Jessica Li, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor (since 2011) and Associate Director of the Apps Lab (since 2014) at City University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining CityU, she was a social worker for the youth-at-risk services and offender rehabilitation for about 15 years. Jessica is a registered social worker, a member of American Society of Criminology, a recipient of Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, and an awardee of certificate of service excellence by an NGO where she had professional social work practice for years.
Jessica stresses on the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration across social sciences and natural sciences, and innovation in research and teaching. Trained in social work and criminology, she is desirous of utilizing her combined knowledge of these two disciplines to contributing new ideas on how to build safe and secure communities, especially for disadvantaged groups. She has a research and teaching interest in social work values and ethics, crime prevention, working with female offenders, and policing. Jessica devoted herself to curriculum development and designed a couple of new courses for the social work (e.g. Social Work as a Profession) and criminology (e.g. Crime Prevention) disciplines. As a member of CityU Apps Lab, and the recipient of a couple of Teaching and Development Grants, Jessica and her project partners are keen to encourage students to apply digital technology to advance people's welfare and to create a safe environment so as to achieve knowledge transfer with benefits to communities. With the teaching philosophy of Discovery-without-boundary, Jessica tries the best to get her students enjoy learning whatever and whenever they want as well as whoever they are with, inside classroom, out of classroom, in real world, or the cyber world. Since 2013, Jessica started supervising PhD students in both disciplines.
Jessica is the Principal Investigator of two competitive grants (ECS/ GRF and PPR) awarded by the Research Grants Council of HK in 2012 that support her research on financial fraud against the elderly and social responses to girl compensated dating. She is also a Co-Investigator of a cross-institutional/ disciplinary research team led by Sun Yat-sen University working on two theme-based crime prevention and data mining projects funded by two prestigious grants in 2015: the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Over the past five years, she has become involved in over 10 research projects funded at an approximate total of HK$10,000,000. Since 2011, she and her co-authors have published over 30 referred articles in international journals, conference proceedings and academic textbooks.
Jessica is honoured to serve the academic community and Hong Kong society. She is one of the Guest Editors for the Special Issue on Crime Research in China of the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, a leading journal in criminology. She served in a District Fight Crime Committee, the Independence Police Complaints Council, and a social work panel of the HK Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualification, Over the years, she has been involved in various campus services through such positions as Associate Director of CityU Apps Lab, Associate Program Leader/ Fieldwork Course Leader for two social work programs.
Striking for a work-life balance, Jessica keeps on gardening every day, offering students with fun of learning every lesson, cycling every week, and travelling every year.
Award and Achievement
- 2011 “Visiting Scholar,Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science” UCL, London, UK.
- 2000 “Awardee, Certificate of Excellence” the HKFYGs.
- 1996 “Recipient, Cambridge Commonwealth Trust” UK Commonwealth Trust..
Research Grant
- Co-I: Big Data Based Research on Crime Geography, NSFC, (Amount: RMB3,570,000), 2016 - 2020, Liu, L.(PI), Li, J.C.M., and others .
- Co-I: Crime Prevention and Big Data Mining, Guangdong Natural Science Foundation, (Amount: RMB3,000,000), 2015 - 2020, Liu, L. (PI), Li, J.C.M., and others.
- PI: Examining the Impact of Work-family Balance on Occupational Stress and Work Engagement: A Pilot Study of Hong Kong Police Officers, Strategic Research Grant, City University of Hong Kong, Amount: $100,000, 2015 - 2016, Li, J.C.M. (PI), Sun, I.Y., Cheung, C.K., and Kowk, S.Y.C..
- PI: Developing Appropriate Community Responses to Compensated Dating among Adolescent Girls: Perceptions and Preferences of Various Stakeholders, ECS/ GRF, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (Amount: HK$506,434), 2013 - 2015, Li, J.C.M.(PI), and Cheung, C.K.
- PI: Preventing Financial Crimes against Older People for Building a Safe and Secure Community, PPR, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, (Amount: HK$308,397), 2012 - 2014, Li, J.C.M.(PI), Yeung, D.Y.L., and Ngan, M.H..
Journal
- Liu, L. & Li, J.C.M. (2017). Progress & future directions of crime research in China with selected case studies. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency,54(4), 447-453. doi:10.1177/0022427817698727 (SSCI-listed)
- Cheung, C.K. , Jia, X.S. , Li, J.C.M. & Lee, T.Y. (2016). Engaging adolescent girls in transactional sex through compensated dating. Journal of Adolescence. 52, 124-134 (SSCI-listed).
