Blooming in a Golden Era
An Interview with Professor Daniel Lai
Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences
Professor Daniel Lai, Dean of Social Sciences and Chair Professor of Social Work, assumed duty in September 2020. Before joining HKBU, Professor Lai had served as Associate Dean, and conducted research in the Faculty of Social Work of The University of Calgary in Canada. He later moved to Hong Kong to join The Hong Kong Polytechnic University as Head of Department of Applied Social Sciences. This year marks the golden jubilee of the Faculty of Social Sciences. An expert in social work, social welfare, and gerontology, Dean Lai hopes to ride on the golden jubilee celebration occasion to realise his mission for the Faculty. He plans to take steps in propelling research development of the Social Sciences Departments, and promoting their unique academic profile. Meanwhile, more inter-departmental and cross faculty collaborations will be initiated, and hence strengthening synergy between teaching and research of the Faculty. It is anticipated that such a strategy will facilitate the Faculty to scale new heights in both teaching and research.
Emphasis on Cultivating Talents
Before embarking on teaching and research, Professor Lai was a social worker in the Social Welfare Department. Since then, he has realised that a people-oriented mindset is essential for a social worker. Upon joining HKBU, Professor Lai is deeply impressed by the close collegial bond among the staff here. He feels that the University is like a big family, such that colleagues in different roles and positions can work with each other harmoniously. As the Dean, Professor Lai’s first mission is to raise both the academic and research standards of the Faculty. Therefore, he has been spending time meeting with academic staff members from different departments in the Faculty. In this way, he hopes to understand the needs of staff in order to provide them with appropriate support. He also strives to optimise resource allocation within the Faculty and identify more funding for research. For the beginning scholars in the Faculty, he hopes to facilitate them to set clear targets and expectations so as to help them bring out their best in their academic pursuit.
From Society to the World
Having had three decades of experience in overseas and local higher education institutions, Professor Lai believes that the Faculty of Social Sciences of HKBU has already had a competitive edge over others. With the existing solid foundation, the Faculty needs to further strengthen its research capacity in order to promote the Faculty in the global academic arena. He added, “The Faculty of Social Sciences offers numerous knowledge-based professional programmes that integrate whole person development for students. With this in mind, the curriculum structure of our programmes is broad with emphasis not only on equipping students with professional knowledge, but also fostering their personal development, intellectual development, and international outlook in order to help them cope with the challenges of the 21st Century. After graduation, our students will be versatile enough to apply their knowledge and skills to different work settings, be it a public or private organisation.” While the number of applicants for university places are falling these days, Professor Lai is of the view that the uniqueness of each department should be highlighted so as to raise departments’ competitiveness in the admission exercise. At the same time, academic studies should be popularised and to have it connected to daily life. Take for example the courses offered by the Department of Sport, Physical Education and Health, these courses focus on daily physical training for promoting community well-being. Compared to the physical education programmes of other institutions, the programme of HKBU is relatively more intertwined with the society. Another example is from our Department of History. Our academic staff adeptly apply the digital format to illustrate the progress of history, thus successfully presenting monotonous historical facts to students and the general public in a lively way. Consequently, digitalisation of teaching and learning enables history knowledge to reach a wider audience more readily.
Marching into the Golden Era
Established in 1971, the Faculty of Social Sciences has evolved rigorously to its current strength. It currently comprises seven departments: Education Studies; Geography; Government and International Studies; History; Sport, Physical Education and Health; Social Work and Sociology, and runs 17 research and service centers. Upon the 50th anniversary of the Faculty, Professor Lai shared that the Faculty will persist in upholding its mission of achieving academic excellence through harmonising social sciences research and teaching and engaging with society. In teaching, he encourages colleagues to adopt a lively and innovative approach with the use of technology, to induce more interaction amongst students in class. As for research, the Faculty will actively promote transdisciplinary research in key niche areas that have been endorsed by the University such as Smart Societies, Populations and Well-being, and Learning, Praxis and Governance, which also echo with the trends of society. Furthermore, Professor Lai would like to take the golden opportunity of the Faculty’s 50th anniversary celebration to invite alumni back to campus, so that they could witness the dramatic transformation journey of the University over the past years. He hopes that through such visits, alumni can recognise the distinguished features of HKBU, and they will be able to take pride in its achievements and development and help promote the University and introduce it to others as our ambassadors.
Keeping Pace with Society, Inducing Social Resonance
When touching upon the topic of his interests, Professor Lai said honestly, “I mostly spend my time on teaching and research, and don’t have any particular hobby. I used to watch movies during a long-haul flight. Through the movies, I would feel not only the efforts of the actors but also perceive the depiction of reality. Appreciating movies can help relieve stress. Additionally, some scenes in movies could also inspire us to deal with a future encounter from a new perspective.” To Professor Lai, films that reflect reality would easily strike a chord with the audience, and this similarly applies to social sciences. In conclusion, Professor Lai said he is dedicated to leading the Faculty of Social Sciences to deliver academic excellence and foster innovation in research in response to society’s needs. He would also encourage both the faculty and alumni to work towards building a better society for all.
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| This year marks the Faculty’s celebration of its golden jubilee, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences Prof. Daniel Lai hopes to lead the Faculty to scale new heights in both teaching and research. |
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| Prof. Lai is dedicated to propelling the Faculty in the advancement of teaching and research, and raising the Faculty’s social awareness, to build a better society for all. |
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Riding on the golden jubilee celebration of the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Social Sciences Student Development Endowment Fund is established, with staunch support from alumni, in order to further strengthen its support of student development.
For details of the Faculty of Social Sciences Student Development Endowment Fund, please click here. |
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