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| Research |
| * HKIAPS member |
Centre for Social and Political Development Studies 
by Victor Zheng*(PI) and Po-san Wan* |
Building Carbon-neutral and Climate-resilient Towns in Hong Kong: Spatial, Time Use, and Infrastructure Planning Assessment
by Yuan Xu*, Sylvia He*, Mee Kam Ng*, Chun Chen, Yue Chen |
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by Winton Au*(PI), Anthony Y. H. Fung*(Co-PI), Nick Y. Zhang and John N. Erni |
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by Anthony Y. H. Fung*(PI), Carlos W. H. Lo, Eunice L. Y. Tang, Hester Y. T. Chow, Ben Y. F. Fong, Louis K. C. Ho, and Joseph W. F. Leung |
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by Winton Au*(PI), Anthony Y. H. Fung*, Fanny M. Cheung*, and Boris Pun |
Gender Research Centre A Comparative Study of Four Cities in East Asia
by Susanne Y. P. Choi*(PI), Lynne Nakano*, Hsiu-hua Shen, Xiying Wang, Junko Otani, Pin Lu |
Research Centre for Urban and Regional Development
by Haijing Dai* (PI), Gaoming Ma, Lili Xia |
Centre for Social Innovation Studies Plastic Reduction in Wet Markets Student Community Ambassador Training Scheme Investigator: Ka-ming Wu* (PI) Funding source: Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF), HKSAR Government CSIS has been involved in the issue of plastic reduction since 2021. We are honoured to receive funding support from the ECF to implement the “Plastic Free Hong Kong: Plastic Reduction in Wet Markets” Student Community Ambassador Training Scheme. The scheme aims to provide training to university and secondary school students and to reach out to the community to experience how plastic shopping bags are used in Hong Kong’s wet markets.■ |
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Plastic-free together: Beach Clean-up Workshop X Design Thinking Training X Cross-cultural Environmental Screening Investigator: Ka-ming Wu* (PI) Funding source: Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer Services, CUHK The aim of this project is to raise awareness about the transcultural flow of plastic waste in Hong Kong, specifically targeting domestic workers, a marginalized group. Our project looks at the less-known aspect of plastic consumption among migrant workers: In their use of disposable mats, water bottles, and food packages. Meanwhile, university students play a major part in plastic consumption as well. We will evaluate their use of plastic and put forward solutions with PBL (project-based learning) inputs and professional insights from the environmental industry.■ |
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Centre for Social and Political Development Studies Investigators: Victor Zheng* (PI), Po-san Wan* HKCI is launching a mega project to compile over 60 volumes, totalling about 25 million words, on the social, cultural, and population history of Hong Kong. is scheduled for completion in eight years’ time (2019–2027), on the 30th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. HKIAPS has been commissioned by the Hong Kong Chronicles Institute to undertake the work of compiling the “Population” volume. This volume will be divided into six sections and will present the history of Hong Kong’s population chronologically from ancient times (about 7,000 years ago) to 2017. Archaeological findings will be used to illustrate the earliest ancestral traces of human settlement in Hong Kong. Historical records and official data are other major sources that shall be used to demonstrate Hong Kong’s transformation and development in different eras over time. The “Population” volume was released in the Hong Kong Book Fair 2023 and a seminar was held on 20 July 2023 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.■ |
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Centre for Urban Innovations Building Carbon-neutral and Climate-resilient Towns in Hong Kong: Spatial, Time Use, and Infrastructure Planning Assessment Investigators: Yuan Xu*(PI), Sylvia He*, Mee Kam Ng*, Chun Chen, Yue Chen This project aims to explore how Hong Kong’s old and new towns can forcefully approach carbon neutrality and effectively adapt to climate change. Our study will cover towns with mainly residential, commercial, and other service activities, and marginal agricultural and industrial production. A list of KPIs will be defined to clearly measure progress in achieving carbon neutrality and climate resilience in Hong Kong’s various contexts.■ |
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Ma On Shan Village “Mountain Lab” Project Investigator: Mee Kam Ng* (PI) Funding source: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong, Grace Youth Camp The Ma On Shan Iron Mine was once one of the largest mines in Hong Kong. More than a half-century of mining and operation history enabled the surrounding area to construct a unique mining community and related cultural assets. Ma On Shan Village “Mountain Lab” Project intensively explores the historical and cultural assets contained in the “Mining Village” through oral history interviews. This project is being conducted in collaboration with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong, Grace Youth Camp, who will find appropriate candidates to interview about human settlements in the Ma On Shan Iron Mine landscape. The “River of Life” methodology is utilized to comprehend the life experiences of the candidates, highlighting significant moments in their lives. The interviews concentrate on the cultural aspects of their daily lives, such as food, clothing, housing design, transportation, education, medical care, and employment. To transform them into materials for different activities via different organised guiding tours, landscaping and conservation activities, mountain lab camps and mine festivals, etc. Ultimately, to convey the importance and value of the history and culture of the mining village community and related landscapes to the Public, to achieve the goal of restoring the unique living culture of the mining village community.■ |
