The Centre for Social Innovation Studies (CSIS), Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong was established in 2008 as the Centre for Civil Society Studies. The Centre is renamed as CSIS in 2015 responding to the evolving trend in civil society studies. The centre aims at promoting research, knowledge transfer and exchange between practitioners and academics in the field of social innovation and civil society. Our recent projects include Fairwork, digital labour, platform cooperativism and social impact analysis.
With the Centre’s focus on interdisciplinary exchange, its Executive Committee members include leading scholars in labour studies, social work, journalism, gender studies and cultural studies. They include: Professor Wu Ka Ming, Professor Wong Hung, Professor Fang Ke Cheng, Professor Sun Yiu Tung and Dr. Cho Man Kit.
Responding to the global trend of digitalised precariatisation, the most recent research projects at CSIS – Preliminary Research on Grassroot Platform Workers in Hong Kong – aims to understand and arouse public attention on the working conditions and challenges facing platform workers and explore potential policy solutions, with a focus on food delivery, goods delivery and care and household sectors. CSIS also hosted Fairwork Asia Network Online Talk Series 2021 and invited platform labour researchers across Asia to share their observations on labour issues in the gig economy.
The centre operates as part of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies.