Prof. HAN Ling

Personal Information

Academic Background

Current Position

Introduction

Courses Taught

Research Interests

Research Projects

Selected Publications

Media

Personal Information

Name: Ling HAN

Email: linghan@cuhk.edu.hk

Office: SB249A

Phone Number: (852) 3943 9312

Academic Background

Ph.D. in Sociology, University of California, San Diego
M.A. in Sociology and China Studies, National Tsinghua University
B.A. in Women’s Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Current Position

Assistant Professor

Introduction

Ling Han is an Assistant Professor in Gender Studies Programme at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a sociologist researching on the intersection of gender, digitalization of work, and organizational innovation. She obtained her PhD from the University of California, San Diego and was awarded a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (Stanford PACS) to research and manage the China Social Innovation Program. She received her BA in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and MA in China Studies and Sociology from Tsinghua University. Prior to joining CUHK, she was a Research Fellow at the Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy (ACSEP), helming the research thrust on social innovation & social entrepreneurship at the National University of Singapore Business School and also worked as a researcher for Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN). She leads research initiatives to compare the institutions, organizations, and actors that drive social innovation education and social entrepreneurship in Asia. She is part of the research team for the global comparative project on the Civic Life of Cities Lab-Singapore with Stanford University and INSEAD. She has extensive collaboration experiences with foundations, nonprofit organizations, corporate philanthropies, and impact investors in China and Southeast Asia. She serves as an academic advisor and a regular contributor for Stanford Social Innovation Review China (斯坦福社会创新评论). She is part of the East Asia Social Innovation Study Group and co-founded the Asia Academic Social Innovators Forum in 2021. She leads the research cluster on Gender and Digital Wellbeing.

Courses Taught

GDRS2011 – Qualitative Research Methods in Gender Studies
GDRS4005/4010 – Thesis
GDRS3025 – Innovating the Future: Gender, Science, and Technology
GDRS5030 – Advanced Topics in Gender Studies I
GDRS5040 – Advanced Topics in Gender Studies II
GDRS5087 – Feminist Methodology
GDRS5920 – Gender and Media in the Digital Age
Gender and Innovation in Post-Pandemic Ableism: Social, Environmental, and Digital Justice
Digital Health Innovations: Intersections of Design, Technology, and Gender
Digital Innovations: Gender, Technology, and Well-Being

Research Interests

Gender and work, women under algorithm, feminist and gender dynamics, technology and digital transformation, nonprofit organizations and philanthropy ,social enterprise and social innovation

Research Projects

PI, “Digital Philanthropy for Gender Equality in China: Grassroots NGOs, Fundraising Practices, and Platform Governance.” Early Career Scheme, Research Grants Council.
PI, “Gendering Platform Work: Female Platform Food Couriers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.” Direct Grant for Research, CUHK.
PI, “Preliminary Research on Grassroots Platform Workers in Hong Kong.” Research Matching Grant, University Grants Committee.
PI, “The Gender Effect and the Pursuit of Social Impact Work in Asia.” CUHK Research Startup Fund.

Selected Publications

* corresponding author; ^ student supervisee

Han, L.* (2025). Flexible Choice or No Choice: Navigating Life Course and Platform Flexibility Among Female Platform-Based Food Delivery Workers in Taiwan. Gender, Work & Organization, Epub, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.13266.

Han, L.*, Lee, C., & Song, Q. (2025). From Crowdfunding to Crowd Mobilization: The Impact of Digital Philanthropy on Grassroots Organizations and Local Politics in China. The China Quarterly, 261, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741023001662.

Song, Q., Han, L.*, & Lee, C. (2025). Gender and Bureaucratic Overload in the Grassroots State: Work–Life Choices of Female Civil Servants in Rural China. The China Quarterly, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741025100921.

Han, L.*, & Gou, X^. (2025). Community Leadership in a Dynamic Perspective: An Exploratory Study of Community Foundations in Hong Kong During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Nonprofit Policy Forum, Epub, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2023-0092.

Han, L.* (2024). Crafting gender into meaningful work: Experiences of women engaging in social entrepreneurship in China. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 39(7), 997–1013. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-03-2023-0079.

Han, L.*, Song, J., & Aaltio, I. (2024). Guest Editorial: New perspectives on women’s entrepreneurship in China: identity negotiation, gender agency, and meaning-making. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 39(7), 849–860. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-10-2024-471.

