Happenings

A new exhibition, “Celebrating Traditional Wisdom Through Art,” will be hosted at the iconic Fringe Club in Central this June. This unique exhibition showcases how sustainability, cultural heritage, and creative expression come together. Since late last year, our Centre has been working with a group of emerging artists where they embarked on an incubation journey in the 300-year-old Hakka village of Lai Chi Wo. Drawing inspiration from the village's rich heritage and landscape, 15 artists have translated their experiences into contemporary artworks centered around three core elements: Soil, Plants, and Sound. From natural dyes created from native plants to soundscapes recorded in the village and ceramic creations, the exhibition offers a refreshing sensory exploration of rural sustainability and community resilience. Exhibition Details: Date: 16-23 June 2026 Time: 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM Venue: Anita Chan Lai-ling Gallery, The Fringe Club, Central (Google Map) For more information, please visit: https://www.instagram.com/villagelifezine/

To kick off our conference and network launch event for the Network for the Study of Social-Ecological Systems (SES) Transformations, the Centre for Civil Society and Governance hosted a public dialogue on “Building Resilient Urban-Rural Partnerships.” We were very pleased to welcome network members from across the Asia-Pacific region, alongside practitioners, government representatives, and guests from Hong Kong to the event. We would like to sincerely thank Professor Samson Tse, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Ms. Linda So, JP, Director of the Northern Metropolis Co-ordination Office, for delivering the opening remarks. Ms. So’s opening speech was both inspiring and timely, reinforcing the importance of advancing nature-based solutions and sustainable practices as well as the government’s understanding of the challenges and opportunities in building a resilient and sustainable future through the Northern Metropolis Development. We were also honoured to have Professor Yahua Wang (Tsinghua University) and Dr. Ruth Meinzen-Dick(International Food Policy Research Institute) as our keynote speakers. Professor Wang explained the challenges of applying the SES framework across contexts due to variability in variable selection and interpretation, while also highlighting the importance of complexity, robustness, collaborative networks, and the potential for integrating AI and SES research. He also reflected on the importance of collaborative networks in working toward a more common SES language. Building on this, Dr. Meinzen-Dick spoke to the importance of bridging theory and practice, transdisciplinarity, and building connections across people, institutions, and disciplines. She highlighted the importance of engaging with property rights and collective action in robust ways, and reflected on how experiential learning fosters collective action. We were pleased to also offer a panel session featuring Professor Maiko Nishi, Professor Ching-Ping Tang, Professor Stephen M.B. Tang, and our Centre Director Professor Wai-Fung Lam. Dr. Winnie Law led a fruitful discussion on critical issues such as challenges in evaluating and understanding social-ecological systems beyond conventional metrics, including how to capture the broader social, ecological, and long-term impacts of these systems and partnerships. Thank you once again to all keynote speakers, panelists, participants, and guests for contributing to such a thoughtful discussion.

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Vivian Chu, Lecturer at the Centre for Civil Society and Governance, Faculty of Social Sciences and Programme Co-Director of Master of Social Sciences in Sustainability Leadership and Governance, has been awarded the Early Career Teaching Award at HKU’s Excellence Awards Presentation Ceremony. The award recognises her unwavering commitment to teaching and the significant impact she has on student learning, highlighting innovative approaches that address unmet needs and exemplify best practice. Please join us in congratulating Vivian on this well-deserved honour and in celebrating her contributions to teaching excellence at our Centre and across the University. List of award recipients: https://www4.hku.hk/award/ceremony/award-recipients For further information, please visit: https://www.hku.hk/award/