Dear HKIAPS Members and Friends,

Welcome to the sixth issue of the HKIAPS e-Bulletin. As we enter a new year and a new season, the design of e-Bulletin is also being revamped to keep you connected with our efforts in various fields of Social Science research.

Over the past one-and-a-half years, research exchange activities have been halted due to the serious impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet this has also encouraged us to develop a new path for disseminating our research and maintaining exchanges with our international collaborators. This year we held an international conference, a public lecture series consisting of four lectures, an online workshop, and more than 10 seminars, which were offered by the various centres. In this way, we have been able to overcome geographical distances and have a larger research impact than before. At the same time, our Institute has maintained its standard research publications, which include survey press releases, journal articles, book and book chapters, policy research reports, and newspaper commentaries.

We are also excited to announce the launching of the PROcruit C programme , commissioned by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The Programme brings together forward-looking employers to develop a one-year professional traineeship programme. The HKIAPS is one of the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s four education and training partners in holding bootcamp training for trainers and facilitators.

In the coming months, we will continue to create research impact by holding COVID-19 webinar series and policy research webinars. While the COVID-19 pandemic may still hinder our ability to communicate face to face in the foreseeable future, it is prompting us to explore more ways to disseminate our research.

Anthony Y. H. Fung
Director