MEMBERS OF THE SOCIAL WORK TEAM
Research Interests/Areas
- Youth related concerns and issues
- Social work development in China
- Life of young migrant workers in China
- Significance of fieldwork practice
- Qualitative research methods
Professor Sylvia Kwok is Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences (SS) at the City University of Hong Kong. Sylvia obtained her Bachelor and Master Degree in Social Work from the University of Hong Kong, and her PhD from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is currently Associate Dean in the Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies. She has served as Associate Head (Postgraduate Education and Research) in SS from 2022 to 2023. She is listed among the top 2% of the most highly cited scientists in Social Work in the world in 2022 and 2023, according to metrics compiled by Stanford University.
Sylvia’s research mainly focuses on the family ecological and positive psychological factors that are related to anxiety, depression, suicide, and wellbeing of children and adolescents. She has published over 70 papers related to children and adolescent mental health issues, parenting and positive education in high-impact international refereed journals. She has got over HK$132M research grants from government and non-government funding sources. From 2021 to 2024, she got 3 General Research Fund projects funded by the Research Grants Council in Hong Kong. She has supervised 9 PhD students, 6 have graduated, and 2 of them got the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship.
As the convenor of the Positive Education Laboratory, Sylvia has collaborated with over 300 local schools (from pre-primary schools to universities), social welfare agencies, and corporates to promote positive education for the students, teachers, parents, employees, and the community. She has published over 10 manuals on positive education that have been uploaded to the positive education laboratory website http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/ss_posed.
Sylvia was granted the Second Class National Teaching Achievement Award in the 2022 Higher Education (Undergraduate) Award by the Ministry of Education in China, the Teaching Award (Team) by the University Grants Committee in 2021, Teaching Excellence Award Finalist (Individual) in 2021, Teaching Innovation Award (Team) in 2019 and Excellence in Knowledge Transfer Award in 2013 by the City University of Hong Kong. She also got the Distinguished Alumni Award (Social Sciences) from the University of Hong Kong in 2020. Locally, Sylvia is Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Social Work. She has been the assessment panel member of RGC Competitive Research Funding Schemes for the Local Self-financing Degree Sector (Humanities and Social Sciences) since 2021. Internationally, she is the regional representative lead in the Positive Education Division of the International Positive Psychology Association.
Prof. Dennis S.W. WONG, Ph.D., is currently Professor of Criminology & Social Work at Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences. He served as an associate dean at the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences from 2012-2019 and the Acting University Librarian from 2019-2020. His areas of teaching and research are criminology, youth studies, parents-child relationships, conflict management, and restorative justice. Prof Wong is honorary consultant on youth drugs abuse, school bullying, and offenders’ rehabilitation for governmental organizations in Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore. He is one of the founding members of Asian Criminological Society, an active member of Asia Pacific Forum of Restorative Justice, and chairman / board member for a number of non-governmental organizations. Apart from publishing articles in local and international journals, he has published six books related to youth delinquency, school bullying, alternative to prosecution, mediation, and restorative justice. His areas of teaching and research are criminology, youth studies, parent-child relationships, conflict management, and restorative justice.
Prof. Siu Ming CHAN worked as a frontline social worker in community settings for eight years before embarking on his academic journey. He served the underprivileged, including homeless people, low-income families living in cubicles and subdivided flats, poor children, and the elderly, through direct service, group work, and community organizing. He also conducted policy research and surveys related to vulnerable groups facing poverty, housing problems, and other community issues.
FUNG Lai-chu Annis is an Associate Professor in a Social Work and Counselling Discipline. Her research and teaching areas are children and youth in school bullying, aggressive behaviour, peer victimisation, and innovative counselling interventions. She established the Children and Adolescents at Risk Education Laboratory (C.A.R.E. Lab.), which focuses on developing and scientifically evaluating various original interventions to reduce face-to-face aggression and bullying. Approaches such as the cognitive-behavioural approach, the physio-moral approach (e.g., Chinese martial arts and ethics), the neurobiological approach (e.g., Omega-3 supplementation), the social information-processing approach (e.g., storytelling), and the social learning approach (e.g., parenting efficacy) have been adopted to tackle these issues. Over 150 elementary and middle schools have been involved. In responding to social changes and needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, Annis established a new development of Cyber-Joy Enjoy Laboratory under C.A.R.E. Lab. in 2020. Cyberbullying has been a significant concern as students mostly rely on social networks to stay connected to friends and communities; hence, she developed evidence-based intervention based on emotion-focused therapy on cyberbullying and online victimization for young people.
