The theme aims to advance policy formulation, research, teaching and learning, as well as service development in support of informal caregivers of frail elders and persons with disabilities in Hong Kong. Overseas experts will present the caregiver policies and practices in their countries or in the global context. A panel discussion will follow to discuss how the overseas’ experience can be applied to Hong Kong’s caregiver support.

Social science has always made good use of data to explain interesting social phenomenon, and make the case for social policy recommendations. As we moved into the digitalised age, all kind of data and computer algorithms have become more and more available and applied in all kinds of scenarios, in particular various business operations. How has this wave of new-born data science benefited social policies and services? How has data science evolved, both methodologically and culturally? What are the new problems and areas in social science worth applying data science to? These are some of the questions we will explore with our invited speakers and panelists in this session.

The session is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of informal caregiving from a global lens, followed by a panel discussion that will offer practical and research insights and perspectives from the panelists.