Group photo of SEWF25 Fringe Day Event - PEOPLE First: From CUHK Research to Social Innovation for Mental Wellbeing
As part of Social Enterprise World Forum 2025 (SEWF25) Fringe Day event, social innovation team was proud to host the session PEOPLE First: From CUHK Research to Social Innovation for Mental Wellbeing on 28 October morning – a dynamic cross-border dialogue uniting stakeholders from Hong Kong and Taiwan across academia, social enterprises and non-profits. Together, we exchanged insights, explored collaboration opportunities, and built partnerships to advance mental health through people-centred innovation.
The session brought together CUHK’s applied research pioneers and Taiwan-based academics and social innovators to showcase transformative initiatives.
- Prof Catherine So (Department of Educational Psychology / STAR Limited) shared RABI® robot-assisted autism interventions and their scalable NGO impact.
- Prof Donna Chu (School of Journalism and Communication / Mars Media Academy) connected media literacy to youth identity and mental health through community engagement.
- Prof Crystal Chan (JC School of Public Health & Primary Care / Health Hatch) presented group exercises empowering ADHD children and caregivers in subdivided flats.
- Prof Chih-Hao Chang (Department of Psychology, Fu Jen Catholic University) demonstrated dramatherapy turning "homestay" into "heart stay" for youth from vulnerable families
- Prof Tsz-Yi Chang (Department of Psychology, Fu Jen Catholic University) reframed school refusal as self-preservation
- Mr Chun-Wei Chi (iLongTermCare) introduced online-offline "quasi-family" models bridging care gaps in super-aged societies.
These diverse approaches – from tech-enabled care to creative therapies – embodied SEWF25’s PEOPLE theme and CUHK’s commitment to knowledge transfer.
The session concluded with an engaging World Café, where participants actively shared their ideas, reflections, and lived experiences with the speakers. This interactive exchange deepened the dialogue and sparked new possibilities for collaboration and community-driven innovation.
A heartfelt thank you to Fu Jen Catholic University and KPMG Taiwan for co-hosting, and to facilitators Mr Timothy Ma and Prof Yang-Ming Huang, plus all speakers, for their inspiring contributions.
The speakers' presentation decks are now available for intetsted parties to revisit their sharing. Please find the links at the end of this webpage.
Let’s keep putting PEOPLE first in social innovation!
| Speaker | Presentation Deck |
| Prof Catherine So Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, CUHK Founder, Science and Technology for Autism Remediation (STAR) Limited |
RABI® and Beyond – Robot-Assisted Autism Intervention and NGO Impact |
| Prof Donna Chu Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, CUHK Founder, Mars Media Academy |
Media Literacy, Youth Identity & Mental Health – From Research to Community Engagement |
| Prof Tsz-Yi Chang Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Fu Jen Catholic University |
Withdrawal as a Way of Preserving the Self: A Perspective on School Refusal and Social Withdrawal |