Prof. YU Xiaonan Nancy (于肖楠)

Dr. Nancy Xiaonan Yu is a health psychologist with training in public health. Her research program has focused on resilience in adversities, by examining the resilience process and protective factors at the individual, dyadic, family, and community levels. Her resilience-oriented studies involve chronic illnesses (e.g., HIV, cancer, coronary heart disease), acculturation (e.g., migration, cross-border adjustment), losses (e.g., parental absence, bereavement), challenges (e.g., discrimination and stigma, parenting stress, aging), and crisis (e.g., natural disasters, COVID-19). In addition, she has applied the community-based participatory research approach to develop and implement culturally sensitive interventions to promote resilience in stressful populations. With strong passion for interdisciplinary research, Dr. Yu has been working closely with researchers and practitioners in social work, public health, nursing, neuroscience, data science, and biomedical science.

Award and Achievement

• 2022 "Knowledge Transfer Award" College of Libreral Arts and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong
• 2020−present Honorary Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong

• 2017 “Outstanding Supervisor Award” City University of Hong Kong.

• 2017 “Award for the Best Oral Presentation” The 1st Interdisciplinary Behavioral Health Conference.

• 2017 “Award for Chinese Young Scholars（华人新秀奖）” The 10th Conference for Chinese Psychologists.

• 2013 “Excellence in Knowledge Transfer Award” College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong. Dr. Yu has been disseminating the research findings on the resilience intervention designed for new immigrants and training social workers to conduct evidence-based practice in social services. [URL]

Public health psychology, especially resilience in adversities:

1) To investigate the positive effects of resilience in vulnerable populations

2) To develop effective interventions to promote resilience

Administrative Assignment

• 2024 - Now, Member of the Committee Against Sexual Harassment. 
• 2024 - Now, Director of Departmental Research Committee. 
• 2023 - Now, Member of Department Executive Committee.
• 2023 - Now, Programme Leader of Master of Social Science Programme in Psychology.
• 2023 - Now, Coordinator of RAE for the Psychology Discipline.
• 2023 - 2024, Director of Impact, Knowledge Transfer, & RAE.
• 2022 - 2024, Psychology Discipline Member of Department Research Ethics.
• 2021 - 2023, Admission Tutor of PhD Programme.
• 2016 - 2020, Member of the Joint Bachelor's Degree Program with Columbia University.
• 2015 - 2020, Member of the Academic Conduct Committee.
• 2015 - 2023, Member of the Graduate and Undergraduate Mentors and Alumni Development.
• 2014 - 2015, Member of Departmental Teaching Allocation.
• 2013 - 2014, Admission Tutor of The Master of Social Sciences in Applied Psychology Program.

Research / Thesis Supervision

• 2024 - Now, Changyuan Tang. 
• 2024 - Now, Tianji Zhou, PhD candidate, Co-supervision with Prof Jingping Zhang, Central South University. 
• 2023 - Now, Yilin Kou, PhD candidate. 
• 2023 - Now, Wan-Yu Tsai, PhD candidate.
• 2022 - Now, Chenxi Wang, PhD candidate. 
• 2022 - Now, Yifei Yan, PhD candidate.
• 2021 - Now, Bowen Chen, PhD candidate.
• 2021 - Now, Jianhua Hou, PhD candidate.
• 2020 - Now, Rong Fu, PhD candidate.
• 2019 - Now, Shiyun Ji, PhD candidate.
• 2019 - 2024, Jinghan Hu, PhD.
• 2019 - 2024, Xueli Chen, PhD candidate, Co-supervision with Prof Xiaochu Zhang, University of Science and Technology of China.
• 2018 - 2022, Yanlin Zhou, PhD., Co-supervision with Prof Qiong Zhang, Zhejiang University. Postdoc fellow at Warwick University.
• 2018 - 2023, Chen Chen, PhD. Assistant professor at Soochow University.
• 2018 - 2022, He Bu, PhD. Assistant professor at East China University of Science and Technology. 
• 2017 - 2020, Xingyun Liu, PhD, Co-supervision with Prof Tingshao Zhu, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Assistant professor at Central China Normal University.
• 2017 - 2022, Diyang Qu, PhD. Postdoc fellow at Tsinghua University. 
• 2016 - 2019, Jiasheng Huang, PhD. Assistant professor at Sun Yat-sen University.
• 2014 - 2016, Jinfeng Zhang, PhD, Co-supervision with Prof Jianxin Zhang, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Associate Professor at Chongqing University.
• 2011 - 2015, Miss Samantha Sze Wan Fung, PhD, Co-supervision with Prof TH Lam and Prof SM Stewart, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. Lecturer in PolyU SPEED.

Professional services

• 2023 - Now, Inaugural Member of the Committee for the Advancement of General Applied Psychology, American Psychological Association.
• 2023 - Now, Associate Editor of Current Psychology.
• 2022 - Now, Associate Editor of Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine.
• 2016 - 2022, International Affiliate of the South Carolina SmartState Center for Healthcare Quality, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, the USA. 
• 2011 - 2024, Honorary Associate Professor, Honorary Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong.