Joint Research Centre

Mission and Aims

The China Social Work Research Centre is a joint initiative established by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Peking University on 11 March 2010. It aims to foster the integration of social work theory and practice, thus to indigenize and professionalize social work, and ultimately make contributions to social problem solving and to the social development at large. The Centre also devotes to build a team of highly trained social work and social policy research professionals, who are committed to the social change of the Mainland China (China) in a long term.

The Centre adopts inter-disciplinary approach to probe into the theory and practice in the areas of economy and social development; as well as social policy and social work professionalization in the post-reform era China. The Centre applies research to inform practice and teaching; and to facilitate continuous professional exchange among students, graduates, scholars and related profession to sustain development and capacity building. For rousing the development of social work in China, the Centre partners with the government, educational institutes as well as relevant organizations to organize high standard training, research seminars, and conferences on social service management, social work education and social work practice.

To impact social development worldwide, the Centre endeavours to serve as an international exchange platform fostering intercontinental collaborations in social work, social policy, social development and other related areas.

Team Members

Co-Directors:           Prof. Ku Hok-bun, Ben
                                Prof. Ma Fengzhi

Deputy Director:      Dr Deng Suo
                                Dr Wu Qiaobing 

Members:                Prof. Chui Wing-hong, Eric
                                Prof. Chen Juan
                                Prof. Angelina Yuen
                                Prof. Liu Neng
                                Prof. Zhou Feizhou
                                Prof. Wang Sibin                              

Executive Director: Dr Yip Sui-kan, Kan

Office Manager:      Ms Yang Jie

Our Partnerships and Major Academic Activities:

China Journal of Social Work - A peer-reviewed international academic journal

The Journal devotes to issues and debates relevant to social work theory and practice, social work education, social development, and social policy in China.

IASSW-RRC

International Social Work Education Alliance (International Association of Schools of Social Work, referred IASSW) is the global social work education and research in the academic community, but also the academic advisory body to the United Nations. The alliance aims to promote social development throughout the world the work of education to improve the quality of social work education, and encourage international exchanges, and through policy and advocacy activities to promote human rights and social development. March 11, 2016, the International League of Social Work Greater China and Southeast Regional Resource Center opening ceremony was held in Yingjie center, marking the Peking University – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University China Social Work Research Center officially became the Regional Resource Center in Mainland China to provide a good platform to promote social work development.

Keswick Foundation - Social Work Education, Theory and Practice Research

The support by Keswick Foundation has been significant. The firstly launch Master of Social Work (China) programme has equipped educators and practitioners to lead and spearhead the development of social work education and practice in China. With Keswick Foundation’s continuous support, the Centre persists to develop indigenous social work approaches which are culturally sensitive and grounded on practice. The main themes of the studies and researches comprise the theory and practice on social work education; children, youth and family; rural social work; migrant workers; and some current issues, such as social enterprise, solidarity economy, mental health, etc.

Lam Woo Social Work Fund - Training, Visit and Awards

The Fund was set up to meet with the growing demands for social work training in Mainland China. It supports national conferences; overseas exchange programmes and provides incentives for professional development through the establishment of awards and scholarships.

Li & Fung China Social Policy Research Fund

With generous support from the Victor & William Fung Foundation, the Li & Fung China Social Policy Research Fund was established to foster social development and social harmony in China. The Fund supports the Centre to develop as a major policy research hub linking up scholars from Hong Kong, overseas and the Mainland. Through training workshops and projects, the Centre consolidates and advances social policy research purposely to make impact on social policy formulation and social systems change. It focuses on three major research areas (1) Globalization, Migration and Labour; (2) Solidarity Economy, Cooperatives and Social Enterprises in International Context; (3) Social Policy and Social Change.

Sishan Fund – Academic Research and International Collaboration

Siyuan Foundation and Zeshan Foundation are foundations in Hong Kong and have been supporting various educational programmes in HK and Mainland. To facilitate the academic development of social work programme of Peking University, Sishan Fund was formed to mobilize the social work education, academic research, visiting scholars, and international collaborations activities.

Summer Institute

From 2006 to 2010, the Centre organized four thematic summer institutes in collaboration with the George Warren Brown School of Social work at Washington University in St. Louis in the US and the Department of Sociology at the Peking University to provide a platform for exchange among social work scholars from mainland China and the oversea. The thematic focus at the institute includes aging, social development, mental health and rural social work.

Research Projects：

Responding to Key State Policies in Xi’s Era: A Synthesis of Social Work and Social Development, and the Way Forward

• Rural Revitalization, focusing on ecological agriculture, rural land development, and collective economy
• Rural-Urban Integration, focusing on Hukou and housing reforms, new-type urbanization, and rural-urban relations
• Made in China 2025, focusing on vocational training, the new generation of migrant workers, and the new economy
• One Belt One Road, focusing on the Belt and Road Initiative, regional variations, and social work development

Migrant Labour

• Protecting Migrant Workers' Labour Rights and Labour Relations in the Process of Social Reform
• The Political Space for New Generation of Migrant Workers under the Process of Urban-Rural Unification
• The Challenge of New Generation of Migrant Workers and Development under the ‘World Factory’ Model
• Policy Research in the Changes of the labour system and labour dispatch
• Social support for migrant children school
• The Living Condition of Second-Generation of Migrant Workers: From the perspective of Class and Civil Rights
• Corporate Social Work and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSW-CSR)

Rural Social Work

• Urban and rural cooperational promotion of  fair trade and rural social work
• Social work intervention strategies in rural community development
• Urbanization and Farmers’ Livelihood Strategies
• Sociological study of the farmers' professional cooperatives

Children, Youth and Families

• Identification of new family model that emerge during the migration process
• “Y.E.S” Youth Social Work Research Project
• Investigation of how family dynamics operate in various family model
• The study of the relationship between family dynamics and migrant adaptation
• Practice and Reflection of Chinese model of Family Social Work

Social Work Education

• A Study on the Re-emergence of Social Work and Social Work Education in mainland China amid Tensions and Opportunities
• Social work resources research in Beijing
• Oral History of the development of Social Work Education in the Mainland China

News and Activities：

• 26 November 2023 International conference on Social Work Innovation Concludes with Resounding Success (See News)
• 25 November 2023 Salon on “The Yes-and-No of DSW” Attracted Thousands (See News)
• 24 November 2023 Register now: International Conference on “Social Work Innovation: Theory and Practice in the New Development Stage” (See News)
• 30 September 2023 Call for abstracts: International Conference on “Social Work Innovation: Theory and Practice in the New Development Stage” (See News)
• 01 August 2023 APSS Signed a MoU with Vietnam National University and Held a Successful International Conference on Social Work Without Barriers on 1st and 2nd August 2023 (See News)
• 20 April 2023 Conference of the ASEAN-Social Work Education and Social Development 2023 (See News)
• 04 April 2023 11th Lam Woo Distinguished Social Work Awards Ceremony and Social Work-Stations Building and Social Work High-quality Development Symposium was successfully held (See News)
• 30 March 2023 Writing Workshop for the Social Work Educational Action Research in Zhoushan Village(See News)
• 22 November 2022 China Journal of Social Work’s Writing Workshop: How Do Social Science Journal Editors Assess the Quality of Qualitative Research Papers? (See News)
• 23 June 2022 Submit a Manuscript to the China Journal of Social Work- Issue 15.3 (See News)
• 18 May 2022 Submit a Manuscript to the China Journal of Social Work 16.1 期徵稿 - 中國與以色列的社區治理 (See News)
• 11 May 2022 Special Issue on Social Action Research published in the Journal of Social Work (See News)
• 29 March 2022 第十屆林護傑出社會工作獎頒獎典禮暨社會工作教育實踐研究研討會成功舉辦 (See News)
• 13 December 2021 Roundtable co-organised by Peking University- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was successfully held online (See News)
• 06 December 2021 Dialogue: International Conference on Social Work Practice Research 社會工作實踐研究的國際對話 (See News)

For more news and activities, please refer to our main website

Selected Publication：

• Gong, L., & Chen, J. (2023). Disparities in social insurance participation and urban identification among in-situ urbanized residents in China. Applied Research in Quality of Life. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-022-10139-8
• Li, B., Chen, J., Howard, N. (2023). Community nursing delivery in urban China: A social power perspective, Social Science & Medicine (326), 115923. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115923.
• Xie, S., Chen, J., Xu, Z. (2023). Rural–urban migration and urban identity differentiation in China, Eurasian Geography and Economics, https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2023.2167096
• Leung, D. Y., & Ku, H. B. (2023). Health-seeking, intercultural health communication, and health outcomes: An intersectional study of ethnic minorities' lived experiences. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 79, 1856–1867. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15568
• Kan, K. & Chen, J. (2022). Rural urbanization in China: Administrative restructuring and the livelihoods of urbanized rural residents. Journal of Contemporary China, 31(136), 626-643. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2021.1985841
• Garai, J., & Ku, H. B. (2023). An ethnographic study on the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on indigenous people and their coping strategies in Bangladesh. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 86, 103553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103553
• Li, Y., Chen, J., Xie, S., & Huang, X. (2022). Acculturation, urban identity, and psychological wellbeing of rural-urban migrants in urban China. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 14(4), 1129-1150. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12327
• Seo, B.K., Hwang, I.H., Sun, Y., & Chen, J. (2022). Homeownership, depression, and life satisfaction in China: The gender and urban-rural disparities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(22), 14833. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214833
• Cheung, P.K., Wu, J., & Chui, W.H. (2022) “Mental health during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic: A Hong Kong study”, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Section: Health-related Quality of Life and Well- being), 19(15), 8957. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19158957
• Li, J.C.-M., Cheung, C.K., Sun, I. Y., Cheung, Y.K., & Zhu, S. (2022). Work–Family Conflicts, Stress, and Turnover Intention Among Hong Kong Police Officers Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. Police Quarterly, 25(3), 281–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/10986111211034777

Contact Us

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The China and Global Development Network
 M108, Department of Applied Social Sciences
 The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
 Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Tel: 852-3400-3017
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://polyucgdn.com

Peking Univerisity

PKU-The HK PolyU China Social Work Research Centre
 No 83 Jingchunyuan, Peking University
 No 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District
 Beijing, PRC Post code: 100871

Tel: 86-10-62757232
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://cswrc.pku.edu.cn/