Career Highlights

§  Kevin has over 20 years of experience in academic leadership, curriculum development at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and fundraising for universities. He was listed among the World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists published by Stanford University in 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Kevin is also ranked in the top 1% globally by Scholar GPS in the fields of Social Science, Human Development and Family Studies, Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities, and Executive Functions. 

§  Kevin has been the Director of the University’s Centre for Child and Family Science since 2016. https://eduhkccfs.eduhk.hk/. Under Kevin’s directorship, CCFS has devoted significant effort to enhancing its position in ECE-related sectors and within the community as a leading-edge knowledge centre for child development and family wellbeing. It provides applicable research outputs, knowledge, and services that support and applaud the relationship between the child, family, school, and community. CCFS is a thriving hub for research and innovation that supports researchers and practitioners working with and studying children and families in various contexts to address their needs.

§  Kevin is the Project Director and Principal Investigator of The “C-for-Chinese@JC” project, which was created and funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and co-created by three local universities and two non-governmental organizations. Since its launch in 2016, the Project has adopted a “home-school-community” collaborative model to foster culturally responsive education in kindergartens, providing a pleasurable and meaningful learning environment that improves the Chinese proficiency of non-Chinese-speaking (NCS) Ethnic Minority (EM) students and enhances the social competence of Chinese students. Building on past learning, Phase II of the Project, commencing in 2022, bids to support kindergarten with a set of “Culturally Responsive Education Benchmarks.” This practical framework aims to enhance the Chinese language learning and social-emotional competence of both NCS EM students and Chinese students, as well as their transitions to primary education. https://cforchinese-jc.hk/en/what-is-cforchinese#gsc.tab=0

§  Kevin has been the Principal Investigator of the “JC-RISE” project since 2021. The 3-year RISE Project completed Phase I in June 2024, developing the HKT-PE(J) assessment tool and the RISE curriculum. These tools employed innovative frameworks and pedagogical approaches to significantly improve English literacy among over 1,000 students across 60 schools, garnering endorsements from the Education Bureau. Phase II began in July 2024, expanding to about 40% of local primary schools, focusing on creating engaging learning environments, conducting research on senior primary students' literacy and cognitive profiles, developing new resources like self-directed games and themed activities, and providing support for students, teachers, and parents; to date, it has engaged hundreds of students, teachers, and parents across numerous schools.

§  Kevin, as Principal Investigator, received more than HK$320 million (or US$41 million) in funding: 7 General Research Fund, 1 Public Policy Research Funding Scheme, 3 Quality Education Fund, 1 Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR), 7 Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trusts, 4 Simon K Y Lee Foundation, 1 Hong Kong Dyspraxia Foundation Limited, 2 Research Matching Grant, and 4 Faculty research and knowledge exchange grants. As a CI, he has been involved in a Collaborative Research Equipment Grant, a Theme-based Research Scheme, 2 Collaborative Research Fund projects, 6 Health and Medical Research Fund projects, 15 General Research Fund projects, 3 Quality Education Fund projects, and 1 SCOLAR project.

§  Kevin published more than 220 academic outputs, including 201 journal articles, 13 book chapters, and 1 edited book. He developed more than 20 standardized assessment tests for psychologists and teachers to identify children and adolescents with dyslexia in Chinese and English, for example, The Hong Kong Test of Specific Learning Difficulties in Reading and Writing for Junior Secondary School Students [HKT-JS(II)] and The Hong Kong Test of English Reading and Writing for Junior Primary School Students (Primary 2 and 3) (HKT-PE(J)). These assessment batteries are the first standardized Chinese and English batteries for assessing learning difficulties worldwide.

§  Kevin developed and implemented over 50 enrichment literacy programs and resources, including differential curricula for students with specific learning difficulties. He is also a Leader of the Hong Kong Specific Learning Difficulties Research Team https://hksld.eduhk.hk  

§  Kevin developed standardized screening assessment tools, the Chinese Inventory of Children’s Socioemotional Competence (CICSEC) for K1-K3 and the Chinese Inventory of Children’s Socioemotional Competence (CICSEC-N) for 2-year-old Chinese nursery children. He also implemented the 3Es social-emotional learning programs and resources, including differentiated curricula, to improve children’s social-emotional competence from Nursery to Kindergarten 3. Two evidence-based curricula for 4-6-year-olds (K2-K3 children) and 2-4-year-olds were tested using randomized, wait-list control trials, along with providing teacher and parental training workshops. Built around four core themes aligned with the Chinese virtues (四德) of Benevolence (仁), Righteousness (義), Propriety (禮), and Wisdom (智), the 3Es curricula help children understand others ‘feelings and intentions, engage in prosocial behaviour, manage their emotions and actions, express themselves appropriately, and follow rules and classroom tasks. See the 3Es website https://3esproject.eduhk.hk/tc/index.php and the Education Bureau webpage https://sense.edb.gov.hk/en/professional-development-of-teachers/teacher-professional-development-on-catering-for-students-with-diverse-needs-in-kindergartens/school-based-teacher-development-project-on-enhancing-kindergarten-teachers-competence-in-promoting-students-social-emotional-development-3es-project.html

§  Kevin contributed to the development and implementation of the Tiered Intervention Model for English and Chinese language, as well as social-emotional learning, from preschool to secondary school in Hong Kong. He received the President’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Research (Research Excellence Award) from EdUHK and the President’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Knowledge Transfer (Team Award). He also won the 2021 iCAN Silver Medal, the Special Award, and the International Innovation and Invention Competition (IIIC 2021) Gold Medal for developing the Chinese Inventory of Children’s Socioemotional Competence (CICSEC) screening tool.

§  He also developed positive psychological interventions – an EASP program - to promote the psychological well-being of preschool teachers, social workers, and parents. This program entails cultivating not only professional teaching competencies but also promoting psychological strengths.

§  Kevin was the head of two departments (HoD), the Department of Early Childhood Education and the Department of Special Education and Counselling, and the first Associate Dean (Research and Development) in the Faculty of Education and Human Development. He developed and implemented 13 academic programs: MA in Educational Counselling, MSc in Educational Speech-Language Pathology and Learning Disabilities, MA in Child and Family Education, MA in Teaching (Specialization: Early Childhood Education and Family Studies), two 4-year top-up BEd in ECE (Hons), PGDE (ECE), Diploma (ECE) and five Professional Development Programs (PDP). He redeveloped and implemented HD (ECE) with 7 SEN courses, an English stream, and a 3-year top-up BEd in ECE (Hons) with an English stream. All HD graduates are qualified to work in special care centres. He also raised funds from private foundations to establish student scholarships and prizes for various academic programs.

§  Kevin is also the elected President of the Association for Reading and Writing in Asia (ARWA) from 2024 to 2026, and has been appointed as a Research Grants Council (RGC) member of the Humanities and Social Sciences Panel (General Research Fund) and Other Funding Schemes for Individual Research from 2024 to 2026.

§  He was a core Expert Group Member of PISA 2018 Reading and assisted in the publication of four OECD publications on PISA 2018 Reading. Kevin is also Chairman of the Steering Committees of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2021 and 2025 in Hong Kong.

§  He was a Member of the Curriculum Development Council Committee on Early Childhood Education and contributed to the development of the Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide in 2017. https://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/curriculum-development/major-level-of-edu/preprimary/ENG_KGECG_2017.pdf