Staff profile

I joined Durham University in 2017 after working at University of Hong Kong for two years as postdoctoral fellow. I was first trained as a social worker in Hong Kong, and later completed my PhD at the University of York (UK) in 2015. My academic interests are in feminist participatory methodologies, social work practice research and model building as well as violence against women.

My research always involves working with social work practitioners and service users, women who have experienced violence and Hongkonger diaspora. Through participatory or collaborative processes, we explore ways to democratise knowledge production through methodological innovations. The methods/methodologies that we have developed include

• Cooperative Grounded Inquiry (2015)
• Collaborative focused group analysis (2020), plus the use of theatre (2018)
• Collaborative Practice Research for Social Work (2022)

These new methods/methodologies advance the theorisation and debates on the relationship between research and social practice, challenge hierarchies of victimhood and enhance understanding of gender-based violence at the intersection of personal and political lives. Core theoretical contributions include the development of

• a relational model for care in the context of intimate partner violence
• a relational personhood in end-of-life care
• hierarchical harmony and hierarchy of victimhood in politicised personal lives.

I also co-founded the BASW UK Network for Social Work Practitioner Research for supporting knowledge exchange and coproduced research among social work practitioners and academic researchers.

I have been awarded the prestigious British Academy/Wolfson Fellowship in 2021 to work on transnational social work and Hongkonger diaspora in the UK for three years. The project looks at the contested identities of Hongkongers and how these identities shape their community and home building in the UK. Alongside this project, I collaborate with the British Association of Social Workers to develop a national curriculum and workplace support for Hong Kong diaspora social workers who have recently moved to the UK.

• Violence Against Women in Political and Personal Spaces
• Transnational Social Work
• Hong Kong Studies
• Social Work Practice Research – theorising practice and theorising for practice
• Qualitative Methodologies – innovative methods and participatory methodologies

• Communities and Social Justice
• Violence and Abuse

Available for media contact about:

• Regional politics:
• Social sciences:
• Community and youth work:
• Social work:
• Sociology:

Chapter in book

• Kong,S.T., Ho, P.S.Y. & Huang, Y.T. (2021). Extending women's voice through innovative methods: Lessons from struggles for democracy in Hong Kong. In The Routledge International Handbook of Domestic Violence and Abuse. Devaney, J., Bradbury-Jones, C., Macy, R. J., Øverlien, C. & Holt, S. Routledge International. 765-782.
• Ho, P.S.Y., Chan, C.H.Y. & Kong, S.T. (2018). Expanding paradigm: Arts as performance and performance as communication in politically turbulent times. In Art-Based Research in Education: Foundations for Practice. Siegesmund, R. & Cahnmann-Taylor, M. Routledge.
• Wang, X.L. & Kong, S.T. (2017). Performance Management in Social Service Provision: A Framework for Collective Learning. In Global Encyclopaedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Farazmand, A. Springer.

