Wednesday, 30th of April 2025 at 2pm 

‘Unpacking sociopolitical determinants of suicide in networked movements: Exposure to protest suicides in Hong Kong’

In the social media age, protest suicides often trigger similar acts, complicating suicide prevention efforts during political crises. While the spread of suicides is frequently attributed to imitation following exposure, the public's actual perception and response to protest suicides remain less understood. Exploring the lived experiences of exposure to protest suicides can illuminate how individuals react to such events, why they react as they do, and where they derive resilience. This study investigates the impact of exposure to protest suicide during Hong Kong's Anti-Extradition Bill movement in 2019. In-depth interviews reveal that participants perceive these suicides as shocking yet understandable, though not endorsable. Sociopolitical determinants—socio-political conditions, social media, leaderless movement dynamics, collective emotions, and protester agency—shape their reactions. Understanding how these factors influence suicide exposure and resilience development can help develop strength-based suicide prevention strategies in politically volatile areas. 

Lynn Tang is a Lecturer in Health Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is a sociologist with expertise in mental health, social inequalities, and related policies, focusing on the lived experiences and perspectives of service users. Lynn has conducted research on the recovery journeys of Chinese mental health service users in the UK and on suicide prevention in Hong Kong. She previously served as a Lecturer at the University of Liverpool and as an Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong's Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, as well as at Lingnan University in Hong Kong 

Lynn's current projects include research on suicide, collective trauma and political crisis, funded by Research Grants Council in Hong Kong, and a mixed-methods study on minority ethnic women's experience of menopause, funded by the Medical Research Council, in collaboration with University of Liverpool and Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust. She was elected Vice-President of the International Sociological Association's Research Committee 49 (Sociology of Mental Health and Illness) for the 2023–2027 term. 

https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/persons/lynn-tang