On 9 November 2022, the Department of Social Sciences organised the lecture "When Computing Meets Social Studies: Towards Understanding COVID-19 Vaccination Stances Based on Online Social Media Platforms" in T5-501. The Department of Social Sciences was honoured to invite Dr. Yupeng Li, Assistant Professor of the Department of Interactive Media, Hong Kong Baptist University, to speak on the topic of applying computer-based skills to social studies.

The speaker, Dr. Yupeng Li, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Interactive Media at Hong Kong Baptist University and an Associate Research Fellow at the Shenzhen Research Institute of Hong Kong Baptist University. He is also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Previously, Dr. Lee was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto, Canada and a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Hong Kong.

The lecture began with a detailed introduction to the topic, including the background of the COVID-19 vaccine and research methodology. Dr. Li argued that, compared to traditional surveys, the collection of user data from online social media platforms and the use of computer technology to understand the public's stance on these platforms have the advantages of being real-time, sustainable, multi-information, and low-cost.

Dr. Li and his research team used computer technology to generate a dataset and make a visual interaction graph from data collected from users of online social platforms, such as retweets, likes, and comments. Their research combines computer and social sciences, opening up a new direction for interdisciplinary research.

In a Q&A session moderated by Dr. Ning Xuan, Assistant Professor of Digital Social Science, Dr. Li gave detailed responses to several questions raised by the scholars in attendance. Dr. Li mentioned that sociologists play an important role in his research. He said that sociologists could build on their research findings to further research and explain the public's stance. In the end, Dr. Li encouraged the students who chose to study Digital Social Sciences and said that in the long run, Digital Social Sciences would provide a good platform for students to develop.