Carol Hok Ka Ma

Singapore University of Social Sciences (Singapore)

Biographical Abstracts

Carol Ma is known among academia and the community sector as an active and passionate practitioner of Service-Learning (S-L) and aging in Asia. Carol is the founding member of S-L at Lingnan University and has revitalized the Service-Learning Asia Network. As a pioneer of S-L in Hong Kong, she had set up the S-L Higher Education Network in Hong Kong and was among the first to promote S-L in Mainland China. She believes S-L can contribute to a win-win situation for all stakeholders including teachers, students, communities, and the regions of Asia. Carol serves as a senior consultant to conduct various community-based research and trainings for students, teachers, and community partners from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bhutan, Philippines, Vietnam, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, etc. As an energetic and committed scholar, Carol has published books and articles on S-L and aging in refereed journals and policy papers for global agencies, including UNESCAP and US higher education institutions.

Currently, Carol is the senior fellow of the Centre for Experiential learning, associate professor, and Head of Gerontology Programmes (Master & PhD) at Singapore University of Social Sciences. She is leading the curriculum development, community engagement, and research in gerontology and promoting transdisciplinary education to address aging issues. She has led various aging and service-learning projects, namely, the elder learning development project, the age-friendly cities project (accredited by WHO), and the intergenerational project on health & wellbeing, etc. In view of the pandemic, Carol has taken the lead to work on a project on Reminiscences in Dementia Care during the COVID-19 pandemic with National Archives of Singapore and Dementia Singapore.

Areas of Expertise

• Service-learning and curriculum design
• Health and social care integration
• Intergenerational bonding and communication
• Reminiscences and dementia care