This group investigates the role of technologies in linguistic research and language pedagogy, and the impact of technology on language. It draws on existing strengths in AI and multilingualism, corpus linguistic technologies and language learning, and computer mediated communication, with potential collaborations with the School of Languages and the School of Advanced Technology, as well as further afield with the School of Science and XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang).
The group builds on a track record of internal and external grant success including from the Key Programme Special Fund, Research Development Fund, Teaching Development Fund, Suzhou Science and Technology Project and HSK International Research Fund.
The members of the group also have a number of honours and titles, such as Deputy Chair of the Translation Technology Education Society and Vice Chair of the China EAP Association, plenary speaker at KATE International Conference 2022 (Dr Zou), and the Innovative Works prize in the 2021 Linghang Cup Jiangsu Multimedia Educational Software Competition (Dr Zou).
Health Humanities
The Health Humanities Research Group takes an interdisciplinary approach to topics such as the representation of health and illness in texts, the semiotics of health and illness, the interaction between health, culture and religion, and the language of health and illness. Its members span the fields of linguistics, literature, media studies, and public health.
The group additionally hosts research seminars, talks, and reading groups. Recent events include seminars on communication issues in medical encounters; disfigurement, discrimination, and the media; and applying corpus linguistics to healthcare communication. Potential outputs include papers in Medical Humanities, Literature and Medicine, and The Journal of Medical Humanities.
The group builds on members’ previous successes in external funding (such as the National Natural Science Foundation project ‘Leveraging behavioral science to augment voluntary blood donation in China’) and publications on health and media (JOMEC: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies), mental health and literature (Modernist Cultures), healthcare and social context (Global Public Health; Ethnicity & Health), and historical perspectives on health and illness (English Studies; Neophilologus; Public Understanding of Science; Journal of Science Communication).
Urban and Culture
The Urban and Culture Research Group explores diverse urban experiences in multiple ways. It highlights its interdisciplinary feature by engaging different disciplines such as sociology, public policy, geography, political science, anthropology, cultural studies and other related areas. While with a particular focus within the East Asian Region, especially Greater China Region studies (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), this research group highlights its particularities by doing research in a comparative manner by engaging existing research across different countries to push forward the theoretical boundary.
This group’s two main strands of research are:
Critical urbanism
Environmental humanities
Heritage and Communication
The Heritage and 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.
Members’ recent and current research includes revitalising rural communities in northern Fujian province, the heritage sites in Suzhou Historical City, and the role of China’s creative industries in the nation’s attempt to refresh its image and to build international soft power.
The group builds on existing expertise in cultural heritage, including a strong track record in external funding both locally and internationally. This includes projects funded by the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Chiang-ching Kuo Foundation, the British Council, National Social Science Fund of China, and funding through municipal and provincial governments in Ningbo, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Fujian.
Other indicators of esteem and expertise include group members’ roles as Vice President of Association of Critical Heritage Study (ACHS) and Executive Secretary of the Academic Committee of Urban and Rural Built Heritage under the Architectural Society of China (Dr Dong), and the chairing of a special panel on communication, cultural heritage and community building for the 2022 annual conference of the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) in Beijing, and a panel on representations, cultural heritage and image building for the 2022 IAMCR pre-conference in Suzhou (Professor Zhang).
Language and Technology
This group investigates the role of technologies in linguistic research and language pedagogy, and the impact of technology on language. It draws on existing strengths in AI and multilingualism, corpus linguistic technologies and language learning, and computer mediated communication, with potential collaborations with the School of Languages and the School of Advanced Technology, as well as further afield with the School of Science and XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang).
The group builds on a track record of internal and external grant success including from the Key Programme Special Fund, Research Development Fund, Teaching Development Fund, Suzhou Science and Technology Project and HSK International Research Fund.
The members of the group also have a number of honours and titles, such as Deputy Chair of the Translation Technology Education Society and Vice Chair of the China EAP Association, plenary speaker at KATE International Conference 2022 (Dr Zou), and the Innovative Works prize in the 2021 Linghang Cup Jiangsu Multimedia Educational Software Competition (Dr Zou).
Health Humanities
The Health Humanities Research Group takes an interdisciplinary approach to topics such as the representation of health and illness in texts, the semiotics of health and illness, the interaction between health, culture and religion, and the language of health and illness. Its members span the fields of linguistics, literature, media studies, and public health.
The group additionally hosts research seminars, talks, and reading groups. Recent events include seminars on communication issues in medical encounters; disfigurement, discrimination, and the media; and applying corpus linguistics to healthcare communication. Potential outputs include papers in Medical Humanities, Literature and Medicine, and The Journal of Medical Humanities.
The group builds on members’ previous successes in external funding (such as the National Natural Science Foundation project ‘Leveraging behavioral science to augment voluntary blood donation in China’) and publications on health and media (JOMEC: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies), mental health and literature (Modernist Cultures), healthcare and social context (Global Public Health; Ethnicity & Health), and historical perspectives on health and illness (English Studies; Neophilologus; Public Understanding of Science; Journal of Science Communication).
Urban and Culture
The Urban and Culture Research Group explores diverse urban experiences in multiple ways. It highlights its interdisciplinary feature by engaging different disciplines such as sociology, public policy, geography, political science, anthropology, cultural studies and other related areas. While with a particular focus within the East Asian Region, especially Greater China Region studies (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), this research group highlights its particularities by doing research in a comparative manner by engaging existing research across different countries to push forward the theoretical boundary.
This group’s two main strands of research are:
Heritage and Communication
The Heritage and 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.
Members’ recent and current research includes revitalising rural communities in northern Fujian province, the heritage sites in Suzhou Historical City, and the role of China’s creative industries in the nation’s attempt to refresh its image and to build international soft power.
The group builds on existing expertise in cultural heritage, including a strong track record in external funding both locally and internationally. This includes projects funded by the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Chiang-ching Kuo Foundation, the British Council, National Social Science Fund of China, and funding through municipal and provincial governments in Ningbo, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Fujian.
Other indicators of esteem and expertise include group members’ roles as Vice President of Association of Critical Heritage Study (ACHS) and Executive Secretary of the Academic Committee of Urban and Rural Built Heritage under the Architectural Society of China (Dr Dong), and the chairing of a special panel on communication, cultural heritage and community building for the 2022 annual conference of the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) in Beijing, and a panel on representations, cultural heritage and image building for the 2022 IAMCR pre-conference in Suzhou (Professor Zhang).