The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS) of City University of Macau, Brunel University London, University of Reading, together with University of Bristol, successfully hosted the “Healthcare Management, Organizational Resilience and Global Sustainable Development: An East-Meets-West Perspective Research Conference” today. The event brought together experts from Asia and worldwide to further understand critical issues at the intersection of healthcare management, organizational resilience, and global sustainable development. Participants were attracted to attend this event both online and onsite.
Rector Liu Jun started the conference by welcoming attendees and emphasizing the value of multidisciplinary collaboration for tackling challenges in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. He highlighted CityU’s commitment to promoting interdisciplinary fields such as data science, big health, fintech, and digital humanities and social sciences, underpinned by big data. He hoped for closer cooperation with universities in the United Kingdom in disciplinary development and academic exchange.
In the first keynote speech, Professor Mustafa F. Ozbilgin (Chair in Organizational Behaviour, Brunel University London, UK) explored tensions between ignorance and science in shaping social policies in response to major disasters. He argued for evidence-based, inclusive approaches that strengthen the role of science and build accountability.
This set the stage for the paper presentations. FHSS Associate Professor Daibo Xiao shared his findings on improving garbage classification and tourist psychological ownership in sci-tech parks. The next presentation discussed enhancing cognitive resilience in the elderly through lifestyle factors. Further, a research presentation examined Chinese students’ wellbeing during COVID-19 in Japan.
The second group of presentations featured research on mapping post-pandemic cultural industries in the Yangtze River Delta and analyzing influencers of development. Another study explored relationships between cultural capital, subjective health and urban youth in China. The final presentation utilized VR experiments to design optimal social paradigms and their implications for sustainability goals.
In the second keynote speech, Prof. Ian Kirkpatrick (Chair in Public Management, University of York, UK) assessed China’s public hospital reforms. While adopting elements of New Public Management (NPM) internationally, implementation has shown some differences – prioritizing quality over profits, with limited decentralization. The speaker attributed these divergences to China’s political priorities of party control and preference for bureaucracy, suggesting that country-specific factors shape reform trajectories.
Later, Prof. Phil Davies and Prof. Yipeng Liu from the Journal of Asian Business & Management met with attendees for the “Meet the Editors and SI introduction” session. They provided guidance on positioning work within clear contexts for submission chances and emphasized opportunities through multidisciplinary collaboration.
In conclusion, FHSS Dean Lixian Jin thanked participants, noting engagement with SSCI editors benefited CityU’s research students and academic staff in developing an international mindset for academic publications.
Through lively discussions, the conference advanced knowledge of societal challenges at the healthcare-organization-sustainability nexus. Insights would help address issues through innovative, multicultural research approaches. The Journal of Asian Business and Management will publish a dedicated issue to cover papers on this conference. All research staff and postgraduate students are encouraged to submit their work.
Source: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
