A conversation with Professor Chetwyn Chan: Discover your passion for research and strive for sustainable KT projects

 

In this issue of FLASS FORWARD, we are delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Professor Chan about his experience on research and knowledge transfer. He shared with us his ideas about how FLASS can develop its research capability.

A: I joined my previous university after coming back to Hong Kong in 1994. My doctoral study was in educational psychology. In the first ten years of my research work, I focused on assessment validation as well as psychological and educational measurements – that is, to assess whether a measurement tool is effective or not. I also conducted several randomised clinical control trials (RCT) back then.

In the first few years, my research emphasis was to enhance the efficacy of an assessment tool by correcting its deficiencies and improving its design. I was absorbed in tackling the questions asking “what” to measure, but seldom asked questions about “why” I needed to measure those parameters. After several years working with assessment tools and clinical trials, it occurred to me that it was time I took a step forward with my research. I made the decision to shift from downstream research to mid-stream research, which meant I needed to change from asking questions about “what”, to questions about “why”.

Hence, I moved on to the second phase of my research life around 2005, when I started to explore mechanisms underlying human learning and embarked upon other theoretical research. To equip myself for mid-stream research, I acquired new knowledge in the field of neuroscience, including brain imaging and electroencephalograms. In this phase, my research projects produced knowledge that other people could use as a base to validate their assessments, which was further developed for clinical interventions.

Around 2010, I advanced to the third stage of my research career. Based on the experiences in downstream and mid-stream research accumulated through the first and second stages of my academic career, I started to engage myself with larger-scale research projects that addressed societal needs. These included research projects on post-stroke rehabilitation and the treatment of patients with early-stage dementia. To expand the scale of my research, I participated in many research project collaborations with scientists from mainland Chinese universities. Three years ago, my academic career entered a new stage, when I began to spend more time and energy in knowledge transfer (KT).

Professor Chan gives a lecture on building up research capacity. 

Having shared my own experiences, I want to stress that there is no single formula a researcher can follow to develop his/her career. How researchers develop their careers depends very much on the inspiration and training they received before and throughout their careers, and the discipline they work in.

A: I have committed myself to many different research projects for more than 20 years, moving from downstream to mid-stream research and then to larger-scale research projects aimed at bringing solutions to real-world problems. In recent years, I have been more involved in various KT projects. Moving through these different stages in my academic career has given me tremendous joy. I see personal growth in my journey.

I believe academia is not separated from society. Together with other researchers, I have conducted many projects which have helped people suffering from stroke and dementia to overcome various difficulties they encountered. My research in post-stroke rehabilitation and intervention in early-stage dementia has improved people’s quality of life. This brings me the greatest joy, and continually motivates my research endeavours.

Conducting research and the constant hunt for originality is tiring. Considering the mental demand and material reward, an academic career might not be the best way to make a living. Researchers need to discover an intrinsic value—their own passion—in their research work to sustain their academic lives.

A: First and foremost, KT is a knowledge-based activity. Research is defined as the creation of new knowledge. Researchers need to contribute original ideas towards the development of new knowledge. KT is impossible without solid knowledge creation.

Secondly, KT is the activity of using existing knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems. In other words, KT projects should have beneficiaries, should they be a group of people, an organisation, a city or a nation.

I also want to clarify the misconception that a one-off transfer of knowledge is KT. It is not. A successful KT project should have a life of its own; that is, it should be able to continuously benefit the recipients. It should be sustainable.

To ensure sustainability, an invention needs to have a high intellectual property (IP) value. When an innovation has a high IP value, inventors can patent and copyright the innovation to protect their ownership rights. When it is adequately protected, innovation is then able to create the income it deserves.

Researchers should also understand that the requirements and expectations of customers continue to evolve constantly once they get used to using a KT product. Hence, researchers need to regularly improve their innovations to meet changing market demand. To sustain continuous innovation, researchers need to secure a reliable source of funding to support their research and development work.

Usually, funding comes either from financiers lending support to the KT project, or through the licensing and commercialisation of an invention. The benefit of commercialisation is that while researchers continue to carry out research to better their inventions, a team of professionals are working hard to market the inventions, drive product development, and generate a constant income flow to support further research.

A: KT is not necessarily a technology-based activity. Take mindfulness practices as an example. Technology doesn’t play a key role in mindfulness practices, which are basically mental exercises to arouse our awareness of the present; yet, rigorous research work is behind the global mindfulness movement.

Harvard Medical School (HMS), through the Center of Mindfulness and Compassion (CMC), collaborated with Cambridge Health Alliance to produce the world’s top mindfulness research and provide mindfulness practices. They conducted a great deal of original theoretical research in medicine and psychology to support the design of their training programmes.

Through its mindfulness classes, programmes and services, HMS has been very successful in helping millions of people who want to maintain a peaceful mind in an increasingly restless world. It shows that the transfer of knowledge and expertise between academia and the community is not necessarily technology driven.

In fact, many clinical interventions which have benefitted millions of people are not technology-driven.

A: In today’s world, an impactful innovation is often the result of a collaboration between different academic disciplines. FLASS has a diverse pool of scholars in natural sciences, social sciences, mathematics, IT, health sciences and more. FLASS can make use of this varied range of talent to drive cross-disciplinary research and KT projects. Scholars at the Department of Science and Enviromental Studies may have the expertise to analyze the chemical ingredients of pollutants, but they need advice from health science researchers and social scientists in order to know how the pollutants affects an individual’s life and what the related pressing societal problems are.

After the 2008 global financial crisis, the job market has become much more volatile. In such an uncertain market, job seekers are yearning for a systematic way to help them understand their strengths and guide their career path. They need advice on what sort of training they need to receive for pursuing their career. EdUHK is developing a “Life and Career Development” programme to assist people in planning their career and pursuing the necessary life-long learning. With an array of social scientists, data scientists, and computer scientists on board, FLASS can play a role in developing this programme.

These are just two suggestions that FLASS could explore. To maximise its potential, FLASS needs to strengthen its cross-departmental and cross-faculty cooperation among different disciplines in the university. In particular, a framework must be created to strengthen the cooperation between researchers from all disciplines.

A: The development of science and technology depends very much on whether the institution has enough researchers to produce a broad base of knowledge. FLASS needs to build up a critical mass of researchers such as health science researchers, computer scientists and data scientists.

Even though we are not a technology-oriented institution, FLASS scholars can cooperate with academics from other local and overseas universities to overcome such shortcomings. Don’t forget that many universities in Hong Kong have very strong engineering and technology disciplines.

To enhance its KT development, FLASS should secure more diverse funding sources. FLASS should think beyond obtaining funding support from the General Research Fund (GRF) and Early Career Scheme (ECS). Indeed, there are many funding sources apart from GRF and ECS. For instance, the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) under the Innovation and Technology Commission supports many research and KT activities.

Many universities in Hong Kong have accumulated rich experiences in using income generated through their consultancy services to expand their KT work. This is another direction EdUHK could pursue.

First, you need to talk with stakeholders to understand the needs of the market. Secondly, you need to find out whether your knowledge and research can answer these needs. If not, you should team up with other people who have the right mindset, knowledge and skills. Thirdly, you need to locate where the endpoint of your KT project is. Understanding the final goal helps you plan the steps in developing your KT project. And finally, get secure sources of funding to ensure the sustainability of your project.