The Research Volunteer Scheme has offered me invaluable exposure to scholarly research and has really ignited my interest in the research field. I was fortunate to be an experimenter of an intriguing research using virtual reality (VR) techniques to investigate whether a virtual public speaking environment was able to simulate real-life experience in terms of psychological, physiological and behavioural parameters, which yielded a positive result and opened up the potential of utilizing VR as a training tool for English speech performance.

By collaborating closely with the professor and the team in each stage of a research, ranging from literature review, data collection and entry, to data analysis and interpretation, you could really feel like you are valued as part of the team. The experience complemented well with regular lectures and assessments by sharpening my critical mind and practical research skills. If you are curious about how scholarly research is conducted, be proactive in the scheme and you won’t regret!

The summer in 2016 was the first step in my research career. The precious experience working with Dr Wong’s team continuously encourages and inspires my current study.

I was working on the project titled “Effects of cognitive re-appraisal in coping speech-related stress”. The first lesson was how to conduct a psychological experiment. Meeting and contacting participants face-to-face strengthened my communication skills and brought benefits to my final-year project. Our weekly team meeting broadened my horizon. At that time, I might not fully understand some abstruse concepts other colleagues raised, but the discussion intrigued me to explore more on study design, methods, data analysis, and result interpretation in psychological research. Besides, it was not only the first time for me to practice the psychology theories I had learnt in textbooks but also, I initiated my Cantonese learning as a non-native speaker.

I never expected I could obtain such an unforgettable experience from RVS. I even had the honor to be a co-author in one of the publications. It just took me 20 minutes to send my CV to Andus and let him know my research interest, and I believe it would influence more than 20 years in my future life as a researcher.