Intergenerational poverty is one of the major concerns among the disadvantaged families in Hong Kong. In April 2008, the Legislative Council Finance Committee approved the allocation of $300 million for the establishment of Child Development Fund (CDF), which draw resources from the family, the private sector, the community and the Government effectively in support of the longer-term development of children from a disadvantaged background. Components of CDF aim to combat intergenerational poverty and build assets in children and adolescents from disadvantaged background.

Youth mentoring programme, being a major component in CDF, has been proved by international researches to be an effective preventive intervention strategy for youth. Proponents of this type of intergenerational community program have suggested that adolescents who participated are more likely to gain various developmental benefits. (e.g., Bowen & Chapman, 1996; Davidson, Redner, Blakely, Mitchell, & Esmhoff, 1987; DuBois & Neville, 1997; Grossman & Tierney, 1998; LoSciuto, Rajala, Townsend, & Taylor, 1996; McPartland & Nettles, 1991; Rhodes, Haight, & Briggs, 1999; Scales & Gibbons, 1996).

Under the asset building framework of the current CDF, youth mentoring is understood as a way to assist adolescents to build nonfinancial assets such as personal goal development, social networking and a proper mindset (Social Welfare Department HKSAR, 2008). Therefore, our researches have put special focus on CDF and youth mentoring programme, and we have developed the 4 major research directions, namely:

1. CDF Programme Evaluation Research
2. Academic Research on Mentor Relationship Quality (MRQ)
3. Strategic Public Policy Research
4. Fundamental Research

[see more details . . . ]

[Online resouces about Developmental Assets and Mentoring (成長資產及嚮導)] 

Research-practice gap in health research

Research and practice in the realm of health are tied in nature, but often severed in reality. The chasm between these pursuits is often found in research in health care, health services and health promotion. Take the case of injury prevention as an example. In one of his editorial at the journal "Injury Prevention", Prof. Barry Pless posited the following observation:

 "It has been repeatedly stated that the quintessential problem in injury prevention is that so much of what we know to be effective is not applied, or not applied fully. Rivara and others have estimated that if we were able to fully implement all we know, there would be about 30% fewer injury deaths among children. " (Pless, 2001)

The thrust of this research-practice gap matter lies, hence, in the bridging between these pursuits.

Prof. Theresa Marteau of Kings College, London, made a vivid illustration of this gap between research and practice in the case of clinical medicine:

"There is an asymmetry embedded in the notion of changing clinical behaviour. There are two parties, those wish to change other people behaviour and other people. But the latter are not impassively waiting to be changed; clinicians whose behaviour is to be changed have their own ideas about whether and how such change might be effected. This means that behaviour change is not a one-sided business, a case of an enlightened intervention trying to change an old-fashioned clinician, but a process of negotiating whose model will prevail and whose behaviour will be changed." (Marteau, Sowden, & Armstrong, 2002)

Practitioners in the health care arena actively decide what research findings or evidence is to be adopted into their practice. A daunting task arises from this phenomenon: how to promote and increase the uptake of research findings into healthcare and health promotion practices

In an era where accountability is recognized as a priority in our modern society, the need for integrating research and practice has become pressing. It is under this context that the Network puts a strong emphasis in tying the knot between these pursuits by vertically integrating research and practice under one roof.

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Other research areas under the community health promotion theme include:

1. Domestic Violence Prevention 
2. Well-being of Dementia Caregivers 
3. Community Coalition 

 The introduction of the New Senior Secondary Curriculum in Hong Kong provides an invaluable opportunity for studying student development and achievement from an applied developmental science (ADS; Lerner et al., 2003) and community psychology perspectives (CP; Orford, 2008), which are rooted in an ecological model of adolescent development. Under the new 334 senior secondary curriculum (NSSC), learning outcomes and achievements become diverse, with an emphasis on career oriented curriculum (COC).

The government also set up specialized funding (Quality Education Fund) for the development of school networks to further quality education (e.g., Gifted Education and Drama Education) and these networks bring in other community stakeholders, including professional and non-government organizations, to collaborate with schools on the furtherance of quality education and student development. Exchange and exposure components are integrated into the assessment system which generates new research opportunities on school or student specific evaluation.

[see more details . . . ]

1. To promote multi-level and interdisciplinary research in both clinical and developmental contexts
2. To facilitate research collaboration among professionals in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the international community
3. To enhance public education as well as the implementation of research findings into preventive and treatment strategies and policies

The research around the captioned objectives involves the understanding of the interface among cognitions, emotions and behaviour in the clinical and developmental arena. The emphasis is on integrating data from multiple levels ranging from the neural and information-processing mechanisms as well as the experiential and behavioral dimensions of the individuals in their social contexts. Through the investigation of these multi-level relationships, the ongoing projects intend to promote richer and a more comprehensive understanding of the needs of the developing persons in order to develop ecologically-sensitive assessment and intervention procedures.

Research areas:

1. Dementia
2. HIV
3. Computer Intervention
4. Learning Difficulties

[see more details . . . ]