Norah Xiaolu Wang

PolyU Scholars Hub

Assistant Professor

V902a
+852 2766 5480
norah.x.wang@polyu.edu.hk
Expertise: Social Innovation and Social Design, Resilience and Regeneration, Impact Economy

PolyU Scholars Hub

Biography

Dr Norah Wang’s research centers on three interdisciplinary areas:

Social Innovation, Social Design, particularly the use of Living Lab methodology;
Commons, Social Sustainability, Regeneration;
Socio-technical Transitions and Impact Economy.

Education and Academic Qualifications

Ph.D. in Applied Psychology (Behavioral Economics), Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Zhejiang University

Academic and Professional Experience

Research Fellow, the Centre for Civil Society and Governance, Faculty of Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong (2021 - 2023)
Associate (Honorary), the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation, Judge Business School, the University of Cambridge (2019 - 2021)
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2017 - 2020)
Senior Project Manager, HKU-HKJC ExCEL3 Project, Faculty of Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong (2013 - 2016)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Politics and Public Administration, the University of Hong Kong (2013 - 2016)
Project Manager, HKU-HKJC ExCEL3 (Excellence in Capacity-Building on Entrepreneurship and Leadership for the Third Sector) Project, Faculty of Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong (2012-2013)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, the University of Hong Kong (2008-2011)

Research Outputs

Elkin, D. K., Wang, X. L., Leung, C. Y., Yan, W. Y., Wernli, M., Bruyns, G., & Ching, E. C. T. (2025). Pseudo-landed water people: Experiences of informality in Tai O village, Hong Kong. Political Geography, 120, 103355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2025.103355.

Wang, X. L., & Lam, W. F. (2025). Could commoning unlock the potential of integrated landscape approaches? Land, 14(5), 1114. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14051114.

Wang, X. L., Lam, W. F., & Lorenzo, T. E. (2024). A synthesis of rational choice and critical urban commons debates. International Journal of the Commons, 18(1), 475-489. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1277.

Wang, X.L. (2024). Managing third-party accountability in human services contracting. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 8(2).2622. https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i2.2622.

Elkin, D. K., Louw, M., Leung, C. Y., Wang, X. L., & Wernli, M. (2023). Spatial agency practice in Tai O Village: colonial legacies and spatial-architectural approaches to collaborative urban futures. Architectural Research Quarterly, 27(3), 237-254. https://doi.org/10.1017/S135913552300026X.

Wang, X. L., & Nicholls, A. (2023). Collective identity in social enterprise ecosystems in the Philippines and Sri Lanka: A Cross-country comparison. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2023.2242388.

Wang, X.L., Leung, C. Y., & Mui, C. K. (2023). Commoning experiments in a state-corporatist state: The case of Hong Kong. Urban Affairs Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/10780874231162934.

Wang, X. L. (2023). Meta-governance, uncertainty, and self-organization in corporatist social service sectors: The case of Hong Kong. International Review of Administrative Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523221147617.

Elkin, D., Wang, X. L., Leung, C. Y. (2023, Oct). Digital cultural heritage conservation: Sampling stilt houses in Tai O village. Paper was presented at the 10th Congress of the International Association of Societies of Design Research, Milan, Italy.

Elkin, D., Leung, C. Y., & Wang, X. L. (2022). Alignments of Architecture and Commoning in Tai O Village Architecture Critique and Fields of Adversity. In Design Commons: Practices, Processes and Crossovers (pp. 77-97). Springer.

Wang, X. L. (2022). Marketization of a statist-corporatist third sector: The case of Hong Kong. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 88(2), 449-470. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852320925867.