News

RS held i-CREATe for the first time with HKOTA and CREATe Asia

RS held the 15th International Convention on Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology (i-CREATe 2022) on 26-28 August 2022, together with the Hong Kong Occupational Therapy Association (HKOTA) and the Coalition on Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology, Asia (CREATe Asia).  The i-CREATe, initiated in 2007 as one of the Thai-Singapore collaboration projects by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, aims to serve as a platform for assistive and rehabilitation technologies in ASEAN countries. It has become an annual conference of the CREATe Asia since 2016 and been held every year in different Asian countries or regions. It is the first time for i-CREATe to be organised in Hong Kong this year and RS was honoured to host it as one of the anniversary events to celebrate PolyU’s 85th birthday. With the theme “Enabling All with Assistive Technology”, the 3-day conference was run in a hybrid mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 200 local and overseas participants from the fields of occupational therapy, engineering, and rehabilitation engineering joined the conference enthusiastically and enjoyed its rich, well-planned programme in person or online. The conference programme featured six keynote speeches by highly qualified international speakers, four plenary sessions by 12 well-respected local specialists, 36 free paper presentations by experienced clinicians and researchers, as well as round-table discussions for speakers, scholars, experts, teachers and students to exchange knowledge, information and experiences pertinent to the development of assistive and rehabilitation technologies.  At the opening ceremony on 27 August, there were the pre-recorded opening speech by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and another pre-recorded speech by Mr Chapal Khasnabis from the World Health Organization. We had also invited Mr Chua Hoi Wai, Chief Executive of The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, and Prof. Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation), PolyU, to deliver an informative speech separately. The opening ceremony was graced by the representatives from 26 supporting organisations of the conference, including six PolyU and CUHK academic departments/units, three professional organisations, 16 NGOs and the Hospital Authority.  The Global Student Innovation Challenge (gSIC), an iconic annual event at i-CREATe, was held all day on 26 August. This year we had 40 student teams from different Asian countries/cities such as China, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong competing closely with each other in two categories, the Design Category (17 teams) and the Technology Category (23 teams). We are happy that our OT students have won several awards in the contest with their innovative devices and solutions, including three Merit, the Best Video Presentation and the Best Onsite Exhibition-1st awards in the Design Category, as well as the Best Onsite Exhibition-2nd award in the Technology Category. A detailed list of awardees is shown here.  Near the end of the conference, Prof. Kenneth Fong (Professor at RS and Co-chair of i-CREATe 2022’s Organising Committee) delivered a closing address, in which he thanked all the attendees for participating in the 3-day conference. He also acknowledged the devotion and efforts of his colleagues at RS and the two co-organisers, HKOTA and CREATe Asia. Finally, he expressed his gratitude to the supporting organisations for their great help and support.   Please visit our photo gallery (click here) for more snapshots of the event.

Two RS students won The Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarships – Undergraduate Scholarship

We would like to share the good news that Miss Angel Tam, year 3 student of BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy programme, and Miss Sarah Lee, year 3 student of BSc (Hons) in Occupational Therapy programme, were selected to be the recipients of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarships – Undergraduate Scholarship. The HKJC Scholarships are highly competitive and dedicated to nurture local talents to contribute to society. The two students share their happiness below: Miss Angel Tam It is my great honour to be awarded The Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarships this year. Thanks to the unconditional love and support from my family and teachers, I have been granted many opportunities to learn and explore different things, which allow me to reflect deeply on what I can do for the community and serve as a future leader. I have also been motivated to participate in different kinds of community work, through which I was able to understand the life and difficulties of different groups of people. All these opportunities have equipped me with various life skills and empowered me to work towards the goal of being a caring leader. Again, I want to express my deepest appreciation to all the teachers and friends who have provided me with endless support throughout my study over the past few years. Furthermore, I owe a deep debt of gratitude to The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for this scholarship, which has allowed me to explore more and different extracurricular activities and contribute to the local community. In the future, I wish to equip myself with more knowledge and skills so as to become a successful and caring physiotherapist who can help patients regain their health and recover fully.Miss Sarah Lee It is my great honour to receive this special award. I wish to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to my family for their unconditional love and support, which has helped nurture my personal growth and broaden my horizons throughout these years. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, PolyU, and my teachers for providing me with the precious opportunities to explore my potential, challenge myself and contribute my knowledge and skills to the community. Through joining the Hong Kong Jockey Club Induction Programme a month ago, I realised that there were limitless possibilities for us as young people to create a positive impact on society. I was also encouraged by my peers who were striving very hard to make a change in the community. As an occupational therapy student, I wish to become a more competent, all-round person with a compassionate and caring heart to serve others. With these qualities, I hope in the future I can help improve people’s health and wellbeing and enhance their quality of life, so that they can live a meaningful life.   Prof. Hector Tsang, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, met Angel and Sarah to express his congratulatory message to them. He was proud of their achievement and hoped they could inspire their fellow students to contribute to society in a similar manner.

