博士生研讨会 | Postgraduate Workshops in China Studies
A weekly workshop series for PhD students to present their research and receive constructive feedback from their peers. Bringing China studies faculty and students together from across the Humanities, they contribute to our interdisciplinary and inclusive China studies research environment.
Spring 2025 Workshops
(Open to MCI affiliated faculty, postdocs, PhD & postgrad students only)
The University of Manchester is committed to academic independence and the freedom of speech. The views speakers present are entirely their own, and do not represent those of the University of Manchester or the Manchester China Institute.
Each event is held as a working lunch in MCI's Lee Building, and includes a thirty-minute presentation from the PhD student, a Q&A session, and feedback from faculty.
There were 38 applications for nine Spring 2025 workshops, testifying to the demand this programme is meeting. 35 of the 38 applicants were Chinese students, suggesting that these workshops are providing an inclusive and safe space for their professional development.
History & Leadership
MCI postdoctoral researcher Dr Tao Wang created the workshop series in 2019. Humanities PhD students Chengzhi Zhang (SoSS), Yanran Zhang (SEED), and Jingjing Huang (SoSS) are running it in 2024/25.
Apply
We invite PhD students to submit proposals for presentations on any topic related to China Studies or the Chinese-speaking world. We welcome a wide range of subjects, including social sciences, linguistics, science, technology, the arts, and beyond.
If you’d like to present, please send the following details to mci@manchester.ac.uk by 1 December or 1 May to be considered for the next semester’s workshop series:
- Full name
- Brief bio: (include academic title, institution, profile picture)
- Talk title: Up to 75 characters, capturing your topic or research question on China
- Abstract: Up to 200 words
- Availability: Indicate your availability throughout the current academic year
Our PGR convenors will review your application. Please also consult our guidelines for successful applicants before your presentation.
Autumn 2024 ECR Talks
- Induction: Presentation Skills for China Studies ECRs
Drs Peter Gries, Xiaobing Wang, & Gregory Scott; 3 October 2024 - Geopolitcs on Display: The Chinese Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale (2006-2023)
Yaran Zhang, University of Manchester; 17 October 2024 - 'Medical Scapegoating' & Health Crisis Racism: UK Media Representation of Chinese and Asians during COVID-19
Yuze Sha, Lancaster University; 7 November 2024 - The Special Cross-Border Funeral Economy: Constructing Identity Among Chinese in Macao in the Mid-20th Century
Dr Ka Nok Lo (Carlos), University of Macao; 14 November 2024 - Chinese Women's Narratives about Settling in Britain
Dr Sha Zhou, Manchester China Institute; 21 November 2024 - Biological Products, Pharmaceuticals, and Epidemic Prevention in Modern China
Dr Linghui Ji, Zhejiang University; 26 November 2024
Spring 2024 ECR Talks
- Induction: Presentation Skills for China Studies ECRs
Dr Xiaobing Wang, Dr Rian Thum, Dr William Zhengdong Hu; 8 February 2024 - The Fate of Entrepreneurs under China’s Social Credit System
Dr William Zhengdong Hu, Keele University; 15 February 2024 - Cosmopolitan Culture & Subculture among Urban Chinese Youth
Dr Thomas Flavel, University of Manchester; 22 February 2024 - How the Hukou, Gender, and Digital Divides Shape Left-Behind Children’s Life Trajectories in China
Melody Zhang, University of Manchester; 29 February 2024 - Transnational Networks & the Internationalisation of Chinese Private Capital in West Africa
Dr Elisa Gambino, University of Manchester; 7 March 2024 - Growth without Development: Climate Discourses in the Business Sector in China
Dr Yuting Yao, University of Sheffield; 14 March 2024 - ‘Non-People’ in the People’s Republic: Class Enemies in Maoist China
Dr Mark Czellér, University of London; 11 April 2024 - ’Guofeng’ (National Style) Framings of Boys' Love Television Series in China
Dr Xiaomeng Li, Shanghai International Studies University; 18 April 2024
Autumn 2023 ECR Talks
- Textile Things and Their Making in Zhang Ailing’s Wartime Writing
Dr Aoife Cantrill, Lecturer in Chinese Studies, University of Manchester; 12 October 2023 - Western Views of China in Natural Language
Dr Bruce Bao, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Manchester China Institute; 19 October 2023 - Trading Beauty, Making Race: Whiteness in China's Fashion Modelling Industry
Ke Ma, PhD Student in Anthropology, University of Amsterdam; 8 Novemebr 2023 - What Does Credit Mean? The Evolution of China's Social Credit System
