Health, Environment and
Social Equity Lab
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY · CUHK-SHENZHEN
The Health, Environment, and Social Equity Lab (operating as HESE Policy Lab) advances evidence-based solutions at the intersection of public health, environmental justice, and social equity. We integrate scientific inquiry with strategic policy design across these pillars — translating analytic findings into scalable, high-impact policy solutions.
01
Innovate
Design creative policy solutions to complex social challenges.
02
Test
Rigorously evaluate interventions using experimental methods.
03
Scale
Scale only interventions that demonstrate clear effectiveness to maximize public benefit.
The HESE Policy Lab's mission is to leverage rigorous policy experiments to innovate, test, and scale effective policies.
Why are policy experiments important?
In an era of constrained public budgets and complex social challenges, policymakers cannot afford to implement untested interventions at scale. Policy experiments — particularly randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental designs — provide rigorous causal evidence on what works, what does not, and what can be scaled.
• Policy experiments establish causality, not just correlation.
• They allow learning from failure without widespread harm.
• They generate transparent, replicable evidence for decision-makers.
• They enable efficient resource allocation by identifying what works.
• They prevent costly policy failures by testing before scaling.
• Policy experiments establish causality, not just correlation.
• They allow learning from failure without widespread harm.
• They generate transparent, replicable evidence for decision-makers.
• They enable efficient resource allocation by identifying what works.
• They prevent costly policy failures by testing before scaling.
Current studies
RCT
A workplace-based intervention designed to enhance stress resilience among employees
Integrating nature-based programs into workplace mental health policies.
QUASI-Experiment
Mobile-based intervention for social development in adolescents
Fostering connectedness to nature has the potential to improve social well-being among adolescents.
RCT
Dementia care in the digital age: A VR intervention for care home residents
The optimal applications of nature-based virtual reality (VR) to maximize therapeutic benefits for older adults residing in care homes.