Han, L.*, & Liu, Y^. (2024). When digital feminisms collide with nationalism: Theorizing “pink feminism” on Chinese social media. Women’s Studies International Forum, 105, 102941. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2024.102941.

Han, L.*, & Liu, Y^. (2024). #metoo activism without the #MeToo hashtag: Online debates over entertainment celebrities’ sex scandals in China. Feminist Media Studies, 24(4), 657–674. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2023.2219857.

Han, L. *, & Liu, Y^. (2024). Shifting Dynamics of Cyber-Misogyny and Cyber-Nationalism: Examining Chinese Feminism in the Digital Arena. In E. L. Engebretsen and J. Zeng (Eds.). Feminist Activism in the Post-2010s Sinosphere: Identifying Issues, Sharing Knowledge, Building Movements (pp. 19–38). London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Han, L.* (2024). Dependency as Situated Knowledge: A Reflexive Politics of Location on the Positionalities of Chinese Feminist Scholars. American Behavioral Scientist, 68(3), 338–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642221134843.

Hu, L., & Han, L.* (2024). Gender and Disability in China: The Rise of Female-Led Disabled Persons’ Organisations. Made in China Journal, 9(2), 98–103. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.22459/MIC.09.02.2024.11

Han, L. (2024). Riben zhimin xiade tamen: Zhanxian nengli yinling Taiwan nüxing jiuye de zhichang nüxianfeng 日本殖民下的她們：展現能力，引領臺灣女性就業的職場女先鋒 (Women under Japanese colonial rule: Demonstrating abilities, leading Taiwan’s female employment as workplace pioneers), written by Yu Chien-ming 游鑑明. NAN NÜ, 26(1), 166–170. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685268-02601050

Han, L., & Lee, C. (2024). Engaging Animals in Taiwanese Buddhism: Two Case Studies. Review of Religion and Chinese Society, 11(1), 31-57. https://doi.org/10.1163/22143955-12340025.

Song, Q., Lee, C., & Han, L.* (2023). The platformization of digital philanthropy in China: State, tech companies, and philanthropy engineering. China Information, 37(1), 123–143. https://doi.org/10.1177/0920203X221143940.

Pratono, A. H., Han, L., & Maharani, A. (2023). Global supply chain resilience with the flexible partnership. Modern Supply Chain Research and Applications, 5(2), 102–114. https://doi.org/10.1108/MSCRA-05-2022-0014.

Han, L.* (2022). Alternative Media and the Queer Feminist Community: The Lesbian Print Magazine in China. Journal of Homosexuality, 69(14), 2388–2411. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2021.1940013

Yeo, W^., Han, L., Jiang, W., & Natrajan, N^. (2022). Innovative Deviance in a Rule-Bound City-State. Global Perspectives, 3(1), 36640. [Special Issue on “Civic Life of Cities around the World”] https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2022.36640

Lee, C., & Han, L. (2022). Taiwanese Buddhism and Environmentalism: A Mixed Method Study. Review of Religion and Chinese Society, 9(1), 44–69. https://doi.org/10.1163/22143955-08020002

Pratono, A. H., & Han, L. (2022). From family business orientation to organisational citizenship behaviour: Prosocial behaviour in family business performance. Journal of Family Business Management, 12(4), 923–937. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-02-2021-0014.

Han, L.*, Lee, C., & Lee, G. J^. (2021). Caught between State and Motherhood: The Public Image of Female Entrepreneurs in Singapore. Asian Women, 37(2), 35–60. https://doi.org/10.14431/aw.2021.6.37.2.35

Lee, C., & Han, L. (2020). Becoming INGO: A Case Study on Taiwan’s Tzu-Chi in the United States. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 31(6), 1201–1211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00270-1.

Pratono, A. H., Prima, D. A., Sinaga, N. F. N. T., Permatasari, A., Ariani, M., & Han, L. (2020). Crowdfunding in digital humanities: Some evidence from Indonesian social enterprises. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 72(2), 287–303. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-05-2019-0123

Han, L.*, & Lee, C. (2019). Nudity, feminists, and Chinese online censorship: A case study on the anti-domestic violence campaign on Sina Weibo. China Information, 33(3), 274–293. https://doi.org/10.1177/0920203X18807083.

