Coming from a diverse range of subjects, 75 undergraduates from the University of Hong Kong have made a decision to step out of their comfort zones and study domestic violence - the first students from non-social and health faculties to be introduced to HKU's campus-wide study of the subject.
They will confront some of the most traumatic, yet common, aspects of family violence; child abuse, spouse battering and psychological torture.
And they are already finding that the cases they come across are much more shocking than the newspaper headlines on family tragedies.
The Security Bureau reported 4,967 cases of family violence from January to August this year, almost double the number in the same period last year.
The attempt to raise awareness among university students as opposed to society as a whole may seem like a strange move.
Nevertheless, Edward Chan Ko-ling, from HKU's department of social work and social administration, thinks otherwise.
'We are dealing directly with a specific group who tend to resort to violence in relationship problems a lot more often than those in spousal relationships, although the degree of severity might not be as serious,' he said.