Research staff

Dr Shiyu Gao

Leverhulme Early Career Fellow

Dr Shiyu Gao, awarded the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, is working on their post-doctoral research project about surveillance and art in digital China at Birmingham School of Art (SoA). Before joining SoA in January 2024, Shiyu taught Art History and Theory at the University of Edinburgh, where they obtained their PhD in...

Dr Xi Guo

Senior Lecturer in Computer Games Technology

Dr Xi Guo is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Centre of Digital Media Technology in the School of Computing and Digital Technology of Birmingham City University. She is the course leader for BSc Computer Games Technology, and she leads the Web Game Development and 3D Game Programming modules. Since joining the College of...

Professor Jiehong Jiang

Head of Research

Professor Jiang Jiehong is Head of Research at School of Art, Director of the Centre for Chinese Visual Arts, Birmingham City University, and he is also Principal Editor of the Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art (Intellect). Jiang has extensive research and curatorial experiences in contemporary art and visual culture. ...

Dr Federica Mirra

Leverhulme Early Career Fellow

Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, Dr Mirra is conducting her post-doctoral research, The City as Art: Living Aesthetics in Twenty-First-Century China, at Birmingham School of Art (SoA). Her project focuses on what is often excluded from aesthetic experience: the everyday and collective practices in Chinese cities.

Dr Licheng Qian

Assistant Lecturer in Sociology

Licheng Qian is currently an Assistant Lecturer in Sociology at Birmingham City University (BCU). Prior to joining BCU in 2023, he worked at the University of Macau (2021-2023) and Zhejiang University (2017-2021) as an Assistant Professor and taught at the University of Virginia as a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant and Lecturer...

Dr Charlotte Stevens

Lecturer in Media and Communication

Charlotte works mainly in television and fandom studies, with a strong interest in archival and historical aspects of audiences. She also co-leads the Game Cultures research cluster. Charlotte has published on fanvids, video game fan histories, screen vampires, and poetic television documentaries on the BBC. She is currently...

Dr Lauren Walden

Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Contemporary Chinese Art

Dr Lauren Walden's first degree was in Modern and Medieval Languages (French and Spanish) at the University of Cambridge. Having gained linguistic fluency, her cultural interests broadened beyond literature and an interest in visual arts and cultural institutions emerged. This was initially met by a Masters in Museum Studies at...

Dr. Jieling Xiao

Reader in Architecture and Sensory Environments | Research Degree Coordinator

Jieling teaches Environmental Design across different courses at the Birmingham School of Architecture. Trained as an architect and urban designer, Jieling believes that designers need to consider more than just how the hardware of architecture functions for its users. Interested in creative spatial practice related to...