tin Ka Ping P.A.T.H.S. Project Mentor: Prof. Daniel SHEK What is Co-production? Initiatives to Actively Engaging Young People to Build our Society Mentor: Dr Angel LAI

Family Resilience Online Course

課程簡介 網上學習證書課程由香港理工大學設計，是賽馬會抗逆有「家」計劃其中一個項目。 課程目的是讓家長認識「家庭抗逆力」的概念，反思自己的家庭狀況，並將所學到的東西應用在自己的家庭裏，從而提升家庭面對逆境的能力和信心。 整個課程分為 基礎課程 和 進階課程 兩部份： 基礎課程主要是簡介「家庭抗逆力」及它對家庭發揮的保護作用； 進階課程則會深入探討「家庭抗逆力」理論中的三個核心範疇： 家庭信念 家庭運作 家庭溝通 每個範疇均包括三個單元，合共九個單元。完成基礎課程、進階課程的每個範疇及整個課程均會獲得 電子證書 各一張。 欲知道如何在你的家中應用「家庭抗逆力」，請立即登入以下連結，登記及報讀課程，開展屬於你的「家庭抗逆力」之旅！ 免費網上學習證書課程 課程特色 費用全免 隨時隨地都可以上網學習 理論與實踐並重 獲得由香港理工大學所頒發的證書   【課程宣傳片段】 計劃透過社區為本的專業介入服務、網上家庭活動、網上學習課程和專業同工培訓，旨在協助家庭： (1) 建立正面的家庭信念  (2) 促進互相支持的關係  (3) 提升積極解難的能力  

Exploring BA (Hons) Scheme in APSS (JS3250) Programme at PolyU

On 8 August 2022, APSS collaborated with the Global Engagement Office to hold the PolyU Summer Programme for Secondary School Students 2022. Dr Kong YAM and Dr Raymond TAM, Co-programme Leaders of BA (Hons) Scheme in Applied Social Sciences welcomed a total of 40 S4 and S5 students and introduced key features and curriculum structure of this undergraduate (UG) programme to them. Seven current students from BA (Hons) in Social Work and BA (Hons) in Social Policy and Social Entrepreneurship joined the event to share with the secondary school students about their experiences and attainment during their studies. The Summer Programme was ended with a tailor-made tour in Pao Yue-Kong Library.  APSS sincerely hopes that the participants found our Summer Programme informative and useful in exploring their study options.  We also take this opportunity to thank our current undergraduate students for joining us to share their learning experience with secondary school students!

Prof. CHAN Ko-ling Edward Conferred the title “RGC Senior Research Fellow” by the Research Grants Council and Named Among World’s Top 2% Scientists according to Stanford University–Elsevier Report

Prof. CHAN Ko-ling Edward, Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences, has been awarded the prestigious grant under the Research Grants Council's (RGC) Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) 2022/23, demonstrating his scholarship accomplishments and research excellence.   The RGC’s Senior Research Fellow Scheme aims to honour exceptionally outstanding researchers at UGC-funded universities in Hong Kong, and to facilitate their dedication to research and development. Nominees are assessed based on proven research track record, leadership quality and vision in the chosen area of research, the merit and the social impact of the research project. Prof. CHAN is awarded HK$7,798,380 for five years to implement his innovative project.   Research Project: “Family Polyvictimization and Social Policy Responses in East Asian Societies”   Prof. CHAN is the first to examine family poly-victimization (FPV), which refers to the co-occurrence of at least three types of family violence, including intimate partner violence, child abuse and elder abuse. He has developed innovative methodologies and digital assessment tools to measure FPV accurately. This project will be conducted in five East Asian cities, namely Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei. With cross-culture data from East Asian families, this project will examine the effects of traditional East Asian cultural practices and develop clinical protocols and policies in response to FPV. Findings will shed light on the application of early detection mechanisms for FPV by adopting a family-oriented approach and using the family as the basic unit of service. It will also facilitate the development of integrated prevention and multi-disciplinary collaboration in East Asian contexts. The improvements in social policy and service delivery approach aim to bring very significant social impact and benefits to families victimised by FPV and to East Asian cities as a whole.   The new project builds on previous success which was awarded the RGC Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme in 2016.   Prof. CHAN Highly Ranked Among Top 2% of Scientists in the World Prof. CHAN’s excellence in scholarship has been consistently recognized as one of the top 2% scientists worldwide, according to Stanford University report published from 2019 to 2022. Compared to scholars in related fields, including social sciences, he is ranked top 1% among social scientists. References: Ioannidis, John P.A. (2022), “September 2022 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"”, Mendeley Data, V5, doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.5  Baas, Jeroen; Boyack, Kevin; Ioannidis, John P.A. (2021), “August 2021 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"”, Mendeley Data, V3, doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.3 Baas, Jeroen; Boyack, Kevin; Ioannidis, John P.A. (2020), “Data for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"”, Mendeley Data, V2, doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.2 Ioannidis, John; Baas, Jeroen; Klavans, Richard; Boyack, Kevin (2019), “Supplementary data tables for "A standardized citation metrics author database annotated for scientific field" (PLoS Biology 2019)”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.1 RGC Award Presentation Ceremony  The Research Grants Council (RGC) held an award presentation ceremony on 7 Nov 2022 to honour 87 academics from the eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities for their distinguished research achievements and significant contributions to the higher education sector. Prof. CHAN was awarded the RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme for his project “Family Polyvictimization and Social Policy Responses in East Asian Societies”.  Prof. CHAN is the first in the globe to examine family poly-victimisation (FPV), which refers to the co-occurrence of at least three types of family violence. Further coverage was published in Nov 2022, elaborated on Prof Chan’s award-winning research in an interview with am730. He said that the study does not only aim at understanding the issues, but also helps society to prevent family violence and save lives.  

Understanding Low-Income Elders in Hong Kong

APSS has co-organised a research seminar entitled “Understanding Low-Income Elders Who Live Alone Or With Spouse Only: Their Voices (基層長者生活研究分享研討會)” with the Hong Kong Church Network for the Poor (教會關懷貧窮網絡) on both 24 and 30 June 2022 at PolyU.   Since January 2021, a research team led by Dr Crystal KWAN, Assistant Professor, has been collaborating with the Hong Kong Church Network for the Poor (HKCNP) on a project to study the issues that the low-income elders who live alone or with spouse commonly face. In the sharing session, findings on the issues and strengths of the elders they interviewed were reported. Participants were invited to share their experiences, thoughts and perspectives of being with elderly and to form small groups to discuss possible solutions and the services they needed. They also discussed how to apply for grants to carry out a follow-up intervention pilot project to address the needs of the elders.