Lee, C., & Han, L. (2016). Faith-Based Organization and Transnational Voluntarism in China: A Case Study of the Malaysia Airline MH370 Incident. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 27(5), 2353–2373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-014-9518-2.

Lee, C., & Han, L. (2016). Mothers and Moral Activists: Two Models of Women’s Social Engagement in Contemporary Taiwanese Buddhism. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 19(3), 54–77. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2016.19.3.54

Lee, C., & Han, L. (2015). Recycling Bodhisattva: The Tzu-Chi movement’s response to global climate change. Social Compass, 62(3), 311–325. https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768615587809

Wang, X., Norris, J. L., Liu, Y., Vermund, S. H., Qian, H.-Z., Han, L., & Wang, N. (2012). Risk Behaviors for Reproductive Tract Infection in Women Who Have Sex with Women in Beijing, China. PLOS ONE, 7(7), e40114. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040114

Technical Reports/Case Study

Han, L., & Xu, Y. (2020). Leveraging Intermediaries to Maximise Corporate Social Impact: NPI (Enpai). Case Study for Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Singapore.

Han, L. (2020). “University Social Innovation: Social Impact Education in Top Global Universities. A White Paper” ACSEP Technical Report Series. Singapore: ACSEP, NUS Business School (ISBN: 978-981-14-4251-3).

Han, L., Lam, S-S., & Hioe, Z. (2019). “Grassroots Philanthropy in Singapore in the New Millennium.” Philanthropy in Asia: Working paper No.7. Singapore: ACSEP, NUS Business School. (ISBN: 978-981-14-2174-7)

Han, L., & Lam, S-S. (2019). “Creating a Vibrant Social Innovation Ecosystem.” Special Issue on Business for Good in Asia. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Spring 2019.

Media

2025	“Women and Digital Participation.”(女性與數碼參與) International Women’s Day 2025: Beijing + 30 Seminar (《北京行動綱領》30週年研討會). Hong Kong Federation of Women’s Centres 香港婦女中心協會 and the Gender Studies Programme, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2024	“数字经济与女性就业创业的交叉反思” (Intersecting Reflections on the Digital Economy and Women’s Employment and Entrepreneurship). 人工智能转型下的残障女性就业研讨会 (Symposium on the Employment of Women with Disabilities in the Age of AI Transformation). 奇途无障碍 Rare & Roll.
2022	“钢木兰还是宝妈创业者？国家与家庭夹缝间的新加坡女企业家媒体公众形象” (Caught between State and Motherhood: The Public Image of Female Entrepreneurs in Singapore). Gender Studies. 社会性别研究
2021	“當人工智能變得更像人，也會延續社會偏見：多元視角的重要性” (When AI become more like human, they may extend social bias: The importance of diversity). Taiwan Women e Press. 女科技人電子報
2021	“當女科技人要為社會創業：踏足國際教育科技產業的反思” (When a Female Tech Entrepreneur wants to Start a Social Enterprise: Reflection from the Edu-Tech Field). Taiwan Women e Press. 女科技人電子報
2021	Interview for “走入人间的比丘尼：台湾佛教中女性的社会参与.” 明報Mingpao.
2020	“用社会创新打破性别偏见” (Use Social Innovation to Break Down Gender Discrimination). 社会创新与女性之力系列文章 (Social Innovation and Women’s Power). 斯坦福社会创新评论Stanford Social Innovation Review China & 陆家嘴杂志.
2019	“摇篮还是阻碍？高校在社会创新中的角色很尴尬” (Cradle or Barrier? The Awkward Position of University in Social Innovation). 斯坦福社会创新评论Stanford Social Innovation Review China.
2019	“混合型组织的兴起：一种对于营利与非营利二分框架的挑战”(The Emergence of Hybrid Organizations: A Challenge Toward a Polarized Profit and Nonprofit Framework). 斯坦福社会创新评论Stanford Social Innovation Review China.
2019	“找一根钓竿:实现系统性变革点评” (Commentary on “Mastering Social Change”). 斯坦福社会创新评论Stanford Social Innovation Review China. Issue 7.
2018	“為什麼我們需要不同性別和出身的大學校長”(Why Do We Need University President from Different Gender and Background). 報導者The Reporter.