Bravo! Year 3 Social Policy and Social Entrepreneurship (SPSE) Students Shine

APSS is very proud to announce that a team of APSS year 3 students, including Brandon Chiu Yeung CHAN, Wellesley Chun Yui LEUNG and James Tsz For LO, from the BA (Hons) in Social Policy and Social Entrepreneurship (SPSE) programme won the Stage One award (HKD 20,000) of the PolyU Micro Fund 2022-23 Cohort 1. The team has subsequently been admitted to the HKSTP Ideation Programme (HKD 100,000).   The student team took the initiative to kick start a social project – Spartan, a platform with an artificial intelligence (AI) system that integrates job-matching, skills-enhancement tutorials, and CV enrichment, designed for students in post-secondary education. The team won the Micro Fund award for their innovative and creative thinking, IT skills, and the social mission of the project. With the funding being awarded and associated opportunities, the team can further pursue their social enterprise dreams and entrepreneurial journey.   With support and professional advice from Dr Raymond TAM, Programme Leader of SPSE, and Mr Ken CHAU, Project Associate of SPSE and also an alumnus of APSS, the team showed remarkable skill, put maximum effort into all rounds of assessment, and ultimately stood out from more than 100 teams.   Let’s take this opportunity to congratulate them on receiving the awards!  

APSS-led Projects to Enhance Psychosocial Well-being in Different Communities

Prof. Sylvia CHEN (Associate Dean of FHSS, Associate Director of Mental Health Research Centre and Professor of APSS) and Dr Angel LAI (Assistant Professor of APSS) have received support for their project under Phase 2 of the Mental Health Initiatives Funding Scheme (the Funding Scheme) coordinated by the Advisory Committee on Mental Health to develop innovative social services programmes for improving the mental well-being of adolescents and school communities.   Principal Investigator: Prof. Sylvia CHEN Project Title: Reducing Social Avoidance and Enhancing Prosocial Behaviour among Adolescents with Special Educational Needs Project Summary: The project aims to foster prosocial behaviour of adolescents with special educational needs (SEN) in transition with the use of virtual reality (VR) technology. It will implement social anxiety intervention based on a cognitive-behavioural approach with a virtual coach acting as the therapist and develop a gamified prosocial VR intervention for adolescents with SEN. This VR-assisted social avoidance and prosocial behaviour intervention would benefit individuals and society by cultivating psychological and socially healthy young people. Funded Amount: HK$1.9 million Co-PIs: Prof. Winnie Mak (Professor, Department of Psychology, CUHK) Dr Bryant Hui (Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, PolyU) Co-Is: Dr Jeffrey Ho (Assistant Professor, School of Design, PolyU) Dr Richard Li (Research Assistant Professor, Department of Computing, PolyU) Dr Rosetta Wong (Teaching Fellow, Department of Applied Social Sciences, PolyU) Principal Investigator: Dr Angel LAI Project Title: Healing Together: Building Positive School Mental Health in Post-COVID Hong Kong Project Summary: The project aims to promote mental health and its awareness for stakeholders of secondary schools including students, teachers, administrative staff and management. Healing spaces will be constructed in the partnering schools. The programme will adopt a train-the-trainer approach to train students to become mental health ambassadors for programme sustainability and student empowerment. Collaborative Partner: Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service Funded Amount: HK$1.7 million   Online coverage: PolyU Media Releases: https://polyu.hk/ilmgA Oriental Daily News - https://polyu.me/3lElu94 Ming Pao Daily News - https://polyu.me/3KgY6Ja Hong Kong Commercial Daily - https://polyu.me/3YJTEH6 Line Today - https://polyu.me/3kbBjns  

