Students awarded prizes for volunteer research projects

An awards ceremony for student researchers at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University was held in recognition of their achievements.

Fourteen students were given awards for their work on projects over the winter holiday period that included designing architecture for the elderly, the impact of the Suzhou metro on public transport and a documentary on Heilongjiang province.

The projects are part of the ‘social practice’ initiative at XJTLU, which encourages students to engage with communities on research and collaborative projects. The projects help develop students’ research skills as well as enabling them to contribute to the local community.

Jiaqi Cui, a first year from the Department of Civil Engineering, led her team in completing research project on the impact of the Suzhou metro system on public travel, as well as the development of the city’s Central Business District. The project was awarded first prize.

Others in team came from the Departments of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design, International Business School Suzhou and Civil Engineering. To conduct this research, members who were not from Suzhou delayed their departure home for the winter holiday in order to conduct research.

Architecture student Yizhe Lu, along with his team, won second prize for their project on architecture for the elderly.

Team member Yifan Ye interviewed managers of three nursing homes about their operation and finance.

He said he learnt a lot about the process of academic research from the project. He said: “I now know there are number of ways to do deep investigations including data collection and hands-on research.”

The Outstanding Folk and Culture Team Prize was awarded to a documentary named Historical and cultural city of Jixi, produced by Jinshi Zhao, a first year student studying Electronic Science and Technology at XJTLU.

He is a director, screenwriter, producer and photographer and the video aimed to present the beautiful landscapes of both his hometown of Jixi in Heilongjiang province, and the XJTLU campus.

Jinshi gained support from local goernment in Heilongjiang and was permitted to shoot scenes in an underground shelter used during World War II, which is rarely open to the public.

Yunpeng Xiang, from the Student Affairs Office, said judges were “impressed” by the work.

The awards ceremony was hosted by the Student Affairs Office at XJTLU on Wednesday 9 March and a poster exhibition, with information about all the projects, is on display until Wednesday 23 March.