Professor Zhoulin Ruan obtained his PhD degree in applied linguistics at the University of Reading, UK.
He joined Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in 2006, and the following year, he became the acting Deputy Director of the English Language Centre (2007-2009), responsible for developing and delivering the University’s academic English curriculum.
In 2009, he was appointed to found the Department of Languages and Culture, the first humanities and social sciences department at XJTLU. He then served as the Head of Department of English, Culture and Communication (2011-2014) and Department of English (2016-2020).
During his three terms of headship, Professor Ruan led all aspects of the creation and sustained expansion of the departments, from developing and managing degree programmes for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, enhancing quality assurance, and increasing student population, to building a dynamic team of international staff.
He became a full professor in 2017, and in September 2020, was appointed as the Academic Director of XJTLU’s Graduate School, steering the provision of masters and doctoral programmes across the University. Professor Ruan has served on various University committees, including the Academic Board, Academic Staff Promotion Review Panels, University Learning and Teaching Committee, University Research Committee, and University Progress Committee, as well as acting as the University of Liverpool’s Independent Chair of PhD examinations.
Professor Ruan’s research interests are in academic writing, Second Language Acquisition, English for Specific Purposes in the Chinese context, and discourse analysis. He has been a keen applied linguist for over two decades, and his research articles have been published in mainstream international journals such as Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Language Awareness, System, and Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics. Prior to his employment at XJTLU, Professor Ruan had undertaken teaching and research in applied linguistics at universities in both China and the UK.