FSS co-organized the Greater Bay Area Young Scholars Forum on Psychological Science

The Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) of the University of Macau (UM) co-organized the Greater Bay Area Young Scholars Forum on Psychological Science with Shenzhen University, Sun Yat-Sen University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Education University of Hong Kong during 8th-10th October 2021. This three-day intensive, virtual event not only provided an effective platform for academic exchange and collaboration incubation but also promoted professional development via four invited talks of the world-renowned experts in the field. Prof. Keith W. KELLY (Professor Emeritus of Immunophysiology, University of Illinois) and Prof. Nancy EISENBERG (Regents Professor, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University), based on their ample experience of working as editors of high-tier psychological journals (e.g., Psychological Bulletin), offered practical and constructive pieces of advice for young scholars to write more persuasively and get the writing published in English journals. The other two famous psychologists, Prof. Jeffrey ARNETT (Professor of Psychology, Clark University) and Prof. Art KRAMER (Professor of Psychology & Director of the Center for Cognitive & Brain Health, Northeastern University), shared their cutting-edge research findings and views on the new life stage of emerging adulthood in China and worldwide and the influence of exercise and physical activity on cognitive and brain health, respectively. 

The nine oral sessions and two poster sessions of the forum featured about 90 selected presentations that cover a wide range of psychology-related disciplines. UM students’ research work on both basic and applied psychology were shared and well recognized and nine of them received awards for their excellent performances in those oral and/or poster sessions*. In the information and collaboration session, the Associate Dean (Research) of FSS, Prof. Anise M. S. WU, delivered an introduction of the faculty and various degree programmes to the attendees. The five hosting parties of this forum also had a virtual round-table discussion about increasing mutual understanding and multilateral collaborations. All of them, as well as the attendees, acknowledge the success, potential impacts, and sustainability of the forum and look forward to the next forum in 2022.  

*The awardees are all UM PhD students.