Visiting Fellowship at Xi’an Jiaotong

Xi’an Jiaotong – Liverpool University – University Research Centre for Culture, Communication, and Society

Employee Duration: Two-month fellowship (normally to be undertaken between 1 January and 31 August 2025) 

ABOUT XJTLU 

In 2006 Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) was created by the University of Liverpool and Xi’an Jiaotong University – a top ten university in China. Offering a unique international education experience, XJTLU brings together excellent research practice and expertise from both institutions and gives students the skills and knowledge they need to secure careers in a global marketplace. XJTLU now has over 25,000 enrolled students in both Suzhou and Liverpool in the UK, with plans to grow to about 28,000 students by 2025. There are currently about 2,000 staff, among which about 1,000 academic staff, with an almost even split between citizens of the People’s Republic of China and international passport holders. XJTLU offers our undergraduates and postgraduates over 100 programmes with a diverse spectrum of courses.

XJTLU is entering a new and exciting phase of its development as part of its strategic priorities for the next ten years. Adopting a new higher education model based on the concept of Syntegrative Education (SE), XJTLU is currently opening a new Entrepreneurial Education site in Taicang, part of wider Suzhou, where the Entrepreneur College (Taicang) is located. The Taicang site will be a pioneer of, and educational model for, the future campus in addressing challenges arising from the 4th Industrial Revolution. Other new initiatives include new working partnerships with Xi’an Jiaotong University, the continued development of the four new Academies, and exploration of further potential locations to develop the SE model.

With a focus on innovative learning and teaching, and research, XJTLU draws on the strengths of its parent universities, and plays a pivotal role in facilitating access to China for UK and other institutional partners. At same time, XJTLU is exploring future education by blending the educational theory, best practice and culture from west and east.

For detailed information about the university, please visit www.xjtlu.edu.cn.

CENTRE OVERVIEW

The University Research Centre for Culture, Communication and Society (CCCS) houses research in culture, communication, and society, broadly defined. It draws together researchers from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and proximal disciplines in, for example, the School of Design and the School of Languages. CCCS fosters research that is (1) interdisciplinary, (2) international in outlook, (3) intercultural in content, (4) impactful on the wider community of Suzhou, while (5) raising the profile of the University’s research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Its main activities are collaborative research and intellectual exchange within research groups (Heritage & Communication, Health Humanities, Urban & Culture, and Language & Technology). Each research group is led by Research Group Leaders, who report to the Centre Director and the Leadership Team. Each group hosts visiting fellows, through an annual fellowship programme of national and international scholars. Research groups are also explicitly interdisciplinary and, where possible, focused on policy-relevant research in collaboration with the XIPU Institution (the University’s Thinktank). Other activities include seminar series and conferences. The details of the research groups are as follows:

The Language & Technology Research Group focus on two key areas. The first area is using technology including Artificial Intelligent in language teaching, learning and research. The second area focuses on Applied Linguistics. Therefore, we look forward to scholars who have rich experience in AI or Generative AI for EFL teaching and learning, etc. We also expect researchers in Applied Linguistics, EFL language teaching and learning. Contact: Dr Bin Zou: bin.zou@xjtlu.edu.cn

The Health Humanities Research Group takes an interdisciplinary approach to topics such as the representation of health and illness in texts, the interaction between health, culture and religion, and the language of health and illness. We have current ongoing projects in the areas of health and medicine in the Global South, and healthcare and ageing. We welcome applications from scholars in any area of Health Humanities, particularly those interested in interdisciplinary collaborations or who can contribute to the following topics: 1) Health and technology from a humanities perspective; 2) Language, culture, and health; and 3) Health and ageing in marginalized communities and/or in Global South contexts. Contact: Dr Penelope Scott: Penelope.scott@xjtlu.edu.cn 