RS Inauguration Ceremony 2022/23

To welcome the new academic year with a new cohort of physiotherapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) students, RS held the Inauguration Ceremony 2022/23 on 19 August 2022. The ceremony was arranged in a hybrid mode, and the guests and participants, including RS colleagues and students, joined the event in-person or virtually to share the excitement in kicking off a new academic year. The ceremony was graced by Prof. Kwok-yin Wong, Vice President (Education) of PolyU, and Dr Lam Ching-choi, Non-official Member of the Executive Council of HKSAR Government and Chief Executive Officer of the Haven of Hope Christian Service, who delivered a speech separately. They congratulated the freshmen on being admitted into the BSc (Hons) in PT and BSc (Hons) in OT programmes, which are among the most competitive programmes at PolyU. They also encouraged the freshmen to take an active part in different local and international competitions as well as helping the needy in society especially in times of crisis. After that, Prof. Hector Tsang (Cally Kwong Mei Wan Professor in Psychosocial Health, Chair Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences and Head of RS) gave an inspirational speech to the new students. He briefly reviewed the current development of healthcare and rehabilitation in Hong Kong, and explained how this affected the education and professional development of the OT and PT disciplines. He then summarised the achievements of RS last year and offered helpful guidance to the freshmen on how to prepare themselves in the coming four years and beyond. Afterwards, there was the announcement and presentation of a series of awards and scholarships to our distinguished students and colleagues. Before the ceremony came to a close, Prof. Hector Tsang delivered a few final remarks and a vote of thanks to the guests and participants.

Our warmest congratulations to Ruby Kwok Wing Yan, a year-4 PT student of RS, on being selected as “The Outstanding Tertiary Student of Hong Kong”

Ruby Kwok Wing Yan is a year-4 student of the Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physiotherapy programme at RS. She is the first PolyU student to be selected as “The Outstanding Tertiary Student of Hong Kong”. We are proud of her for being able to stand out among more than 100 participants in the selection. The Outstanding Tertiary Students Award of Hong Kong 2022, organised by the Hong Kong Youth & Tertiary Students Association, is an accredited event that celebrates the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The event is supported by the Department of Educational, Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, the Department of Media and Public Relations of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the HKSAR, the Education Bureau and the Home Affairs Bureau (now renamed “Home and Youth Affairs Bureau”) of The Government of the HKSAR. It aims to discover, praise and nurture potential tertiary students who care about society and the future development of their motherland, so as to promote their whole-person development as well as inspiring more tertiary students to follow the example of the selected students and get ready to dedicate themselves and contribute to society.

OT students won the “Best Dementia Care Programme” award, in collaboration with Hong Kong Housing Society

A group of four OT students at RS, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Housing Society, won the “Best Dementia Care Programme” award of the 10th Eldercare Innovation Awards 2022 organised by the Ageing Asia, a Singapore-based industry alliance on the business of ageing. The 10th Eldercare Innovation Awards 2022, Asia Pacific’s most prestigious recognition awards in the ageing industry, aim to provide an annual recognition to organisations in Asia Pacific countries that demonstrate eldercare innovation in their business, operational and service models to change the way seniors age. The Awards received over 100 entry submissions from 15 countries. Our OT students’ winning product, named “Shop and Go” Brain Health Workshop, is a chess-like game designed to help older adults with dementia to train up their cognitive skills such as memory and orientation. Congratulations to the four winning students, and thanks to Prof. Kenneth Fong, their submission supervisor, Mr Tony Wong, Subject Leader of RS4280 Enabling Occupation: Home and Community Practice, and the teaching team of RS4280, for their expert supervision and patient guidance!  

Congratulations to Dr Georg Kranz on being conferred the title of “Presidential Young Scholar”!

