British Inter-university China Centre: Phase 3
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Arts Languages and Cultures
Abstract
Investment in the British Inter-university China Centre (BICC) remains of vital national importance. We must look ahead strategically and adapt the UK's priorities swiftly and appropriately to address the research and educational demands arising from China's emergence, as what many today are calling "the Chinese century" unfolds. The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office's 2010 strategy document, 'The UK and China: A framework for engagement', stated bluntly that "China's impact on UK interests is already critical, and it is growing." One of the aims it set out for shaping the UK's response was 'equipping the British people to seize the China opportunity through better understanding of China and better Chinese language skills', and through 'increased educational and scientific links at institutional level between universities, research bodies, colleges and schools, and a greater two way flow of students, academics and researchers'. The objective of BICC's programme of activity remains as it was in the current phase: to inform and contribute to these strategically vital processes.
In BICC the universities of Bristol, Manchester and Oxford combined forces to develop the UK's premier teaching and research facility on China. Each of the three partner institutions had embarked on a major investment in this area, thus leveraging the long-term impact that the grant will have.
In its second phase, BICC foregrounded the building of new knowledge exchange partnerships with non-academic organisations, and the inauguration of new international research networks, in which knowledge exchange activities will be embedded, all of this activity being grounded in language expertise, and supported by a new programme of language training for university and non-university researchers in Chinese studies.
In its third phase the programme of new activity maintains the impetus of the work already delivered, focussing on the humanities and languages areas and on knowledge exchange [KE] and partnership activity. Embedded in the wider institutional context of each partner, it continues to contribute to shaping debates and informing practice in key areas of policy concern including human rights, natural disasters, multiculturalism, and international diplomacy, as well as cultural engagement with creative sector SMEs, or other public or third sector cultural or civic organisations. It involves providing new vehicles for facilitating such engagement, including with international partners, providing opportunities for early career researchers, and extending the reach of BICC's engagement with UK and international partners. Activities will not be restricted to researchers and students already within the BICC orbit, nor to those at BICC partner institutions. KE has been central to BICC activities since the start of its operations, although many of our researchers and students have initially focused on academic career development: PhD research, academic networking, and publication. In this follow-on funding phase we are able to place KE at the heart of our structured new activity, and that way to provide early career researchers at an early stage in their development with experience and exposure to relationships and interactions outside the HEIs.
In BICC the universities of Bristol, Manchester and Oxford combined forces to develop the UK's premier teaching and research facility on China. Each of the three partner institutions had embarked on a major investment in this area, thus leveraging the long-term impact that the grant will have.
In its second phase, BICC foregrounded the building of new knowledge exchange partnerships with non-academic organisations, and the inauguration of new international research networks, in which knowledge exchange activities will be embedded, all of this activity being grounded in language expertise, and supported by a new programme of language training for university and non-university researchers in Chinese studies.
In its third phase the programme of new activity maintains the impetus of the work already delivered, focussing on the humanities and languages areas and on knowledge exchange [KE] and partnership activity. Embedded in the wider institutional context of each partner, it continues to contribute to shaping debates and informing practice in key areas of policy concern including human rights, natural disasters, multiculturalism, and international diplomacy, as well as cultural engagement with creative sector SMEs, or other public or third sector cultural or civic organisations. It involves providing new vehicles for facilitating such engagement, including with international partners, providing opportunities for early career researchers, and extending the reach of BICC's engagement with UK and international partners. Activities will not be restricted to researchers and students already within the BICC orbit, nor to those at BICC partner institutions. KE has been central to BICC activities since the start of its operations, although many of our researchers and students have initially focused on academic career development: PhD research, academic networking, and publication. In this follow-on funding phase we are able to place KE at the heart of our structured new activity, and that way to provide early career researchers at an early stage in their development with experience and exposure to relationships and interactions outside the HEIs.
Planned Impact
Our Pathway 1 programme of partnerships for knowledge exchange will demonstrate the value of research, knowledge and understanding in Chinese studies humanities and language areas for external partners, in particular in the policy, NGO and the cultural sector. Such KE engagement will be threaded theroughout our network activities as well, building on the models deployed in the first 7 years of BICC activity.
