Frances Y.W. Law, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, has been awarded the prestigious Rosie Young 90 Medal for Outstanding Young Woman Scholar 2024 in recognition of her outstanding research and scholarship and contributions to the university and community.
Professor Law’s research, grounded in her experience of social work practice and management employing a mixed-methods approach, is dedicated to developing effective community-based health and social service interventions for vulnerable, underserved groups, including those at risk of suicide, self-harm, drug abuse, and bullying and those living with poverty and in substandard housing. Her overarching aim is to improve service quality for and promote the wellbeing of individuals who often go unnoticed in existing healthcare and social service provision.
Amongst the numerous funded research projects led by Professor Law as Principal Investigator, often in strategic collaboration with local non-profits, the most recent include an investigation of a school-based anti-bullying intervention for children and adolescents, an evaluation study of quality of life amongst children and families in subdivided housing, research on the effects of self-neglect, maladaptive behaviour, and clutter accumulation on low-income families, and an exploration of evidence-based drug treatment/rehabilitation best practices in Hong Kong.
Professor Law work has a strong commitment to excellence and achieving positive social impact by striving for an optimal balance between divergence and convergence. Her future aspiration is to examine the driving forces within various change agents – whether the individual, family, school, community, or organisation – through continual empowerment, reengineering, and potential restructuring.