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Our Team
Lab Director
Prof. Xiao ZHANG
Research Field: Early childhood mathematics; Infant-toddler curriculum; Early childhood development and education.
Prof. Zhang is Associate Dean and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. Before that, he was Assistant Professor at Beijing Normal University between 2009 and 2012 and then at the Education University of Hong Kong between 2012 and 2016. He received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Hong Kong and his post-doctoral training in Developmental and Educational Psychology from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. He has won numerous awards, such as Research Output Prize and Faculty Outstanding Young Researcher Award at the University of Hong Kong and President's Award for Outstanding Performance in Research at the Education University of Hong Kong. He has served in the editorial boards for six international journals, including the Associate Editor for Early Childhood Research Quarterly. In 2023, he served as the Chair of Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society (MCLS).
Research Postgraduate Students
Mr. Xueliang CHEN
Research Field: Scientific literacy; Cognitive development; STEM education; Educational and psychological measurement
Mr. Chen is a PhD student in the Academic Unit of Human Communication, Learning, and Development at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining HKU, he obtained his Master's degree from Zhejiang University and Bachelor's degree from Central China Normal University. He has long-standing interests in the cognitive development of children and is committed to leveraging psychometrics to improve educational and psychological assessment. He is also interested in achievement motivation and emotions. His current research focuses on the scientific literacy of preschool children.
Mr. Hao LI
Research Field: Computational thinking; Early childhood development; Quantitative research methodology
Mr. Li is a Ph.D. student in the Human Communication, Learning, and Development Unit of the Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong. He obtained his Master of Education degree from The University of Hong Kong (2020) and Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Psychology (concentration: school psychology) from The Education University of Hong Kong (2019). Before joining HKU as a Ph.D. student, he worked as a research assistant under the Department of Psychology in The Education University of Hong Kong (2020-2021). His current research interest focuses on computational thinking in early childhood education.
Ms. Xinzhuo ZOU
Research Field: Early math development; Home math environment; Parent-child interaction
Ms. Zou is a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong. Her current research was devoted to understanding the interplay of young children’s math development and their environmental contexts (e.g., home numeracy activities, parent-child math talk). She also focused on how individual characteristics like math affective attitude and spontaneous focusing on number contribute to children’s acquisition of math knowledge.
Mr. Xinyi ZHU
Research Field: Early childhood Education; Child development; Family issues in education
Ms. Zhu is a doctoral student in the academic unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences at the Faculty of Education of the University of Hong Kong. She has a wide range of research interests in Early Childhood Development and Education.
Research Assistant
Ms. Zhijing WANG
Research Field: School-family-community partnership; Early childhood curriculum and pedagogy
Ms. Wang is a research assistant at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. She is also a qualified kindergarten teacher and childcare supervisor in Hong Kong. She received her MEd (Curriculum and Pedagogy) from HKU and MA (Early Years Education) from University College London. She has 5 years of teaching experience in kindergartens in Hong Kong and overseas teaching and learning experience in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia. She has a wide research interest in school-family-community partnerships and teachers' practices in early childhood settings.
Personal Website:
Email: helenazj@connect.hku.hk
Alumni and Current Position
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Saira AMBREEN
2023-2024
Postdoctoral Researcher
The University of Hong Kong
Dr. Liru HU
2022-2023
Assistant Professor
The University of Texas at El Paso
Dr. Wenqing ZONG
2022-2024
Postdoctoral Researcher
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Dr. Cuina LIU
2021-2022
Research Assistant Professor
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Dr. Shuting HUO
2018-2019
Research Assistant Professor
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Research Postgraduate Students
Dr. Xiangzi OUYANG
2018-2022
Assistant Professor
Lingnan University
Dr. Weiyi XIE
2017-2022
Research Assistant Professor
The University of Hong Kong
Dr. Nan XIAO
2018-2021
Postdoctoral Researcher
Arizona State University
Ms. Juan YAN
2020-2023
PhD Student
The Education University of Hong Kong
Ms. Shiyun YANG
2017-2019
Chinese Teacher
The International Montessori School
Taught Postgraduate Students
Ms. Shuhui FU
2023-2024
Ms. Yulin LU
2023-2024
Ms. Yi SHEN
2023-2024
Mr. Qi WEI
2023-2024
Ms. Yinuo XU
2023-2024
Mr. Jichen LIU
2022-2023
Ms. Suya PENG
2022-2023
Ms. Sitong XIE
2022-2023
Ms. Xinyu ZHOU
2022-2023
Ms. Aining PENG
2021-2022
Ms. Mingxin SHI
2021-2022
Ms. Xinchi SHI
2021-2022
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