- Li, J.C.M. , Cheung, C.K. , Jia, X.S. & Mlyakado, B.P. (2016). Exploitation, offence or private issue? Guardians’ perceptions and self-perceived efficacy in handling girl compensated dating in Hong Kong. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi:10.1177/0886260516665106 (SSCI-listed)
- Li, J.C.M. , Cheung, C.K. , Jia, X.S. , Yu, M.Y. & Nguyen, P. (2016). Narratives of compensated dating girls in Hong Kong using routine activity theory: results of a focus group study of guardians. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. doi:10.1177/0306624X16648960 (SSCI-listed)
- Cheung, C.K. , Li, J.C.M. & Lee, T.Y. (2016). Social work contribution to desistance among at-risk youth. International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology. doi:10.1177/2306624X16672865 (SSCI-listed)
- Li, J.C.M. , Yu, M.Y. , Wong, T.W. & Ngan, M.H. (2015). Understanding and preventing financial fraud against older citizens in Chinese society: results of a focus group study. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. doi:10.1177/0306624X15579258 (SSCI-listed)
- Li, J.C.M. & Wu, J.K.F. (2015). Active learning for discovery and innovation in criminology with Chinese learners. Innovations in Education and Teaching International. 52(2), 113-124. (SSCI-listed).
- Li, J. C.M. (2015). Adolescent compensated dating in Hong Kong: choice, script and dynamics. International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology. 59(6),. 588 - 610. (SSCI-listed).
- Li, J.C.M. & Sun, I.Y. (2015). Satisfaction with the police: an empirical study of Chinese older citizens in Hong Kong. Policing: an International Journal of Police Strategies & Management,. 38(2),. 381 - 399. (SSCI-listed).
- Wong, D.F.K. & Li, J.C.M. (2014). Cultural influence on Shanghai Chinese people’s help seeking for mental health problems: implications for social work practice. British Journal of Social Work. 44(4),. 868 - 885. (SSCI-listed).
- Sun, I.Y. , Hu, R. , Wong, D.F.K. , He, X. & Li, J.C.M. (2013). One country, three populations? Trust in police among migrants, villagers and urbanities in China. Social Science Research. 42(6),. 1737 - 1749. (SSCI-listed).
- Li, J.C.M. , Wu, Y. & Sun, I.Y. (2013). Who should play a major role in responding to intimate partner violence? A comparison of Chinese and American college students’ preferences. International Social Work. 56(6),. 743 - 760 (SSCI-listed).
- Sun, I.Y. , Wu, Y. , Button, D. , Li, J.C.M. & Su, M.Y. (2012). Appropriate police response to domestic violence: comparing perceptions of Chinese and American. International Journal of Law, Crime & Justice. 39,. 81 - 99 (SSCI-listed).
- Kwok, S.Y.C.L. , Ling, C.C.Y. , Leung, C.L.K. & Li, J.C.M. (2012). Father self-efficacy, marital satisfaction and father involvement in Hong Kong. Journal of Child & family Studies. doi:10.1007/s10826-012-9666-1. [SSCI-listed]
- Li, J.C.M. , Lo, T.W. , Cheng, C.H.K. & Wu, J.K.F. (2012). Measuring the subjective perception of risk and reward of juvenile thieves in Hong Kong. Psychology, Crime & Law. 18(8),. 689 - 701. [SSCI-listed].
- Sun, I.Y. , Wu, Y. , Huang, L. , Lin, Y. , Li, J.C.M. & Su, M. (2012). Preferences for police responses to domestic violence: a comparison of college students in three Chinese societies. Journal of Family Violence. 27,. 133 - 134. [SSCI-listed].
- Li, J.C.M. & Wu, J.K.F. (2012). Validating an indigenous scale measuring neutralization techniques among Chinese juvenile thieves. Psychological Reports. 111(3). 971 - 984. [SSCI-listed].
- Li, J.C.M. (2012). Violence against Chinese female sex workers in Hong Kong: from understanding to prevention. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. 57(5),. 613 - 631. (SSCI-listed).
- Sun, I.Y. , Li, J.C.M. & Wu, Y. (2011). Chinese and American students’ preference for police response to domestic violence. Policing and Society. 21(2). 214 - 232. [SSCI-listed].
- Cheung, J.C.K. & Li, J.C.M. (2011). Ritualized Interaction for the Advancement of Children’s National Identification in Hong Kong. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 41(6),. 1486 - 1513. [SSCI-listed].