China remains a key area of growing attention for policy-makers. The culture and history of China have been shown by earlier and current activity to be critical areas of foreign policy interest, and will be addressed through our portfolio of networking and placement partnerships. BICC researchers at the FCO will have a direct impact on policy-making by writing reports for internal circulation and giving a presentation to its in-house seminar series, which involves the MoD, DfID and BIS. Moreover, the new co-director at Oxford, Barend J. ter Haar, has been active previously in the Netherlands behind the scenes with his own FO in the field of religious freedom. This is a highly sensitive topic, but one in which real contributions can be made by language based researchers.
AHRC is also adopting a focus on UK creative economy engagement with China, and our programme of placements with the Chinese museum sector will support that activity, by building up a body of experienced early career researchers who have experience of working in that sector, and also a body of reports for circulation to international agencies (such as UNESCO) and to UK stakeholders.
Where appropriate, Pathway 2 research network co-ordinators will include government offices and creative economy partners in planning network activities, and in workshops and conferences. FCO has expressed much interest in historical approaches to UK-China relations, and to understanding contemporary China, so BICC will include it in its CEELBAS/BICC Russia/China, and 'The use of accusations in social and political conflicts' networks, as well as the 'Disasters' and 'China in Ten Words' programmes. BICC will also use research networks to pursue new ties with cultural institutions, government and policy-makers.
China remains a key area of growing attention for policy-makers. The culture and history of China have been shown by earlier and current activity to be critical areas of foreign policy interest, and will be addressed through our portfolio of networking and placement partnerships. BICC researchers at the FCO will have a direct impact on policy-making by writing reports for internal circulation and giving a presentation to its in-house seminar series, which involves the MoD, DfID and BIS. Moreover, the new co-director at Oxford, Barend J. ter Haar, has been active previously in the Netherlands behind the scenes with his own FO in the field of religious freedom. This is a highly sensitive topic, but one in which real contributions can be made by language based researchers.
AHRC is also adopting a focus on UK creative economy engagement with China, and our programme of placements with the Chinese museum sector will support that activity, by building up a body of experienced early career researchers who have experience of working in that sector, and also a body of reports for circulation to international agencies (such as UNESCO) and to UK stakeholders.
Where appropriate, Pathway 2 research network co-ordinators will include government offices and creative economy partners in planning network activities, and in workshops and conferences. FCO has expressed much interest in historical approaches to UK-China relations, and to understanding contemporary China, so BICC will include it in its CEELBAS/BICC Russia/China, and 'The use of accusations in social and political conflicts' networks, as well as the 'Disasters' and 'China in Ten Words' programmes. BICC will also use research networks to pursue new ties with cultural institutions, government and policy-makers.
Organisations
- University of Manchester (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Kyoto (Collaboration)
- Needham Research Institute (Collaboration)
- University of California, Davis (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- Lund University (Collaboration)
- The British Library (Collaboration)
- National Trust (Collaboration)
- White Rose East Asia Centre (Collaboration)
- Calling the Shots (Collaboration)
- University of Tulsa (Collaboration)
- Institute of Qing History (Collaboration)
- Stanford University (Collaboration)
- Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Collaboration)
- École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) (Collaboration)
Publications
Baffelli E.
