Cosi
Programme introduction

Companions of Social Inclusion (COSI) is one of the programmes under the Jockey Club Enhancing Youth Empathy Project through Immersive Visualisation. COSI aims to provide a series of training workshops and learning activities to enable Hong Kong youths to cultivate cognitive and affective understanding of the challenges, barriers, frustrations and possible discriminations faced by ethnic minority groups in our community.

COSI will enhance students’ empathy and capacity to apply their knowledge and skills to design innovative solutions, both technological (particularly with the use of virtual reality technologies) and non-technological ones, to promote an inclusive society and empower the minority groups to enhance their coping skills and management capability in core domains of their everyday life.

Introduction by Professor Horace Ip Ho-shing, MH,
Project Coordinator of COSI
Cosi
Team
Programme Coordinator
Professor Horace IP Ho-shing, MH
Vice-President (Student Affairs),
Director, AIMtech Centre
Chair Professor, Computer Science
City University of Hong Kong
Project Manager
Ms Ashley WONG Yuen-man
Office of the Vice-President
(Development & External Relations)
Senior Research Associate
Dr Richard LI Chen
Office of the Vice-President
(Development & External Relations)
Project Assistant
Ms LAM Wing-sze
Office of the Vice-President
(Development & External Relations)
Cosi
Timeline
Phase
1
Field Investigation
& Training Workshops
In the first phase of the programme, COSI recruited students from different disciplines of the City University of Hong Kong as Student Ambassadors, and arranged a series of workshops and field investigations to help them understand the challenges and difficulties encountered by the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Moreover, demonstrations and training on virtual reality applications were also provided to enhance their knowledge and skills needed in developing the designs for the learning scenarios.
Phase
2
VR Scenarios Design
& Production
In the second phase, COSI focused on the virtual reality learning scenarios design and production. Based on the experience and information collected in the training workshops and field investigations, the students designed three unique scenes that aim to help the ethnic minority groups to better cope with the challenges and barriers encountered in their daily lives.
Phase
3
Public Education
& Community Activities
In the final phase, COSI team and the Student Ambassadors conducted educational workshops, community activities and public exhibitions at a number of schools and organizations. Through virtual reality technologies and immersive learning scenarios, the programme has cultivated participants’ empathetic understanding toward the ethnic minorities, at the same time empowered the minority groups to enhance their coping skills and management capability in core domains of their everyday life.