The Hong Kong Shue Yan University has successfully obtained a research fund of over HK$6.7M from the Research Grant Council for conducting a project entitled ‘Constructing an interdisciplinary research platform at HKSYU’. The project aims to open up a gateway for promoting research collaborations among various research centers of the University. This 3-year project is having its opening events, which is a series of public lectures to be held on 14 and 22 May 2015 at the Hong Kong Central Library Lecture Theatre.

The project has invited two renowned scholars in brain science to deliver the public lectures, they are: Dr. Dénes Szűcs, Deputy Director of Centre for Neuroscience in Education of the University of Cambridge, and Prof. Ranga Krishnan, the Dean of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. Dr. Dénes Szűcs will give a lecture on ‘Mathematics Development, Developmental Dyscalculia and Mathematics Anxiety’, and Prof Krishnan will share about a topic on brain-based science learning and teaching with a speech title ‘Learning for Tomorrow’.

The two lectures are user-friendly and suitable for all levels of audience. The details and registration of the lectures are now available on http://www.hksyu.edu/projects/irpids.
 

Apart from the public lectures, the two scholars will further discuss and share their research insights regarding the theme of brain-based learning and teaching together with the academic and research staff of the University.
 

The University expects the project can (1) create a niche for the University in not only teaching and learning, but also research in particular; (2) provide opportunities for the University’s academics to establish interdisciplinary research among themselves as well as to collaborate with other local and overseas institutions; (3) strengthen the research capabilities of our academic and research staff.
 

There are three stages in the project. The University embarks on the strategic research area of ‘brain-based teaching and learning’ this year. Subsequently, the project will focus on another two areas: Decision Making and Negotiation & Persuasion in 2016 and 2017 respectively. This platform will be sustained by means of a series of public lectures and workshops to be delivered by distinguished scholars in the three aforesaid areas. In addition, the University has been acquiring new research equipment for both research and study purpose.
 

The project is funded under the Institutional Development Scheme by the Research Grant Council, and is led by the University Vice President (Administration) Dr F.C. HU as the Principal Investigator, and administered by Head of Department of Business Administration Prof. David Yeung and Head of Department of Counselling and Psychology Prof. Catherine Sun as the Contributors.