(2019)
Guest Editors' Introduction to the Special Issue Religious Authority in East Asia: Materiality, Media and Aesthetics
in Asian Ethnology
Barabantseva E
(2015)
Seeing beyond an 'ethnic enclave': the time/space of Manchester Chinatown
in Identities
Barabantseva E
(2015)
Encountering Vulnerabilities through 'Filmmaking for Fieldwork'
in Millennium: Journal of International Studies
Bickers Robert
(2017)
Out of China: How the Chinese Ended the Era of Western Domination
Yangwen Zheng
(2017)
Sinicising Christianity
Bickers, R
(2016)
The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China
Bickers Robert
(2017)
Out of China: How the Chinese Ended the Era of Western Domination
Erica Baffelli
Religion and Media in East Asia: Theories and Concepts
Title | 'British Born Chinese' screening collage |
Description | A short clip showcasing the diversity of audience responses to 'British Born Chinese' at its premier screening in Manchester on 30 April 2015 |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | N/A |
URL | https://vimeo.com/150151517 |
Title | A Trading Journey |
Description | An exhibition of photographs taken in clothes and fashion markets in Guangzhou (Canton), China, by BICC Knowledge Exchange Fellow Alejandro Acin in January 2015. Guangzhou is one of Bristol's Twin Cities, and an important focus of its overseas marketing strategy. These photographs were presented alongside historic photographs from the BICC-supported 'Historical Photographs of China' project. The exhibition was presented in a temporary space, a shipping container, outside Bristol's harbourside M-Shed Museum, 12-22 November, 2015. This was part of the national 'Being Human Festival', and the University of Bristol's InsideArts festival. A newspaper-format booklet accompanied the exhibition. This was a collaboration with Bristol's ICVisual Labs http://icvl.co.uk/ |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | Invitation to show a further iteration of the exhibition at ContainsArt, Watchet, in Spring 2016. Media coverage: This is Bristol: http://thebristolmag.co.uk/a-trading-journey-by-alejandro-acin/ China Chats: 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE6BWLnginM China Chats: 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE05c_OvZ5A Brisotl 24?7 http://www.bristol247.com/channel/culture/art/exhibitions/an-art-exhibition-in-a-shipping-container |
URL | http://visualisingchina.net/blog/2015/11/13/exhibition-a-trading-journey/ |
Title | A Trading Journey, companion publication |
Description | Companion 16p newspaper format publication to November 2015 exhibition. Photographs by Alejandro Acin; text by Robert Bickers; translated by Yuqun Gao. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | Media coverage - see entry for exhibition. |
Title | British Born Chinese |
Description | British Born Chinese is a documentary film about Daniel and Kevin, two school boys born to Chinese migrants and living in Manchester. Made over the course of two years in experimental reflexive and participatory style, the film explores how the boys reconcile their Britishness with Chineseness. We witness the boys' everyday experiences at school, as volunteers at a community centre, and at home. The film proposes a perspective on identity as a performative practice. It exposes moments of vulnerability and documents situations when the boys' formulation of belonging is shaped in response to cultural claims made on their behalf. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | The premier Manchester screening of the documentary film in April 2015 and the first screening in Beijing received favourable reviews in several newspapers: http://www.bicc.ac.uk/2016/03/01/british-born-chinese-screenings-and-reviews/ 'British Born Chinese' was screened at the ethnofest film festival in Athens in November 2015, http://www.ethnofest.gr/images/templates/material/2015%20Screning%20schedule%20en.pdf was screened as part of the LSE Literary Festival on Feb 27 2016 http://www.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/2016/02/LitFest20160227t1500vWT.aspx and was recently accepted for the official programme of World Film Festival in Tartu in March 2016, http://www.worldfilm.ee/lineup-2016 |
URL | http://www.bicc.ac.uk/research-networks/bicc-models-of-distinction-british-born-chinese-bbc-network/ |
Title | For China and the world: Robert Hart |
Description | It's a film |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | Commissioned by the University of Bristol, 'For China and the World' explores the forgotten history of Britain in China from the 1850s to the early 1900s through the life of Sir Robert Hart, head of the Chinese Maritime customs for nearly 50 years. Filmed in Shanghai and Hart's native Northern Ireland, the 30-minute HD film charts the turbulent beginning to China's "Century of Humiliation". |
URL | http://www.roberthartfilm.org/ |
Title | Manchester Chinese Centre promotional video |
Description | A short promotional film, developed by Dr Elena Barabantseva in partnership with the Manchester Chinese Centre, and funded by the Inter-University China Centre, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | n/a |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9-5ys0le-M |
Title | The Story of China, BBC documentary made by Maya Vision and Michael Wood |
Description | As PI and Director of BICC, I was invited by Maya Vision and BBC2 to film Episode 5 and 6. I also gave advice to Michael and was invited to the Parliament to share filming highlights and experience with All Party Parliamentary Group on China. I have also been invited to film "The story of tea" with France TV. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Impact | It informed and educated the British public. We have received many comments and praises. |
URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06ymzy7 |
Title | World Factory Project Collaboration |