New Book Published by Dr Herbary CHEUNG

This book is dedicated to late Dr. David Ip whom Herbary would be nowhere near who he is today without. Dr Herbary CHEUNG, Research Assistant Professor of APSS, and a Research Associate at Institut de Recherche sur l'Asie du Sud-Est Contemporaine (IRASEC) in France, has recently published a sole-authored book titled Engendering Migration Journey: Identity, Ethnicity and Gender of Thai Migrant Women in Hong Kong. This book draws on ethnographic research conducted with the Thai migrant community in Hong Kong and provides original insights into the complexity and diversity of identity negotiation, ethnicity navigation, and womanhood reinvention of Thai migrant women in Hong Kong. It illustrates the influence of transnationalism and multiculturalism on migrant women's meaning-making and accentuates the importance of diversity within a migrant population.   Dr CHEUNG is the awardee of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme and Ernst Mach Grant-worldwide. His research engages with gender and migration, family, marriage and health, critical social policy, intersectionality, and feminist research methods by focusing on Hong Kong-Southeast Asia connections.   Read the book: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-15975-6

Service-learning course opens for registration (Social Poverty in Developing Countries)

Research Student Attachment Programme (RSAP) 2023

Research Student Attachment Programme (RSAP) 2023   Through the Research Student Attachment Programme (RSAP) 2023, APSS PhD students will be going on a three- to six-month exchange in world-renowned universities. Also, PhD students from internationally acclaimed overseas universities will visit APSS. This year, APSS is proud to announce the following outgoing and incoming PhD student arrangements:   Outgoing Student to University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, USA: Ms Xiaoyan CHEN is a 3rd year PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Edward CHAN (Chief Supervisor) and Dr Camilla LO (Co-supervisor). Ms Chen will spend three months at the School of Social Work, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Prof. Richard M. TOLMAN will serve as Ms Chen’s host supervisor at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Prof. Tolman is an outstanding scholar in the field of family violence.    Outgoing Student to National University of Singapore, Singapore: Mr Bo LI will spend six months at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore (NUS). Mr Li is a 3rd year PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Juan CHEN (Chief Supervisor) and Dr Chengpang LEE (Co-supervisor). Dr Natasha HOWARD will serve as Mr Li’s host supervisor at NUS. Dr Howard is an interdisciplinary health policy and systems researcher, focusing primarily on low and middle-income countries.     Incoming Student from The University of Chicago, USA: Miss Linyun FU is a doctoral student from the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at The University of Chicago, under the supervision of Prof. J. Curtis MCMILLEN. Miss Fu’s research focuses on promoting the well-being of rural children in China through a social-emotional learning-based intervention. Miss Fu will visit APSS for three months to collaborate on multiple projects on the resilience of migrant children with Dr Lu YU, who will serve as Miss Fu’s supervisor.   Incoming Student from University of Antwerp, Belgium: Mr Benjamin Muhoza KANZE is a doctoral student from the University of Antwerp, under the supervision of Prof. Tom DE HERDT. Dr Karita KAN will supervise Mr Kanze during his three-month attachment at APSS. Mr Kanze’s thesis aims to examine the mechanisms of accumulation and the extent of economic inequality in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). During his attachment at PolyU, he also aims to finish writing two manuscripts, participate in APSS events, and disseminate his research findings in seminars.  

APSS’ 50th Anniversary - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Workshop – Full House!

Kicking off the first event to celebrate its 50th Anniversary, the Department of Applied Social Sciences (APSS) had the pleasure of hosting Dr Samuel LEUNG, our alumnus and former Programme Leader of the Master of Social Work (Mental Health) Programme, to deliver a face-to-face workshop on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) at the intermediate level on 31st December 2022. From 2016 onward, Samuel has held more than 15 experiential workshops for mental health social workers, and is one of the most active ACT trainers in the field of mental health care in Hong Kong.   With over 45 APSS social work graduates in attendance, the workshop provided them with an in-depth introduction to ACT, Relational Frame Theory, Applied Behavioural Analysis, and case conceptualisation. In addition, our graduates were paired up for various experiential activities such as ‘two-scale-metaphor’, ‘don’t-do-what-you-think’, and ‘physicalising’. Our graduates offered remarkable feedbacks on the quality and level of training from Samuel’s workshop. APSS looks forward to providing more advanced ACT training for our graduates and alumni in the future.   We are very grateful to have spent the last day of 2022 in such a meaningful and fruitful event. A series of events will be held to celebrate APSS’ 50th Anniversary in the first half of 2023. Stay tuned!

