Dr. Zhenzhong Si is a researcher specializing in migration, food security, and sustainable food systems, with a particular emphasis on China and Canada. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Waterloo. His research in China spans urban food security, the roles of wet markets, migrant food workers, and digital platforms, as well as ecological agriculture and alternative food networks. A central theme of his work is how public policies and interactions between the state and civil society shape food access and sustainable food system transitions. In Canada, he has contributed to collaborative research on refugee food security in Kitchener-Waterloo, addressing the challenges associated with resettlement, socioeconomic inequalities, and barriers to food access. Dr. Si is a member of the Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network and the Remitting for Resilience (R2) research team, two interdisciplinary initiatives exploring the connections between migration, remittances, food security, and resilience. He is actively involved in research projects supported by SSHRC, CIHR, NFRF, and IDRC. His publications address migration, food insecurity, urban food systems, and food system resilience, with research appearing in journals including Food Policy, Food Security, Agriculture and Human Values, Global Food Security, and Sustainability.
Zhenzhong Si
BSIA Fellow
BSIA Fellow
BSIA Fellow
Zhenzhong Si
BSIA Fellow
Select Publications
- Si, Z., Ramachandran, S., & Crush, J. (eds.). (2026, forthcoming). Living through COVID-19 as migrants and refugees: Food security, gender and health impacts. Springer Nature.
- Lin, Y., Si, Z., & Zhong, T. (2026). Platform labour, time poverty, and food security among food delivery riders in Nanjing, China. MiFOOD Paper No. 72, Waterloo.
- Si, Z., & Zhong, T. (2025). Migrants’ food security amidst the changing COVID-19 containment measures in urban China. In S. Irudaya Rajan (ed), Handbook of research on migration, COVID-19 and cities. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 541-555.
- Si, Z., Ahmed, Z., Ramachandran, S., Arya, N., & Crush, J. (2025). Living through the COVID-19 pandemic as a refugee in secondary cities in Canada: The intersectionality of immobility, gender and food insecurity. MiFOOD Paper No. 33, Waterloo.
- Zhong, T., Si, Z., & Yuan, Y. (2025). The role of rural–urban migrants in urban food systems in China. In J. Crush, A. Chikanda, & S. Ramachandran (Eds.) New directions in South-South migration. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, pp. 245-259.
- Feng, Q., Si, Z., & Scott, S. (2025). Adapting to climate change on the farm: Experiences of small-scale ecological farmers in two regions of China. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 14(4), 1-21.
- Si, Z., Dai, N., & Scott, S. (2024). Embedding global SDGs in local agroecology initiatives: Experiences from China. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 48(6), 821-847.
- Si, Z., & Zhong, T. (2024). Evolving food security challenges facing internal migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chinese cities. MiFOOD Paper No. 16, Waterloo.
- Chang, Y., Si, Z., Scott, S., Zhong, T., & Crush, J. (2023). Governing for food security during the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan and Nanjing, China. Urban Governance, 3(2), 106-115.
- Crush, J., & Si, Z. (eds). (2022). Urban food deserts: Perspectives from the global South. Basel, Switzerland: MDPI.
- Yuan, Y., Si, Z., Zhong, T., Huang, X., & Crush, J. (2021). Revisiting China’s supermarket revolution: Complementarity and co-evolution between traditional and modern food outlets. World Development, 147, 105631.
- Si, Z., Schumilas, T., Chen, W., Fuller, T., & Scott, S. (2020). What makes a CSA a CSA? A framework for comparing CSAs with cases of Canada and China. Canadian Food Studies, 7(1): 64-87.
- Si, Z., & Scott, S. (2020). Employing an agroecological approach to achieve sustainable development goals: A case study from China. In C. D. Cadwell and S. Wang (eds) Introduction to agroecology. Singapore: Springer, pp. 313-333.
- Zhong, T., Si, Z., Crush, J., Scott, S., & Huang, X. (2019). Achieving urban food security through a hybrid public-private food provisioning system: The case of Nanjing, China. Food Security, 11(5), 1071-1086.
- Si, Z. (2019). Shifting from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems in China. The Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Series. UK: Coventry University.
- Scott, S., Si, Z., Schumilas, T., & Chen, A. (2018). Organic food and farming in China: Top-down and bottom-up ecological initiatives. New York: Routledge.