News & Stories

    Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have found that children think more highly of the naturally talented over hard workers, a preference that they carry into adulthood.     That is the case even in China, a culture that places effort above natural talent as people perceive the naturally talented as being more competent than those who work hard, according to the study.     Although children’s preference for naturals also generalizes to the perception of their friendliness and a willingness to interact with them, Chinese adults do not prefer naturals over hard workers except when considering competence, the study found.

It's not common that respected academics reveal their personal struggles, especially to their colleagues, students and even strangers. Prof. Paul FORSTER from the Department of Management and Division of Environment and Sustainability, who has recently been awarded IPO (Interdisciplinary Programs Office) Teaching Excellence Award for the postgraduate category, has decided to disclose his decades-long battle with depression, in the hope of breaking the mental health stigma and encouraging people to seek help for mental health problems.

Our students, like others around the world, are adapting to the impacts of a pandemic in full swing and the city on partial lockdown. With their lives turned upside down, many are feeling growing anxieties and fears about the unknown future. For final-year biotechnology major Sharon CHUNG Sze-Long, the outlook is even grimmer: the class of 2020 will graduate into the worst job market in many years because the global economy has been hit hard due to the pandemic. “Final years are typically fraught with worry and uncertainty, but what our cohort is facing is something else. The fact that I haven’t been able to see my classmates to talk things through has made it particularly frustrating,” she says. Read another related article: Silver Linings Amid Tough Job Market

This event serves to support the World Mental Health Day (10 Oct) observed by World Health Organization (WHO). We aim at moving forward to build a connected and united HKUST campus among different stakeholders, to arouse awareness on psychological well-being, and to de-stigmatize the sick role of seeking psychological counseling or treatment when needed.

LOVE1010 is a brand new initiative by the Counseling and Wellness Center this year and will be made available annually with different essential topics that students would need in developing intimate relationships, which is often not covered in school curriculum.

Mindfulness mediation helps improving concentration, boosting immune system and reducing stress. Mindfulness interventions have been widely practiced on the globe, including Oxford Mindfulness Center and UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center.

Resilience is the ability to "bounce back" from adverse situations, such as trauma, tragedy, threats, or other significant sources of stress. Several factors are found to enhance people's resilience. They are "R.E.B.O.U.N.C.E.".

"We create our own happiness." Positive psychology is about creating our own happiness in a proactive manner. Psychological research suggested that we have a capacity to control our individual happiness. We hope by participating in the event, students would learn more about how these "happiness habit" work and then put them into practice in our daily life.