The Urban & Culture Research Group explores diverse urban experiences in multiple ways. It highlights its interdisciplinary nature by engaging disciplines such as sociology, economics, public policy, geography, history, anthropology, management, cultural studies and other related areas. With a particular focus on the East Asian Region, especially Greater China Region studies (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), this research group highlights its particularities by comparatively conducting research by engaging existing research across different countries to push forward the theoretical boundary, it also carries out cross-disciplinary research to inform and influence debates on a broad range of issues on urban environments. The group’s three main strands of research are: urban development, which focuses on processes such as urbanization, economic growth, and social change; urban sustainability, which addresses the environmental, social, and economic aspects of maintaining sustainable urban spaces; and cultural and economic transformations, which examine how tourism, culture, and economic activities influence and reshape urban environments and their management. Contact: Dr Linjia Zhang: Linjia.Zhang@xjtlu.edu.cn; Dr Geoffrey Chun-fung Chen: Chun-Fung.Chen@xjtlu.edu.cn

The Heritage & Communication Research Group explores the preservation, representation, and utilisation of cultural heritage, including in terms of the built environment (e.g., conservation, regeneration and revitalisation, economic growth and sustainability), creative industries (e.g., film and TV industries, new media technologies/social media) and identity-building through cultural representation (e.g., cultural diplomacy and nation-branding). This intersects with questions of identity, agency, and ownership in intellectual, political or economic terms. Contact: Prof Xiaoling Zhang: xiaoling.zhang@xjtlu.edu.cn; Dr. Adam Brillhart: Adam.Brillhart@xjtlu.edu.cn

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

The CCCS visiting fellowship programme is the Centre’s major initiative. CCCS invites scholars at different stages of their academic career whose research record and current plans fall within the purview of one of the CCCS research groups: heritage & communication, health humanities, urban & cultures, and language & technology. Fellows will be hosted by a relevant research group. Fellowships normally last two months, over the course of which fellows shall:

• Pursue a course of research that results in significant, internationally recognised, peer-reviewed output(s), as sole author or in collaboration with researcher(s) in the host Research Group;
• Give at least one research seminar on current research;
• Attend research group meetings and seminars in their area of research;
• Give a research training workshop on an aspect of interdisciplinary or intercultural research collaboration, dissemination, and/or grant capture, as appropriate to their experience and skillset;
• work with the host Research Group Leader(s) to identify and collaborate with one or more group members on a future, collaborative project, ideally with a view to applying for external funding;
• All publication resulting from the Fellowship are requested to acknowledge the University and Centre’s support

Visiting fellows will be expected to stay at XJTLU for four to eight weeks, as agreed with the host Research Group Leader(s).

Personal Attributes

• A commitment to interdisciplinary and intercultural research
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills commensurate with playing a significant role within a team of committed academic colleagues together with the demonstrated ability and willingness to work in a collaborative environment.

Essential Qualifications/Experiences

• A doctorate or appropriate professional qualification
• Current full-time employment at a higher education institution
• Experience of or evidence of potential for leadership in research, especially in leading research units or teams
• International or significant national standing and peer recognition within the relevant field of research, as evidenced by, for example: substantial volume of consistent output of high-quality refereed publications; research funding record as appropriate to the discipline; honours, prizes or awards within the field
• Evidence of understanding of research dissemination and funding trends within specific national or cultural contexts 

COMPENSATION PACKAGE

This position carries with it a combination of honorarium and accommodation/travel expenses (for visiting fellows), to the value of 20,000 RMB. 

HOW TO APPLY

For informal inquiries, please contact Research Group leaders and/or CCCS Acting Director, Prof. Beibei Tang: Beibei.Tang@xjtlu.edu.cn

Please submit your application via email to cccs@xjtlu.edu.cn, by 30 November 2024.

Applications must be submitted in a single pdf file that includes 4 parts in the order of:

• A brief cover letter (2 pages max) 
• A current CV (including information on right to work in China if applying for visiting fellowship)
• A research proposal (4 pages max) including: research project to be pursued; potential areas of collaboration with XJTLU-CCCS research; identification of likely host research group; and potential research training workshop topic
• Contact details for three references