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Centre for Youth Studies Citywide Programme to Promote Volunteerism in Hong Kong: Development and Production of Online Courseware for the School-based Volunteerism Resource Bank via The Boys’ & Girls’ Club Investigators: Eric Poon*(PI), Donna Chu Funding source: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust Collaborating with BGCA, Caritas and HKFYG, the project develops and creates the digital content for the online courseware of the citywide programme to promote volunteerism. The content is mainly visual presentation with video-mediated in storytelling, and curated under an interactive digital platform, i.e. Internet-based or digital presentation tools for easy and wide access. The targeted audience is primary and secondary students who are fresh volunteers and the teachers who lead the training. The digital content will be researched and developed in two batches: Self-directed materials for students and teaching materials for teachers. It aims to establish an online resource bank, called “School-base Volunteering Resource Bank (SVRB)”, which is a blended learning platform and widely accessible to students and teachers.■ |
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The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust - Jockey Club Food Assistance Programme Investigators: Winton Au*(PI), Anthony Y. H. Fung* (Co-PI), Nick Y. Zhang and John N. Erni Funding source: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to the Hong Kong community and led to growing unemployment and underemployment, with rising demand for food assistance. To support the local community, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust launched the “Jockey Club Food Assistance Programme” to provide transitional and timely relief for over 100,000 people facing financial hardship through a variety of innovative initiatives, in particular an electronic food bank. Through a collaboration with various NGOs, CSR programmes, and research and health partners, the project not only aims to monitor the process and evaluate the outcomes, but also to explore unmet food needs under e-food bank and propose long term policy recommendations for the government.■ |
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Professional Traineeship for First-time Jobseekers: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Investigators: Anthony Y. H. Fung*(PI), Winton Au (Co-PI), Carlos W. H. Lo, Eunice L. Y. Tang, Hester Y. T. Chow, Ben Y. F. Fong, Louis K. C. Ho, and Joseph W. F. Leung Funding source: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust With the current advances in technology and social development, it becomes increasingly important to prepare young talents for their work readiness and future employability. JC PROcruit C offers first-time-job-seekers the opportunities to kick start their self-discovery journeys. The programme developed emerging and promising professions in the areas of Creativity, Technology, Business and Healthcare for graduates to actualise career goals and create social value to the community. Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, JC PROcruit C created a unique and structured through-train traineeship model to support graduates’ school to workplace transition and prepare them for future work readiness. This project evaluates more than a thousand of youth trainees landing their first jobs in the JC PROcruit C programme. Through a collaboration with employers in the four areas of emerging professions, the project not only aims to monitor the process and evaluate the outcomes, but also to identify professional pathways for youth development, develop market for these emerging professions, and propose long term policy recommendations for the government.■ |
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Value, Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge (VASK) Assessment Validation and Gamification Consultancy for CLAP 2.0 Investigators: Winton Au(PI), Anthony Y. H. Fung*, Fanny M. Cheung*, and Boris Pun The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) Investigate how Hong Kong youths assess the present situation by looking at their perception of the future; (2) Depict the relation of (a) the factors that affect the perceptions of the future, (b) the perceived future, and (c) actions in response to the perceived future. In particular, the research highlights that knowing how youths perceive the future enables us to understand the relation between the macro environment and the behaviour of the youths; (3) To articulate the public discourses related to the sentiments of the youths to their actual situation. This enables us to assess the strength and influence of respective public discourse in the public sphere; (4) In a long run, it is planned to have the perception of Hong Kong’s future as indicators to observe the attitudinal change of Hong Kong’s youth longitudinally. A tailor-made questionnaire will be developed in order to collect responses on the above-mentioned issues from 800 respondents aged 15–30 years old through a territory-wide mobile phone survey.■ |
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Gender Research Centre Gender, Power, and Online Sexual Harassment: A Comparative Study of Four Cities in East Asia Investigators: Susanne Y. P. Choi*(PI), Lynne Nakano, Junko Otani, Hsiu-hua Shen, Xiying Wang, Pin Lu Funding source: General Research Fund, Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee This project will gather systematic and comparative data on online sexual harassment (OSH) amongst university students aged between 18 and 29 in four East Asian cities: Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, and Osaka. It will examine the impact of gender, power inequalities, and different policy regimes and government control of the virtual world on OSH. While the rapid development of technology has greatly improved access to information and democratized participation in public discussions, it has also created new forms of risk and harm. OSH is an example, and it is the most common form of technology-facilitated sexual violence perpetrated online in Western countries. However, little is known about its nature in non-Western contexts.■ |
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Women Managing Families in Urban East Asia:
An Anthropological Study of Personal, Social, and Financial Strategies of Women Primary Earners in Osaka and Hong Kong Investigator: Lynne Nakano*(PI) Funding source: General Research Fund, Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee The number of women who are the primary income earners in their families has increased in recent years because of rising levels of education among women, an increase in the number of single and divorced women, and increased migration. Households headed by women are often assumed to be impoverished, marginal, and socially isolated, yet the data suggests that in spite of discrimination, socio-economic impediments, and economic hardship, a growing majority of female primary earners are managing to care for their families, engage in economic activities, and be active in their communities. In sum, little is known about how women primary earners manage their resources, foster new identities for themselves and their children, create networks in their communities, and thereby shape their societies. Using anthropological methods of conducting in-depth interviews, the project aims to investigate how women primary earners who financially support themselves and others manage their personal lives and identities, their incomes and household finances, and social networks and engagements. The study compares female primary earners and their families in Osaka and Hong Kong, two East Asian cities with growing numbers of female primary earner households. The comparison between Osaka and Hong Kong will allow for an enriched understanding of how family, state, and normative values shape the experiences of female primary earners in managing their personal, familial, and social lives.■ |
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Research Centre for Urban and Regional Development Modelling and Simulating Regional Migration Systems Investigators: Haijing Dai* (PI), Gaoming Ma, Lili Xia Funding source: RGC Senior Research Fellow Award, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong This project is designed to analyze various impacts on modelling performance based on a general migration model with many explanatory variables, in addition to population and distance in a simple gravity model. The regional system of China with 31 regions will be used for simulation. Migration flow simulation will be based on model parameters estimated from the migration data for 2015–2020 from China 2020 census. This project will study the impacts of missing one significant explanatory variable, wrong assumption of random process and the random process on modelling error in migration models via a series of simulations. A commonly used migration model, general log-linear migration model, will be used as the base model for simulating the random error. A general Poisson migration model will be used to assess the error caused by wrong assumption of random process. The project will also estimate network spatially filtered migration model and study the impacts of spatial auto-correlation on modelling error in migration models. The total modelling error will be decomposed into errors in constant effect, relative emissiveness and attractiveness of specific regions, as well as the level of interaction between pairs of regions with a decomposition approach.■ |
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Policy Research @ HKIAPS Report on the International Forum on Global Chaozhou People and the Belt and Road Initiative: Background, Documentary, and Policy Recommendations Funding source: Ferderation of Hong Kong Shantou Community Organizations This report integrates the speeches delivered by scholars and experts who participated in the “International Forum on Global Chaozhou People and the Belt and Road Initiative.” Incorporating relevant background and information, the report proposes five policy recommendations for constructing an innovative model of cooperation for the Belt and Road Initiative: Enhancing policy communication, promoting infrastructure connectivity, facilitating trade, leading financial connectivity, and fostering people-to-people bonds. These suggestions are intended as references for the Hong Kong government (the Government). To enhance policy communication, the report recommends that the Government establish a dedicated mechanism for effective communication with governments of the regions along the Belt and Road. Additionally, the report suggests organizing training programmes for young diplomats and government administrators in Belt and Road regions. In order to promote infrastructure connectivity, the report proposes that the Government encourage active participation from the engineering sector in the construction of infrastructure. To facilitate smooth trade, the report recommends that the Government increase support measures, such as providing project loans or bank guarantees to the business sector. In leading financial connectivity efforts, the report suggests that the Government examine various financial regulatory systems and position Hong Kong as a financing platform for the Belt and Road Initiative. Additionally, the report emphasizes the importance of enhancing the usage and coverage of the renminbi in Belt and Road countries. To foster robust people-to-people bonds, the report advocates increased funding for student exchanges and study programmes in countries along the Belt and Road. In addition to summarizing the suggestions put forth during the forum and providing comprehensive recommendations to the government, the organizers have reached a consensus on three significant matters. These serve as guiding principles for future long-term endeavours. First, the focus will be on Chaozhou-Shantou people. Second, adherence to the Belt and Road Initiative theme is emphasized. Lastly, the integration of academia with policy, employing a forum model that encompasses regional and international perspectives, is highlighted. This research was supported by the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office and the Social Statistics Branch of the Census and Statistics Department of the HKSAR Government.■ Full report:  |
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