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The aim of conducting research is to create new knowledge. But new knowledge has to be transmitted to society through teaching, publications, media channels, collaborations and other means to bring advantages to the public. To honour faculty members whose projects demonstrate clear evidence of innovation, engagement or impact on the community, CityU’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) gives out Knowledge Transfer Awards annually.

This year, Dr Esther CHOW Oi-wah of the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences scooped the top award. Entitled “Rethinking and Shaping Knowledge and Practice on Aging: Forging Close Ties among Universities, Industries and the Wider Public”, Chow’s knowledge transfer initiative was a textbook example of translating research into practice. Under the big umbrella, three projects were designed based on research studies describing the blended approach for social work learning, the use of storytelling in enhancing teaching and learning of human behaviour and social environment/diversity, and engaging the younger generation in playback practice.

The outcome of the first project was 15 sets of e-learning materials for different social work courses. In the second project, a group of older storytellers were invited to share their life challenges, which were then performed by 10 students in the Playback Theatre attended by social workers, elderly, students and members of the public. The third project saw students using Playback Theatre to embrace diversity of local and non-local university communities, thereby cultivating diversity across culture and age.

These projects were successful in developing a pedagogical model for young learners and enriching students’ learning beyond the classroom interactively with older adults. Besides current students, health and social care practitioners, older adults and the general public had also benefited.