Globalisation, Cosmopolitanization, and a New Research Agenda
I’m very pleased to receive this collected volume edited by Ino Rossi. I can only imagine the amount of editing work that was put into this volume. For myself, I actually drafted two very different pieces for this book. The original piece was more empirical and regional focused, but later Into and I both decided … Continue reading
Aspen Global Science Congress on Scientific Thinking & Action
After a full year of delay, the Aspen Global Science Congress on Scientific Thinking & Action is finally here!! Delighted to be part of this four-day events co-organized by the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program (USA) and the Question of Science Institute (Brazil) in collaboration with Aspen Italia (Italy). This event would be of interest to anyone working in the areas … Continue reading
New piece in Nature
I think everyone is getting tired of the politicisation of COVID and the blame games – both Chinese and Western politicians bear responsibilities. Yet the victims of China-bashing are not limited to China and its citizens. It has serious implications for global science. Here is my short piece on how Western media may unwittingly help … Continue reading
Environmental Politics Article of the Year Revealed
Many congratulations to the winner and the runner-ups of the 2020 Article of the Year Award for Environmental Politics !! It was enjoyable working with Hugh and Steven and reading through all the papers long listed by the editors. While we unanimously agree that Professor Robyn Eckersley’s paper is conceptually most impactful, it is safe … Continue reading
China Vaccine Media Engagement
The autumn term of 2020/2021 academic year was quite challenging. Apart from teaching, I originally had two international conferences and one fieldwork planned. All were obviously cancelled. Instead I found myself getting up at 5am or staying up until 11pm to follow online discussions. But of all the disruptions and anxieties generated by COVID, there … Continue reading
New Academic Year
It’s will be the Welcome Week for Kent starting next week. It’s still gonna be an unusual year for first years. As the Director of Studies for Sociology, I’ve made a 30-min induction video for our new students. The full clip is on Kent’s Panopto. Here is the first 1 min. I thought of these … Continue reading
Sociology Ranked 1st & 4 July Open Day
According to the newly released Complete University Guide, Sociology at Kent was ranked 22nd over all, but this is mostly dragged down by our low entry standards (Well, what can you do? We are under pressure to recruit recruit recruit!) But we were actually ranked 1st for research quality! Yay!! There is of course more … Continue reading
Teaching evaluation
I think most colleagues in my School were surprised this week when we received Spring module evaluations from students, because we were told that all Spring modules this year will not be evaluated due to strike and the pandemic. As the Director of Studies, I had to review all the evaluations – as usual, my … Continue reading
Covid-19 media engagement
Shortly after China lock-downed Wuhan, I was contacted by Apoorva Mandavilli for a piece originally intended for the New York Time. That piece was cancelled due to the fast progressing of events. Fortunately Apoorva saved part of our conversation in this opinion piece in the Undark Magazine on if China can prevent the next epidemic. The fragmented … Continue reading
Dec 2019 – Climate Science Legacies
Before Christmas, I spoke at the conference, Climate Science Legacies and Contemporary Climate Policy & Action, at the University of Birmingham’s Brussels research office. It was a real delight to know Jon Oldfield, the conference organiser, and an expert on Russian environmental politics and his AHRC project Soviet Climate Science and Its Intellectual Legacies. It was a one-day conference, packed … Continue reading
Joy Zhang 