Our Department is honored to have invited a distinguished scholar, Professor Peter Saunders, Emeritus Professor from the University of New South Wales, Australia, for a month-long visit in mid-February 2024.
During Prof. Saunders’ visit, he actively engaged with our faculty members and students, drawing on his professional knowledge and expertise to conduct various activities. This included a training program on “Writing Up Your Research for Publication: Overview”, where he shared his valuable insights to equip students with essential writing and communication skills to increase their success rates when seeking journal publication. He also illustrated effective examples to highlight how good writing can improve skills and raise the productivity, scope, distribution, and impact of research.
In addition, Prof. Saunders conducted a workshop on “Poverty Research: Recent Trends in How Poverty is Conceived and Measured”. The workshop juxtaposed two different approaches to measuring poverty and highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. He focused on sharing examples from his recent research on Australia (and Hong Kong) to advocate for combining the two approaches to improve the quality, credibility, and impact of poverty research on policy and practice.
Furthermore, our department hosted a mini-conference on “Poverty and Deprived Groups”, where Professor Saunders delivered a keynote presentation on “Writing Wrongs: (Part of) My Journey through the Foothills of Scholarship”. He shared the arc of his academic career and development, how he began his career in the world of scholarship, and identified some of the key events that shaped his journey through the world of academia, focusing on his research on poverty but also covering aspects of his broader scholarly maturity and development. His inspired sharing was beneficial to participants in navigating their own paths in the world of academia. In the Plenary Sessions, Prof. Steven Ngai and Prof. Chen Ji-kang from our Department as well as their international partners delivered presentations on topics related to school-to-work transition for NEET Youth and the well-being of socially oppressed adolescents and youth, respectively. The mini-conference provided a great platform for our students and practitioners to exchange knowledge and share experiences with overseas scholars.
Following Prof. Saunders’ lecture on his research publication and grant application journey, individual consultation sessions were held. Throughout the sessions, faculty members and students were able to seek specific guidance and suggested solutions to their draft research paper from Professor Saunders.
We sincerely thank Prof. Saunders for taking the time to visit us.
A photo of Prof. To Siu Ming presenting the souvenir to Prof. Peter Saunders
A group photo with the mini conference ’s esteemed speakers and participants
A group photo with the training program’s participants
A group photo with the workshop’s participants