Pengfei Xu, PhD Researcher in Politics, University of Manchester; 9 Novemeber 2023 - Strong, Civilised, Harmonious, and Beautiful: Rethinking Xi Jinping’s China Dream through the visual arts
Dr Federica Mirra, Birmingham City University; 16 Novemeber 2023 - Alibaba's Expansion in Southeast Asia: A Case Study of China's Outbound Capital
Feiyang Xu, University of Manchester; 21 November 2023 - Inhabitants of a national “walled garden”: everyday nationhood in China’s digital ecosystem
Ruoning Chen, Loughborough University; 30 November 2023 - Searching for Chinese identity in the People’s Republic
Dr Edwin Jiang, PhD in Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge; 7 December 2023
Spring 2023 ECR Talks
- How is e-commerce exploited and harnessed to foster rural revitalisation in China? Evidence from less developed rural West China
Yitian Ren, PhD Candidate in Planning, Property and Environmental Management, Manchester Urban Institute; 25 May 2023 - From Beijing to Amur – A four-border sphere in literature of exiles in Qing Northeast China
Tianshu Liu, Doctoral Researcher in Human Geography, University of Manchester; 11 May 2023 - Governance as Translation: A Case Study on the Governance of Dulongjiang Township
Dr Tong Wu, Lecturer, Southwest Forestry University & Ye Tian, PhD Candidate in Translation Studies, Queen’s University Belfast; MCI Visiting Scholar; 20 April 2023 - Between Official and Vernacular Memory: Mediated Remembering of Han Migration to Xinjiang
Dr Jin Dai, PhD in Media & Memory Studies, Loughborough University; MCI Visiting Scholar; 8 February 2023
Autumn 2022 ECR Talks
- Rising Powers and Norm Contestation: Understanding China’s Approaches to Civilian Protection in Conflict-Affected Regions
Qiaochu Zhang, PhD Researcher in Politics, University of Manchester; 8 December 2022 - The Chinese Christian Community in Britain: Spirituality, Unity & Division
Yinxuan Huang, Research Fellow in Religion, London School of Theology; 1 December 2022 - How do Chinese students apply for UK universities?
Ying Yang, PhD Candidate in Education, University of Manchester; 10 November 2022
Spring 2022 ECR Talks
- 'Easter in Faraway China': Orthodox Religious Celebrations and Chinese Orthodox Network Formation, 1900-1917
Anastasiia Akulich, PhD Candidate in History, University of Manchester; 7 June 2022 - Shiminhua: The Urbanisation of China’s Rural-Urban Migrants
Joseph Hongsheng Zhao, PhD Candidate in Land Economy, University of Cambridge; 17 May 2022 - 'It looked so attractive, and I couldn’t resist': Porn-Watching Experiences Amongst Chinese Youth
Chong Liu, PhD Candidate in Sociology, University of Leeds; 28 April 2022 - Do pay gaps between executives at different career stages shape firm performance? Evidence from China
Chang Yang, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Accounting, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China; 15 March 2022 - China’s Nascent Crime Victims’ Movement: A Study on the Parents of Missing Children
Haiyun Zhao, PhD Candidate in Criminology, University of Oxford; 8 February 2022
Autumn 2021 ECR Talks
- Spatial Order and Imagination in Hong Kong’s Umbrella and Anti-Extradition Bill Movements
Leon Nelson Kunz, PhD Candidate in Politics, SOAS University of London; 9 December 2021 - UK-China Relations: The Role of British MPs in China Policy Making
Mark Logan, PhD Candidate in Politics, University of Manchester; 12 November 2021 - Pyrodrama in Manchester's Belle Vue Zoological Gardens and Changing Depictions of China
Tracey May Boyce, PhD Candidate in History, Manchester Metropolitan University; 21 October 2021
Earlier ECR Talks
- A Better Experience, or a Better Investment? A Case Study of Chinese Students at a British Branch Campus in China
Jingran Yu, Doctoral Researcher in Sociology, University of Manchester; 17 March 2021 - The ‘Coolie’ and the ‘Comity of Nations’: Human Trafficking, Foreign Advisors and the Incorporation of Qing China Into an Unequal Liberal Order
Nicholas McGee, PhD Candidate in History, University of Toronto, Canada; 27 February 2020 - The Baton Effect of Internationalisation in a Chinese University
Xi Xi, Doctoral Researcher in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester; 21 November 2019 - Emotional Mobilization in Hong Kong: Contesting Chinese Patriotism in the Anti-National Education Campaign, 2011-2012
Yun Tong Tang, PhD Candidate in Sociology, University of Manchester; 13 November 2019 - Money Is Sweet When It Says Love
Cong Peng, Research Associate in Social Psychology, University of Manchester; 15 October 2019