News

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.

Visit to RS students serving at residential care homes by Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare

Mr Ho Kai-ming, JP, Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare, visited RS students who have joined HKCSS’s "Youth Internship in Caring Profession for brighter future" Project and have been providing rehabilitation support to residential care homes since mid-March 2022. The residential care home Mr Ho visited on 12 April 2022 is Kai Yuet Adult Training Centre under Fu Hong Society, which provides day training and residential services for persons with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. The visit was also joined by Miss Yip Hau-yu, Hannah (Assistant Director [Rehabilitation and Medical Social Services], Social Welfare Department), Prof. Wing-tak Wong (Deputy President and Provost, PolyU), Mr Lai Kwan Ho, Raymond (Business Director, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service [HKCSS]), Ms Frankie Tsui (Chief Executive Officer, Fu Hong Society), Prof. David Shum (Dean of Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, PolyU), Prof. Hector Tsang (Head of Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, PolyU). The event was kicked off by a presentation by Mr Ho Kai-ming and Miss Yip Hau-yu separately. They expressed their appreciation of the HKCSS’s scheme and RS students’ active support to the scheme. This was followed by HKCSS’s brief introduction of the scheme and their assigning of RS students to various residential care homes affiliated with HKCSS. After that, Prof. Hector Tsang gave a short speech on how he recruited a group of 50 year-4 PT and OT undergraduates to join the scheme in a short period of time and what he expected the students could contribute to the frontline work at the residential care homes. Then several PT and OT students shared their work experience and feelings of contributing to society in the 5th wave of the pandemic. The whole group finally toured around Kai Yuet Adult Training Centre and visited the facilities there. 

Warmest support to RS from 2013 MOT (China) graduates during the pandemic

The 2013 graduates of Master in Occupational Therapy (MOT) programme (China) have always been concerned about the pandemic situation in Hong Kong and the health condition of their teachers at RS. When noticing that the 5th wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong became out of control day by day, Eden Liu and Betty Luo, delegates of 2013 MOT (China) graduates, offered anti-pandemic materials (scented sachets) to RS teachers and supporting staff to help improve their work environment and protect them from COVID-19. Prof. Hector Tsang (Cally Kwong Mei Wan Professor in Psychosocial Health, Chair Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences and Head of RS) met 2013 MOT (China) graduates online on 29 March to receive the anti-pandemic materials officially. Eden and Betty firstly presented the background information of the scented sachets, which contain Chinese traditional medicine for improving immunity and cleaning the air. They showed the gifts to Prof. Tsang via Zoom first and arranged to deliver them to RS after the online gathering. Prof. Tsang expressed gratitude to 2013 MOT (China) graduates on behalf of RS teachers and supporting staff. He said he was super excited and even surprised at first when receiving the news from Eden about the anti-pandemic materials as he did not expect graduates would show their care and love to RS in this manner.   Then 10 selected graduates shared their OT-related work in mainland China. After that Prof. Tsang briefed the development of the department in the recent five years. All the participating graduates expressed their appreciation to the teachers who had taught them and given them good guidance. Prof. Tsang said he was very happy to see all the graduates excel in their career in different areas, for example, as heads of departments, researchers, teachers at universities, leaders in cross-disciplinary environment, etc. He encouraged them and wished them good luck in their future career development. He finally suggested to have regular gatherings with them to enhance mutual understanding.     The way in which graduates continue to show their care and love to their teachers is moving.