2022 PolyU Israel Study Tour

Dr Ben KU, Associate Professor of APSS and Director of China and Global Development Network, and Ms Kan YIP, Assistant Director (Development and Partnership) of China and Global Development Network recently led a study tour to Israel. In total, 13 students from the Doctor of Social Work programme and four PhD students from APSS went on the tour to Israel with funding support from Keswick Foundation.    With the main theme of “Social Work of Reconciliation”, the study tour was held from 11th to 21st December 2022. The study tour was conducted in collaboration with Borderless Friendship Foundation from Thailand. The highlight of the tour was the two roundtables at University of Haifa and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The schedule was packed with visits to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), foundations, and cultural centres. For example, they visited Beit HaGefen – an Arab-Jewish cultural centre, Muslala in Haifa, an NGO by artists, residents, and community activists of the Musrara neighborhood in Jerusalem, Kaima Organic Farm, Jerusalem Intercultural Centre, Musalaha – an NGO that teaches, trains and facilitates reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, and the Rossing Centre for Education and Dialogue.   Students cherished the valuable learning experience and inter-cultural exchange. They were actively involved in exchanging views with the locals, NGOs and experienced practitioners, which further consolidated the knowledge they had learnt in class.

Nurturing Junior Researchers to Promote Mental Health among Youngsters in Hong Kong

Dr Angel LAI, Assistant Professor of APSS, and Miss Cynthia LEUNG, Project Assistant of APSS, participated in the Junior Researcher Mentoring Programme 2022, which was organised by the Global Engagement Office of PolyU. Both led a team of three secondary school students to understand the mental health of young people in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore co-production as a strategy to promote the welling of our youths.   The team was invited to share their research findings with Ms Alice MAK, SBS, JP, Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs; Mr Clarence LEUNG, Under Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, and Mr Gordon CHEUNG, Political Assistant to Home and Youth Affairs, in mid-September, 2022. The team also attended an interview for a Commercial Radio Hong Kong programme - Beautiful Sunday (政好星期天) about mental health of local secondary school students on 9 October 2022. [Click here to listen to the radio programme]   APSS is working closely with the Hong Kong Government and non-profit organisations in projects focusing on enhancing provision of integrated health and social services for vulnerable populations, and promoting the career development of young people in Hong Kong.

Workshop Benefiting APSS Colleagues Teaching and Research Development

The Departmental Learning and Teaching Committee (DLTC) organised a workshop on 20 December 2022.CAVE-cum-Studio Device.   We are honoured to invite Prof. Daniel SHEK, Associate Vice President (Undergraduate Programme), Chair Professor of APSS, and Li and Fung Endowed Professor in Service Leadership Education, to share his illuminating insight and experience on writing and publishing papers on Teaching and Learning; and Dr Rodney CHU, Chairperson of DLTC and Senior Teaching Fellow of APSS, to introduce the CAVE-cum-Studio Device (CSD) that will come into service in January 2023 and demonstrate the use of CSD in the workshop.   We believe that the Learning and Teaching endeavours of the Department will move to a new horizon by employing novel and innovative pedagogical strategies. 

Farewell to APSS Inbound Exchange Students in Semester One of 2022/23

With Semester One of 2022/23 coming to an end, APSS organised a Chinese dim sum ‘Farewell’ lunch gathering for inbound exchange students who are going to return to their home universities soon. The students enjoyed the local cuisine and traditional dim sum delicacies. Many interesting conversations we had over the lunch, with topics including culture, travelling and university life. We are grateful for their presence and involvement in APSS, and we wish them every success in their studies! More cross-cultural activities will be organised in the coming semester. Stay tuned!