Yijian (Olivia) Liu is a PhD candidate as part of the European Research Council-funded BROKEX project at the University of Oslo. She has submitted her PhD thesis and is now waiting for public defense on 16 June 2023. She holds a Master's degree in Contemporary Chinese Studies (2017-2018) from Oxford University, Foreign Service Programme (2016-2017) from Oxford University, Bachelor's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies (2013-2016) from the University of Pisa in Italy and exchange programme (2014-2015) at the University of Porto in Portugal. She has worked for the European Chambers of Commerce and EU SME Center in Beijing and been an intern at the UN Environment Finance Initiative in Geneva. Olivia studies high-tech entrepreneurship in China ethnographically.

Olivia was a visiting PhD student at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies in April-May, 2023

Yicheng Cheng is a PhD Candidate in Sinology at Freie Universität Berlin working on comprehending contemporary China. Focusing on the society of Hainan island, his current PhD project aims to offer both empirical knowledge and theoretical enhancement on the changing dynamics of social stratification and social relations associated with its economic development. His main research method is ethnographic fieldwork, and I’m actively discovering the epistemological boundaries and interactions among different disciplines (anthropology, political science, sociology and geography) and area studies via ethnographic practices. 

Previously he gained his BA in International Development and East Asian Studies from McGill University with an exchange year in the University of Tokyo, and his Master in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris.

Yicheng was a visiting PhD student at the Centre for East and South-East Asian studies in May 2023.

Joanne Kuai is a lecturer and a PhD Candidate at Karlstad University, Sweden, with a research project on Artificial Intelligence in Chinese Newsrooms. She is also a member of the Ander Center for Research on News and Opinion in the Digital Era (NODE) and an affiliated PhD student at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) at the University of Copenhagen. Her research interests centre around data and AI for media, computational journalism, and the social implications of automation and algorithms. Prior to her academic career, she had worked as a reporter, editor and news anchor in China for over a decade. Find her on LinkedIn or Twitter @JoanneKuai.

Joanne was a visiting PhD student at the Centre for East and South-East Asian studies in May 2023.