25 November 2025 

The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (HSUHK), in collaboration with social enterprise, has introduced the “Your Brainmate Board Game Community Service Scheme” to help older adults prevent cognitive impairment. Through professional training, more than 10 HSUHK students integrate elements of local nostalgic culture, reality orientation and cognitive exercises to design localised cognitive training games. These games encourage seniors to recall past life experiences, effectively enhancing memory and mental agility.

When designing the game, students select nostalgic elements that resonate with seniors’ interests and needs — such as the Sunbeam Theatre, cassette tapes and the Kowloon-Canton Railway — transforming them into stamps used as game materials. Seniors randomly select three stamps from a set of more than 10, and students guide them to share stories about the items and related memories, weaving these into a cohesive narrative.

Participating student Lisa Yu shared that through the scheme, she not only learned how to design cognitive training games suitable for seniors but also deeply experienced the close connection between memory and emotion during interactions. She believed the experience strengthened her communication skills and empathy, deepened her understanding of cognitive impairment, and helped challenge common stereotypes about seniors, fostering intergenerational harmony.

HSUHK actively encourages students to engage in community service, cultivating their sense of compassion and social responsibility. The University will continue to collaborate with diverse organisations to provide students with enriching experiences that broaden their learning journey.