Book
- Li, J.C.M. (2018). Compensated Dating Girls in Hong Kong. Scripts, Voices and Views. London, UK: Routledge (Under contract).
- Li, J.C.M. (2008). Theft and delinquency: juvenile crime prevention theories and practice. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press. (in Chinese, 228 p).
Book Chapter
- Li,, J.C.M. , Mlyakado,, B.P. & Kwan,, M.L. (2014). Juveniele theft in Hong Kong: features and prevention, in v. Herausgegeben & E.W. Plywaczewski (Eds.),. Current problems of the penal law and the criminology (6th edition), pp.545-566. Warszawa:. Wolters Kluwer.
- Li,, J.C.M. & Hebenton,, B. (2012). Juveniles' perceptions of police officers in a community policing initiatives in Hong Kong in v. Herausgegeben & E.W. Plywaczewski (Eds.). Current problems of the penal law and the criminology (5th edition), pp.427-429. Warszawa:. Wolters Kluwer.
- Li, J.C.M. (2010). An innovative community policing project in Hong Kong: operation breakthrough. C. Roberson, D.K. Das & J.K. Singer (Eds.), Police without borders. (pp. 177 - 192). Boca Raton, Florida. Taylor and Francis Group.
- Li, J.C.M. (2009). Juvenile theft: process, choice and uncertainty. E. W. Pływaczewski (Ed.), Current problems of the penal law and the criminology. (pp. 331 - 352). Bialystok. Temida 2 Press.
Service in CityU
Research / Thesis Supervision
- 2016 - Now, PhD, Main supervisor, Nguyen, Hoang My(ping)-working on the topic related to compensated dating-awardee of the HK PhD Fellowship Scheme.
- 2013 - 2016, PhD, Main supervisor, Mlyakado Budeba Petro, working on the topic related to transactional sex.
- 2013 - Now, PhD, Co-supervisor, Wong, Tsz Wah, Gabriel (Griffith Univeristy)-working on the topic related to drugs policy-awardee of the Griffith University International Postgraduate Research Scholarship.
Professional Engagement
- Guest Editor, Special Issue on Crime Research in China, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency (JRCD).
- Editorial Board Member, Journal of Forensic Research and Crime Studies; Open Journal of Legal Science, 2013-now.
- Journal Reviewer, Research in Crime and Delinquency; International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology; International Social Work; Hong Kong Journal of Social Work; Journal of Criminal Justice; Australia and New Zealand Journal of Criminology; International Law, Crime & Justice; Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Chair-Panels of "Policing and Anti-piracy Enforcement in Chinese Societies" ,"Crime and its Control in China", and "Policing in Chinese societies", American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
- Chair-Panel of "Child Welfare 4", the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development, Seoul, Korea in 2016.
Campus Service
- Member, City Eminence Society, 2015-now.
- Associate Director (Social Innovation), CityU Apps Lab, 2014-now
- Associate Program Leader, BASW Program, 2013-2014 and 2016-now.
- Year Coordinator, BASW program (2011-now) and MSW program (2015-now).
- Fieldwork Course Leader, BASW program (2011-2014) and MSW program (2014-2016).
- Conference Committee Memeber, the International Conference of Discovery and Innovation in Social Work Practicum Education, May 2015 in Hong Kong; the International Conference on Crime and Georgraphy, July 2015 in Guangzhou, PRC.
- Working Group Member, the Qualification Recognition Review Committee, BASW and MSW programs, 2015.
Community Service
- Registered Manager, School Management Board, Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Kwai Chung), by election, 2012-now.
- Member, Research Committee, invited by the Hong Kong Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers (SARDA), 2010-now.
Member, Validation Panel for a Social Work Program, invited by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualification, 2012.
- Member, Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC), Observer Scheme, appointed by the Secretary for the Security of HK Government, 2010-2012.
Teaching Service
- Previously: Integrated Social Work Practice (Course Leader); Social Welfare Services (Course Tutor); Key Issues of Criminology in Contemporary Society (Course Leader); Youth in a Changing Society (Course Lecturer); Group Counselling (Course Lectuer)
- Currently: Social Work as a Profession (Course Leader); Working with Individual and Family (Course Tutor); Inquiry into Social Work Practice (Course Leader); Working with Young People and Offenders (Course Lectuer); Individual and Society (Course Tutor); Crime Prevention (Course Leader), Policing (Course Leader)
Last update date :
08 Jun 2017