Two RS students share their frontline experience in the fight against COVID-19

Jillian Zhou (year-2 student of Master in Physiotherapy programme) and Audrey Chow (year-3 student of BSc [Hons] in Occupational Therapy programme) responded to the University’s call earlier to participate in frontline anti-epidemic work during the 5th wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong. They are helping at a mobile specimen collection station to provide testing service for the public. Prof. Hector Tsang (Cally Kwong Mei Wan Professor in Psychosocial Health, Chair Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences and Head of RS) met with them on 23 March. He praised their spirit of service to the community despite the hardships and risks involved, and hoped other students would take them as role models and contribute to society through participating in the fight against the epidemic. Jillian shared that she and Audrey were both assigned to work at MacPherson Playground in Mong Kok. The testing capacity at this station is the highest in Hong Kong. During the peak period, the station needed to provide testing service to 4,000 people every day, and each sampler needed to collect an average of 50 specimens each hour. She had to master sampling techniques while at the same time catching up with the daily quota. She is happy to have the chance to apply the healthcare knowledge she has learned to her work. Although her work is not directly related to her study, the spirit behind is the same: to help others and to keep them healthy, especially when society is in a state of crisis. Audrey believes testing is very important in the fight against the epidemic since the identification of COVID-19 patients is critical to reducing the spread of the virus. Although at the beginning she worried about the risks of her work and the possibility of transmitting the virus to her family, she soon realised that the epidemic would subside only when people were willing to contribute to society. Therefore she no longer hesitated. She hopes to give back to society with her healthcare knowledge. She believes the intensive work and high-pressure environment can train her concentration skills, which will in turn benefit her future placements. She reflected that the need to handle emotions of the public, the long working hours (almost 12 hours per day) and the juggling of schoolwork with this job were physically exhausting, posing a great challenge to her. Fortunately, she can share her worries with Jillian and other colleagues and they support each other. We are glad that the two students demonstrate commitment to society. We hope they will keep their sense of mission and make an impact on those around them.

RS students join forces to help at hostels for persons with disabilities and the elderly in the pandemic

Fifty year-4 students of our undergraduate PT and OT programmes responded to the call from The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) and RS, and take part in a scheme which enlists postsecondary students from healthcare-related disciplines to help with the frontline work at hostels for persons with disabilities and for the elderly, so as to alleviate the manpower shortage at these hostels. Twenty RS faculty members will also serve as online mentors to provide support for students at the back.  Under the 5th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong, there is an exponential surge of infections among hostel residents, which has exacerbated the manpower shortage in hostels for persons with disabilities and for the elderly. According to HKCSS, due to the current labour shortage, a majority of the residents have been “immobilised” in beds for a long period of time, which will indeed cause detrimental effects on their health.  With the help from donors, HKCSS has launched a scheme called “健康專業專上學生院舍工作計劃” in early March this year to tackle the situation. At RS, 50 year-4 students of our undergraduate PT and OT programmes have joined the scheme to show their readiness to provide healthcare services to the elderly and persons with disabilities. They will work at these hostels from mid-March to June 2022. Given their rehabilitation expertise, we believe they can contribute a lot to those in need in the aforesaid premises at the moment, especially in the provision of professional rehabilitation services to enhance the mobility of those “immobilised” hostel residents and to avoid complications caused by prolonged inactivity.   Students' Sharing Year-4 student of BSc (Hons) in OT programme Valerie Pun Toby Wong Year-4 student of BSc (Hons) in PT programme Kelly Yeung Flora Ko Faye Chan Jeffrey Man Beetle Tsang Mandy Lee Ivy Ho Sunny Wong Wida Hon

Congratulations to RS alumni Mr Wong Kwok-hing on his promotion to Commissioner of Correctional Services!

Mr Wong Kwok-hing, Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Services and RS alumni, will take up the post of Commissioner of Correctional Services on 24 March 2022. Mr Wong 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 before being appointed as Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Services since November 2018. Mr Wong graduated from the occupational therapy (OT) programme at RS. At our 5th Elite Alumni Seminar in 2019, he shared with the audience his experience of applying OT knowledge to his work at CSD. He is a role model to RS students in that he has created rehabilitation opportunities for persons in custody and promoted law-abiding and inclusive values through community education. Mr Wong possesses excellent management and leadership skills. We are proud of his success and outstanding achievements, and wish him the best for his career.