About The HK-CHILD Study

The sustained benefits of investing in early childhood development are well documented. Effective early childhood policies and programmes are central to
nurturing a competitive, creative and healthy future workforce in Hong Kong as the city strives to become a knowledge-based economy and a hub for innovation. To date, however, there is no comprehensive and representative large-scale database tracking the development of preschoolers in Hong Kong that can be used to guide early childhood research, policies, and programmes.

The HK-CHILD is a three-year research project funded by the Research Grants Council Collaborative Research Fund (C7098-23GF, “Early Childhood Development in Hong Kong: A Longitudinal Study”). This project aims to develop and implement the first-ever city-representative early childhood longitudinal study in Hong Kong—a multidisciplinary endeavour integrating the expertise and experience of a team of scholars in complementary fields from several institutions to provide a comprehensive picture of children’s early development and the factors that influence it.