Dr. Li Jianbin and Dr. Tam Po Chi Pansy, Assistant Professors in the Department of Early Childhood Education, received the 2020-2021 President’s Awards for outstanding performance in research (Early Career Research Excellence Award) and knowledge transfer respectively. The awards recognise their research excellence and outstanding contributions in knowledge transfer to the local and international fields.
Dr. Li has widely published in high-quality journals on the areas of adjustment and well-being from childhood to emerging adulthood from bioecological perspectives by underscoring the development of personal positive virtues (e.g., self-control, meaning in life) and their roles in understanding and facilitating adjustment and well-being. He was recently recognized as a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science (APS). Besides disseminating his research findings in international conferences and conducting workshops and seminars in mainland and international universities, he also provides professional service to the University and broader academic community as a committee member, editorial board member and guest editor for academic journals.
Dr. Tam is greatly renowned on using drama education as a playful and creative tool to innovate Chinese early childhood education. She has a successful track record of securing external research funding and donations in the capacity of Principal Investigator to investigate the drama teaching practices in Asian contexts. Her knowledge transfer achievements in the past two years are best reflected in a drama education partnership project formed by our Department and the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre (HKREP) with a total funding over $8,720,000 from the D H Chen Foundation. It has benefitted 85 kindergartens, 1,008 preschool teachers and 14,380 children in teaching and learning with drama education in their daily classroom. Another ad hoc project from Dr. Tam has created an online platform with drama teaching resources on pandemic-related issues for teachers in kindergartens. A webinar which attracted 180 participants was organised to promote arts education to children and build teachers’ resilience during and after the pandemic.