Journal Article

• Kong, S.T., Noone, C. & Shears, J. (2022). Social Workers’ Sensual Bodies during COVID-19: The Suspended, Displaced and Reconstituted Body in Social Work Practice. The British Journal of Social Work 52(5): 2834-2853.
• Kong, Sui-Ting (2021). Beyond ‘Safeguarding’ and ‘Empowerment’ in Hong Kong: Towards a Relational Model for Supporting Women who Have Left their Abusive Partners. Journal of Family Violence 36(6): 683-694.
• Kong, Sui-Ting, Ho, Petula Sik-Ying & Jackson, Stevi (2021). Doing being observed: Experimenting with collaborative focus group analysis in post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong. Sociological Research Online 26(3): 485-504.
• Kong, Sui Ting, Banks, Sarah, Brandon, Toby, Chappell, Stewart, Charnley, Helen, Hwang, Se Kwang, Rudd, Danielle, Shaw, Sue, Slatcher, Sam & Ward, Nicki (2020). Extending Voice and Autonomy through Participatory Action Research: Ethical and Practical Issues. Ethics and Social Welfare 14(2): 220-229.
• Lenette, Caroline, Stavropoulou, Nelli, Nunn, Caitlin, Kong, Sui Ting, Cook, Tina, Coddington, Kate & Banks, Sarah (2019). Brushed under the carpet: Examining the complexities of participatory research. Research for All 3(2): 161.
• Ho, P.S.Y., Kong, S-T. & Huang, Y-T. (2018). Democratising qualitative research methods: Reflections on Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. Qualitative Social Work 17(3): 469-481.
• Kong, S.T. & Hooper, C.A. (2018). Building a Community of Practice for Transforming ‘Mothering’ of Abused Women into a ‘Mutual Care Project’ A New Focus on Partnership and Mutuality. British Journal of Social Work 48(3): 633-655.
• Ho, P.S.Y., Jackson, S. & Kong, S.T. (2018). Speaking against Silence: Finding a Voice in Hong Kong Chinese Families through the Umbrella Movement. Sociology 52(5): 966-982.
• Kong, S.T. Fanga, M-S.C. & Lou, W.V. (2017). Organizational capacities for ‘residential care homes for the elderly’ to provide culturally appropriate end-of- life care for Chinese elders and their families. Journal of Aging Studies 40: 1-7.
• Kong, S.T., Fang, C.M.S. & Lou, V.W. (2017). Solving the ‘Personhood Jigsaw Puzzles’ in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly in the Hong Kong Chinese Context. Qualitative Health Research 27(3): 421-433.
• Kong, S.T. (2016). Social work practice research innovation, implementation and implications: A case of ‘Cooperative Grounded Inquiry’ with formerly abused women in Hong Kong. Qualitative Social Work 15(4): 533-551.

Report

• Kong, S.T. Noone, C., Quintana, A. Pharoah, C., Wills, D. Shears, J., Sildatke, K., Roberts, W., Thanki, V., Stepanova, E., Charnley, H., Smith, R., Banks, S. & Hawkes, S. (2021). Social Work During Covid-19: Learning for the Future Challenges, Best Practice and Professional Transformation. Department of Sociology, Durham University. Durham University and British Association of Social Workers.
• Fang, C.M.S., Lou, V.W. & Kong, S.T. (2017). Best Practice for Working with the Dying and the Family in End-of-Life Care in Residential Care Homes. Hong Kong, Salvation Army.
• Fang, C.M.S., Lou, V.W. & Kong, S.T. (2016). Four Medical-Social Shared Care Models Providing End-of-Life Care in Residential Care Homes. Hong Kong: Salvation Army.
• Kong, S.T. (2013). 親密伴侶暴力受害人「孤立狀況」研究 (A Study on the Social Isolation of Victims of Intimate Partner Violence). Cyd Ho’s Office, in Chinese.
• Ho, K. L. & Kong, S.T. (2011). A review of the impact of the implementation of the Domestic Violence Ordinance (Cap. 189, revised 2008) on the well-being of domestic violence victims. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Working Paper

• Kong, S.T. (2017). Post-Separation Support as the Key to Abused Women and their Children’s Recovery.
• Fang, M.S., Lou, W.V. & Kong, S.T. (2016). The Provision of End-of-Life Care in Residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) as a Feasible Option to Living and Dying Well for an Ageing Population (Policy No. 1).
• Fang, M.S., Lou, W.V. & Kong, S.T. (2016). Empowering Residential Homes for the Elderly (RCHEs) as a Key Strategy for Delivering Quality End-of-Life Care in Hong Kong (Policy No. 2).
• Fang, M.S., Lou, W.V. & Kong, S.T. (2016). Aligning Medical and Social Care to Deliver Quality, Effective and Compassionate End of Life Care for the Dying in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly (Policy No. 3).
• Fang, M.S., Lou, W.V. & Kong, S.T. (2016). Overview of the Legal and Administrative Barriers to Caring and Dying in Place in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly (RCHEs) (Policy No. 4).