We are pleased to announce that Dr Georg Kranz, Assistant Professor (Occupational Therapy) at RS, has been conferred the title of “Presidential Young Scholar” for a period of three years commencing 1 July 2022. He is the first RS faculty member to receive this honour. As a Presidential Young Scholar, he will be provided with a start-up grant to support his career development. The Presidential Young Scholars Scheme recently established under the Strategic Hiring Scheme by the University aims to support outstanding Assistant Professors and Associate Professors normally under or around the age of 45. These faculty members should have conducted/led world-leading research that is commensurate with the stage of their academic career. They should be rising stars in a particular area, and for Assistant Professors, should have undertaken their PhD and/or postdoctoral research in a world-leading research group, and published a significant amount of world-leading research as a main author. Dr Kranz received his MSc in Psychology at the University of Vienna and his PhD in Clinical Neurosciences at the Medical University of Vienna. He received his habilitation (venia docendi) in Neurosciences with his habilitation thesis titled “Imaging the effects of sex steroid hormones on brain structure and function” in April 2016. Between 2017 and 2018, Dr Kranz was Head of the TMS Lab at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna. His research focuses on the neural underpinnings of mood disorders. He has conducted numerous neuroimaging studies in the past and published the results in high-ranked journals.

OT student-initiated venture FITCCESSIBLE has won Good Seed funding

The name “FITCCESSIBLE” is composed of two words: “Fitness” and “Accessible”. The newly established social enterprise is supervised by Mr Kin-Chung Tang and Mr Tony Wong, Clinical Associates (Occupational Therapy) at RS, and formed by a group of OT undergraduates. Recently, FITCCESSIBLE has been shortlisted as one of the 12 champions among a hundred applications for the Good Seed HK Cohort 1 funding this year.   The award-winning FITCCESSIBLE strives to promote equal participation in fitness exercises for all physically impaired citizens in Hong Kong, so as to enhance their quality of living (QoL). FITCCESSIBLE’s objectives include: (1) enhancing wheelchair accessibility in public and private fitness rooms; (2) educating the disabled to train with and without fitness equipment; (3) training certified personal trainers to specialise in disabled fitness; and (4) arousing social awareness through hosting experimental workshops, so as to eliminate public stigmatisation towards the disabled. Their ultimate goal is to create a discrimination-free physical and social environment for the disabled to enjoy physical activities freely. The FITCCESSIBLE team shared how they initiated this social enterprise: “Our adventure began on the off chance of serving a mainland client through another PolyU student-initiated programme ‘We Care We Share’. He is an amputee who loves doing fitness exercises before and after his injury. His unfortunate yet staunch journey has made us reflect on the current situation in Hong Kong, in which we seldom encounter impaired individuals in gym settings. Coupled with the buzz and fuss of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, we decided to go after a project funding and ultimately set up FITCCESSIBLE. It has been quite tough in starting FITCCESSIBLE. In the early stage, we don’t really have a clear direction on how to develop our concept of disabled fitness. Thanks to the guidance from Chung and Tony, we have found our role in bridging the gap between hospital and community services. Besides, we are really grateful to Para-athlete Mr Daniel Chan and the Direction Association for the Handicapped for their overwhelming support. Furthermore, we are very thankful to all the staff of Good Seed for their help in the administrative work. Last but not least, we would like to extend our utmost gratitude to Prof. Hector Tsang for providing us with new insights and invaluable advice on our presentation.” In the following months, FITCCESSIBLE will continue to work hard to foster the concept of disabled fitness.

WeCare WeShare opened a PolyU-Kunming joint centre for promoting community rehabilitation service and education on the mainland

The WeCare WeShare (WCWS) team of RS celebrated the opening of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Kunming Community Rehabilitation Service and Educational Centre on 28 June 2022. Stepping into the 6th year, the WCWS team would like to extend their most heartfelt gratitude to Prof. Hector Tsang (Cally Kwong Mei Wan Professor in Psychosocial Health, Chair Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences and Head of RS), the Service-Learning and Leadership Office of PolyU, The Keswick Foundation, their mainland collaborators as well as each and every member of the RS family for nurturing their growth and development. Established in 2016, WCWS is a student-led project which aims to provide long-term rehabilitation service to survivors of the 2014 Ludian earthquake in Yunnan, China. Gradually, they have expanded their service to serve clients with physical disabilities, such as spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy and amputation, in different regions of China. Education-wise, students could equip themselves with practical skills by joining the wide range of activities held by WCWS, including various workshops such as those on 3D printing and eye-tracking systems, mainland service trips, local home visits, and so on. This year, with the full support from Prof. Tsang, the WCWS team has been granted the right to use room BC504 on campus as the base of the Community Rehabilitation Service and Educational Centre. To make optimal use of this venue, they will hold a variety of workshops, case discussions and sharing, and educational exhibitions, as well as introducing their services and philosophy to international collaborators and service recipients. The opening of this centre represents an important milestone for WCWS. In the coming future, they will endeavour to convey and implement WCWS’s core value: To provide community and patient-oriented rehabilitation services in a multidisciplinary and cross-regional collaborative model.

