Dr Sam Lau

About

Dr Sam Lau’s research lies primarily in interdisciplinary research in the interactions between the environment and health, covering a range of topics such as linking nature connectedness to human health and well-being, environmental and wetland conservation, and nature-based education. He is also interested in research on teaching and learning, in particular active learning pedagogy, work-integrated learning and career readiness. Dr Lau is an Associate Editor of the journal Wetlands and has been awarded HK$22.5 million from various funding bodies, such as RGC, ECF, EDB and AFCD since 2016. Dr Lau believes that knowledge transfer plays a vital role in forging closer ties between academia and the community. Some examples of Dr Lau’s outreach to serve the society at large are:

Environmental and sustainability education for all – Dr Lau has organised/delivered training/workshops/ecotours/competition that reached more than 4,000 students, teachers and members of the public since 2017. He published three biodiversity picture books, namely “Dancing with Spotted Dove”, “Flying Tiger - Common Tiger” and “Chinese Banyan Treasure”, in 2022. The three large and bilingual books are first three books showcasing the nature biodiversity in Hong Kong with the augmented reality effects and original music pieces. Related teaching and learning resources are also developed for kindergartens in Hong Kong to promote nature education. He also shared his expertise with NGOs as an advisor and the general public in the form of writing or being interviewed for online and printed news platforms such as RTHK TV, Now TV.com, HK01 and Whiz Kids Express Weekly.

Science communication to enthuse young people about science – Dr Lau was selected as one of 12 scientists to join a science outreach programme run by the Croucher Foundation which reached a total of 12,500 students from 60 schools in 2018 and 2019. He also conducted a science workshop for the public at the Hong Kong Science Museum during HK SciFest 2018.

Sharing of teaching and learning practices – Dr Lau has conducted workshops to share new pedagogical strategies with local and overseas teachers and educators to help in engaging and motivating students. Recent workshops were given at the Learning & Teaching Expo in 2018, 2019 and 2020.  

(https://learningandteachingexpo2018.sched.com/speaker/dr_sam_lau_.1yrc2859; https://lte2019.sched.com/speaker/dr_sam_lau_.203c3u8p; https://www.hkedcity.net/goelearning/en/resource/5fcf42060da87e0228b59dbf)

Achievements

Research Outputs

Recent journal articles and conference presentations

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sam_Lau7