The Felizberta Lo Padilla Tong School of Social Sciences, Saint Francis University (SFU), organised the "International Conference 2024 – Expanding Potential And Caring For All" on 8, 9 and 11 November 2024. The conference was attended by renowned scholars from Singapore, Germany, the United States, Canada and Australia, and supported by seven local academic and social welfare organisations, including the Department of Social Work and Social Administration of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Department of Social Work of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), St. James' Settlement, The Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong , the Hong Kong Society for the Aged, the Christian Family Service Centre, and the Caritas Social Work Service.
The School is honoured to have the Secretary for Labour and Welfare of the HKSAR Government, Mr Chris SUN, to officiate at the Conference and deliver a speech. Mr SUN said in his speech that population ageing is a global problem and with 22 to 23% of Hong Kong's population aged 65 or above, the society must face the problem of population ageing seriously. In the past, the Government had focused its resources on taking care of the elderly in need, for example, by co-operating with various stakeholders, including social welfare organisations, to provide daily necessities and care for the elderly who lacked self-care ability.
In the past two years, the Government has strengthened its support for carers, including financial assistance, launching the three-year 'Care the Carers Campaign' to assure the contribution of carers and promotie the message of caring for carers, as well as launching the 'Information Gateway for Carers' and the Hotline for Carer Support. Mr SUN stressed that the work was just the beginning and more in-depth discussions among different stakeholders, including academics, social welfare organisations and carers, were still needed to strengthen the support for carers. One of the directions he proposed is to strengthen data collection and analysis, so as to identify carers at risk as early as possible and provide them with support to reduce the possibility of tragedies. This meeting provides an opportunity to make reference to the practices in the international community.
Prof LO Tit wing, Acting President of SFU, expressed his heartfelt thanks to all the speakers and attendees in his opening speech. He said that SFU officially became a University of Applied Science (UAS) on 1 November, and should firstly provide and promote vocational education to meet the needs of society. The conference provides a platform for knowledge creation, exchange and dissemination. SFU has been in close contact with the industry, government departments and non-governmental organisations to ensure that the design and content of the programmes are in line with the needs of the community.
Prof LO said that UAS also attached importance to applied research. Funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, SFU set up two research centres, namely the Children and Youth Research Centre and the Data Science Research Centre for Social Policies and Service. A third centre will be set up early next year to focus on carer policies and services. He hoped that the discussions at the conference would help to shape the policy on carers and strengthen the support for them. Professor Lo wished that all stakeholders would work together to build a smart data city and a carer-friendly community.
Prof WONG Yu Cheung, Dean of the Felizberta Lo Padilla Tong School of Social Sciences, SFU, said organising the conference was an important milestone for the School, reflecting the School's growth and contribution to the field of social sciences since its establishment 20 years ago. He said the conference delved into three key themes of research and practice in recent years, including carer policy and practice, data science in social services and policy, and support for non-professional carers. He considered that these themes not only highlighted the breadth of research, but also emphasised innovative and collaborative approaches to solving pressing social problems.
Prof Alice CHONG Ming Lin from the Felizberta Lo Padilla Tong School of Social Sciences, SFU, delivered a keynote speech on the first day of the conference. She said that the Government has already implemented 10 of the 11 specific recommendations in the consultancy report. Although some of the measures have just started and some of the services are not directly funded by the Government, they reflect that the Government is emphasised on supporting carers.
Since the implementation, various charitable foundations and social welfare organisations in the community have responded by providing more services to carers, such as proactively identifying high-risk carers to provide support, and attempting to provide home-based respite care services for carers. Prof CHONG believes that the Government is responsible to review existing service gaps and develop a comprehensive carer support policy to prioritise services. Hong Kong is a caring city, and as long as the policy is evidence-based, different stakeholders in the community, such as foundations and social welfare organisations will be happy to work with the Government and other stakeholders to fill the service gaps.
The first two days of the conference (8-9 November) were held at the SFU Tiu Keng Leng Campus and attracted over 250 participants. One of the themes of the international conference was jointly organised by SFU and the Department of Social Work of Hong Kong Shue Yan University (SYU). The third day of the conference will be held on 11 November at the SYU campus.