Two PolyU research projects receive funding supports from Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has received funding supports from the RGC’s Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS) for two social sciences projects, driving the development of human mental and psychological wellbeing. 

The two awarded projects demonstrate PolyU’s academic and research excellence in addressing human and social needs. Led by Prof. Juan CHEN, Professor of Department of Applied Social Sciences, the project titled “Developing Community Mental Health Care in Rural China: Local Policy Network, Implementation, and Advocacy,” has been awarded funding support of HK$396,000. The other project led by Prof. Krishna SAVANI, Professor of Department of Management and Marketing, titled “The Choice Mindset: A Nudge to Improve the Quality of People’s Decision Making,” has been granted HK$211,700 in funding support.

Prof. CHEN’s project, leveraging on her social work expertise, seeks to advocate local and/or national policy changes and viable social service provisions for mental health care. The ultimate objective is to contribute to sustainable development of community mental health care within and beyond China. The research also aims to identify feasible strategies and potential resources that local government and social organisations can utilise to build a community health care system tailored to the local context. 

Prof. SAVANI’s project, with the focus on the psychology of decisions making, explores whether a choice mindset can mitigate decision-making biases resulting from people’s lack of awareness about the options that are available to them. The research investigates whether a choice mindset can lead to better decision-making through a deeper cognitive processing. 

Introduced in 2012/13, HSSPFS aims at granting extend time-off and supporting funds to the outstanding investigators under the social sciences and humanities disciplines. Each awardee receives funding support for a period of up to 12 months.