Prof. Shen (Lamson) Lin received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW). With interdisciplinary training in social work (FIFSW), gerontology (Institute for Life Course & Aging), and population health (Dalla Lana School of Public Health), Lamson's scholarship centers around social determinants of health, minority ageing, health and mental health equity.
More recently, Lamson's research has been using statistical and computational techniques to examine the mechanisms, risk and protective factors, through which the COVID-19 pandemic influences individuals' psychosocial wellbeing (e.g., anxiety disorders, loneliness, stigma, and vaccine hesitancy). As a first-generation college graduate from his family, Lamson recognizes social/structural vulnerability (e.g., racialized identity, migration status, job precairty) in shaping resource distribution, power dynamics and consequantial health inequalities across the human life course.
To date, Lamson has published 19 SCI/SSCI-indexed scholarly articles and his representative papers can be found in top-tier peer-reviewed journals across health and social sciences, including Journal of Affective Disorders, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences (Oxford University Press), Ageing & Society (Cambridge University Press), Journal of Social Work, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. Prior to joining CityU, he was a course instructor teaching Social Work Practice in Health (MSW postgraduate course) at FIFSW since 2020.
Lamson has received multiple academic awards from professional organizations in North America, including the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) - 2018 Best Abstract Award (Gero-Ed Track), Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)- 2019 Travel Grant, Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers (SRHP)- 2019 Best Original Research Award - and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) - 2020 Travel grant for CPHA Conference.
Prof. Michelle H.Y. Shum currently is an assistant professor in the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences at City University of Hong Kong. Previously, she served as an assistant professor at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), where she was appointed Programme Director of the Master of Social Science in Social Work(Full Time) program. Before joining HKBU, she was an honorary lecturer in the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at The University of Hong Kong (HKU).
Michelle holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL). Prior to awarding the PhD from The University of Hong Kong, she obtained the Juris Doctor. She has taught courses on legal knowledge for social workers at both HKU and HKBU for over 10 years, focusing on the intersection of legal principles and social work practice. She has invited by various non-profit organizations to provide training to social workers and senior management regarding ethical concerns and legal liabilities in social work services delivery.
Her research spans macro and micro social work practice, with expertise in law and social policy, welfare and social work ethics, socio-legal studies of third-sector development, social service management, youth work, community development, and elderly care. By incorporating legal frameworks into her analysis, she enhances her interdisciplinary approach to social policy studies, governance and public administration, welfare systems, nonprofit management, and macro-level social work practice.
In addition to academic contributions, Michelle has collaborated with the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and various social service organizations to establish professional service standards and internal operational guidelines. This work is grounded in a commitment to integrating legal and ethical frameworks, providing practical recommendations for social work practitioners, and promoting effective and ethically sound practices both in Hong Kong and internationally.
Jerf Yeung joined the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences at City University of Hong Kong in 2013. He is a registered social worker and obtained his PhD in social work from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Before teaching in university, he has engaged in social work services and related research since he graduated in social work from City University of Hong Kong and worked in the fields of youth, children and family, and elderly services. His research interests include family and children, religion and health, and adolescent health.
Nelson Tam, a Registered Social Worker (RSW), specializes in working with children and adolescents and their families, with a focus on residential and school settings. He holds a B.S.W. and M.Soc. Sci. from the University of Hong Kong and a PhD from the City University of Hong Kong.
In 2022, Nelson obtained a certificate in Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy. He is also a Certified Facilitator of Compassionate Mind Training. He is working towards becoming a Certified Teacher through the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program at the University of California, Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center and Awareness Training Institute. Additionally, he is pursuing certification as a Focusing Professional (Trainer).
Nelson's areas of expertise include compassion-based intervention, strength-based counselling, and Satir family intervention, particularly in school and residential environments for children and adolescents. His research interests encompass Artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education, adolescent mental health, and well-being.