Creating high-quality learning experiences for students is utmost important in teaching

The result of RS Outstanding Teaching Award 2021/2022 was released after careful deliberation of the assessment panel. The award-winning teaching team, led by Ms Josephine Wong, Senior Clinical Associate (Occupational Therapy), demonstrated excellence in the classroom by leveraging information and communication technology to develop a virtual overseas exchange programme to enhance the learning experience of PT and OT students in Hong Kong and Singapore under the pandemic.  The assessment panel considered that the team showed a good example of making new values with technology to get students from the globe connected. The panel also acknowledged the team’s initiative to collaborate with other universities and extend the impact of the collaborative work and international exchange culture with other universities. Having taken into account different aspects of educational leadership, the panel appreciated that the team had worked on the reflection and showed the impact on students outside Hong Kong.  Ms Josephine Wong’s teaching team comprises the following members: Mr Alexander Woo, Mr Eddie Hai, Ms Bonnie Ma, Prof. Shamay Ng, Mr Philip Ng, Ms Mandy Lau, Mr Alan Tse, and Mr Thomas Chan. The teaching team will be nominated for the FHSS teaching award.

An amazing gathering of RS elite alumni and students

RS held the 8th Elite Alumni Seminar successfully on 9 June 2022. We were pleased to invite three elite alumni, Mr Wong Kwok-hing, Ms Stella Cheng and Ms Priscilla Poon, to share their success stories with the guests, teachers, alumni and students of RS. Thanks to their wonderful talks, the attendees spent a delightful, unforgettable evening together. The event was also graced by Dr Miranda Lou, Executive Vice President of PolyU, Dr Lawrence Li Kwok-chang, Deputy Chairman of the Council of PolyU, and Dr David Lam Tzit-yuen, LegCo Member (Medical and Health Services). Dr Lou kicked off the seminar with her opening speech, expressing her pleasure to be invited to this seminar which is one of the anniversary events to celebrate PolyU’s 85th birthday. She also confirmed the significance of our organising the Elite Alumni Seminar series. After that, Prof. Hector Tsang (Cally Kwong Mei Wan Professor in Psychosocial Health, Chair Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences and Head of RS) presented a brief and lively introduction of Mr Wong Kwok-hing, congratulating him on his recent promotion to Commissioner of Correctional Services. Mr Wong Kwok-hing graduated from the occupational therapy (OT) programme of RS. He joined the Correctional Services Department (CSD) as Officer in August 1989 and was promoted to Senior Superintendent of Correctional Services in August 2014 and to Assistant Commissioner of Correctional Services in August 2017. He was appointed as Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Services in November 2018, and as Commissioner of Correctional Services in March 2022. During his talk, he shared with the audience his experience of applying OT knowledge to his work at CSD. Ms Stella Cheng also graduated from our OT programme. She had been an OT Department Manager at Princess Margaret Hospital for over 25 years, and had coordinated and standardised the work rehabilitation service of OT in the Hospital Authority. She is at present Professor of Practice (OT) at RS of PolyU and Chairperson of the Hong Kong Occupational Therapy Association. She shared at the seminar her learnings from her OT journey throughout her study and career life. Ms Priscilla Poon is a graduate of RS physiotherapy programme. She currently serves as Senior Manager (Allied Health) at the Head Office of Hospital Authority, and is responsible for coordinating information technology initiatives for the allied health disciplines for improving workflow and better patients’ experience. She had also acted as President of the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association. In her presentation, she talked about her experience in developing her career from a practising therapist to an executive at the Hospital Authority. After their presentations, the three guest speakers actively interacted with students and other alumni in the Q&A session. As the seminar came to a close, Prof. Hector Tsang delivered a vote of thanks to the three elite alumni, the guests and the attendees. They bid farewell to each other joyfully, looking forward eagerly to meeting each other again at the next Elite Alumni Seminar.