MHRC People

Dr Lu Yu was trained in clinical medicine, psychiatry, education, and positive psychology. Her programme of research, grounded in a positive youth development approach and a public health perspective, has been focusing on advancing knowledge about the identification of risk and protective factors, effective prevention and intervention strategies to promote wellbeing and to address problems of Chinese youth. Dr Yu led a few projects on the development and validation of assessment tools on mental health, developmental skills, and wellbeing indicators for Chinese population. She actively works on the design, implementation, and evaluation of several strengths-based youth programmes in Hong Kong and mainland China, such as the Project P.A.T.H.S.

Her current projects concentrate on the promotion of long-term wellbeing of children and adolescents with disadvantaged conditions and their families, with specific focus on youth living with poverty, and rural-to-urban migrant children in the Greater Bay Area in China. Her research expertise includes quantitative research methods, programme evaluation, questionnaire development and validation. She has published more than 100 articles in academic journals, including Journal of Adolescent Health, Pediatrics, Child Abuse & Neglect, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Research on Social Work Practice, Child Indictors Research, and Applied Research in Quality of Life, Sex Roles, and Archives of Sexual Behavior. She also serves as the ad hoc reviewers for a number of referred International academic journals, and the external reviewers for the Public Policy Research funding scheme (PPR), and the Research Grants Council (RGC) funding schemes of the Hong Kong SAR.

Dr Yu is passionate about teaching. Her teaching philosophy has been inspired by a quote of Nikos Kazantzakis — “True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to across, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own.” Learning needs to be student centered, and teachers act as facilitators who create conditions that enable students to realise their potential to learn. She has been teaching service-learning, research methods, and leadership subjects for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Dr Yu is the awardee of 2021 Gold Winner Award (Nurturing Wellbeing & Purpose) of Wharton-QS Stars Reimagine Education Awards (as Deputy Team Leader), and 2018 UGC Teaching Award in Hong Kong.

Dr Yu is the recipient of China-U.S. Scholars Program (CUSP) Fellowship 2021/22. She is a Visiting Scholar at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago in 2022.

• Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• Master of Science, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China
• Bachelor of Medicine, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Certificate of medical practitioners, People's Republic of China (2000)