Description | World Factory was a BICC-supported project that aimed to explore the relationship between China and the UK - and the relationship of both countries to consumer capitalism, through the lens of the global textile industry. Textile production in 19th century Manchester provides the starting point for an exploratory process focussing on the rapid change underway in contemporary China. Professor Dagmar Shaefer then at the University of Manchester collaborated with METIS ARTS who worked with Shanghai-based Chinese theatre director Zhao Chuan and his company Grass Stage to undertake the research and development |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | The World Factory project - an investigation of global consumer capitalism through the lens of the textile industry, from the heart of the industrial revolution in nineteenth-century Manchester to the world behind the 'Made-in-China' labels on our clothes today. London, World Factory weaves together stories of people connected by the global textile industry. Featuring stunning video and a powerful score, World Factory is a thought-provoking investigation of fast fashion. This show was researched by having a shirt manufactured in a Chinese factory. The show took place at the Young Vic theatre in London. Other outputs from this collaboration included the digital World Factory shirt - a phone app to scan barcodes on the shirt - to reveal the people and processes behind how each shirt was made. Underpinning this research process there was also an open and growing website, the Digital Quilt that shared nuggets of information between China and the UK. World Factory is supported using funds from the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Cambridge Humanities Research Grants Scheme, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and the Sino-British Fellowship Trust, as well as with the support of the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich; Young Vic; Company of Angels; Free Word; Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA); CSV Media Clubhouse, Ipswich; Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre; National Theatre Studio; Grass Stage; and the MPhil in Public Policy, the Digital Humanities Network, CRASSH, Judith E Wilson Fund and the English Faculty, all University of Cambridge. BICC (the British Inter-University Chinese Centre funded by the AHRC) has supported research for events in Manchester and Shanghai. The University of Leeds has provided expert advice. The digital technology and app technology is provided by the Fusion Works. |
URL | http://metisarts.co.uk/world-factory/ |
Description | China Science Focal Point for the Creative Economy |
Geographic Reach | Asia |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | Worked from 2013-15 as China Science Focal Point for the Creative Economy, liaising with the Science and Innovation Network team in China, the AHRC, and a range of UK stakeholders. This involved exploring the development of mechanisms to bring together companies from within the creative economy in Shanghai and the UK, especially via the AHRC KE Hubs. Connections and networking were facilitated at the Unlock events in 2014 (Bristol, with REACT, and AHRC Creative Economy Showcase, London) and 2015 (GREAT Festival of Creativity, Shanghai, with REACT network members). Seed-funding came from SIN 'Global partnerships fund', and BIS: total funding unlocked £90k. |
Description | Cultural Partnership Project: British Library - report on copyright implications associated with collection of Chinese propaganda posters |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
Description | Language teaching for graduate students and beginning researchers |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | By providing language training in modern as well as Classical Chinese, especially to DPhil candidates and young researchers without prior Chinese training, we have improved the quality of research in the UK. It has enabled a range of young scholars in different disciplines to take Chinese language sources into account, putting CHina and Chinese language materials on the map in the UK outside the CHina field per se. |
Description | Transform Drug Policy Foundation Policy Brief |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
Title | Disaster.org |
Description | I organized and hosted a workshop at Manchester in September 2014 that brought together scholars from Beijing, France, Finland, the United States and elsewhere in the UK with the aim of creating an online platform and database for research on disasters in Chinese history. The workshop led to the creation of the online resource www.disasterhistory.org, which makes leading research on disasters in Chinese history accessible to researchers and the general public |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The first in its kind, this database collects information on Chinese History and makes it available not just to students and scholars of China, but also the general public. It is on going and will continue to exist after BICC. |
URL | http://www.disasterhistory.org |
Description | BICC Cultural Engagement Partnership (Bristol/Needham Research Institute) |
Organisation | Needham Research Institute |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | I was responsible for identifying archival material to be digitised relating to Dr Joseph Needham's British Council-sponsored work in China, 1943-46, which supported scientific research, education, and exchange. It will be available free of charge for public use starting in mid-April 2016 on the Cambridge University Digital Library online platform. The material in this collection includes roughly 1,200 photographs, 4 diaries, and a range of miscellaneous material related to this trip, such as a sketchbook, receipts, and various related papers. One of my primary undertakings was I creating a range of supplementary material intended to support use of the digised material, including indexes of names of people, places, and organisations/institutions found in the material (including wherever possible versions in Chinese characters and in English), as well as edited typescripts of three of the diaries that will appear alongside page images. I conducted additional research in Cambridge, Bristol, and Oxford as part of creating this supplementary material and editing the diary typescripts. I was involved in planning and organisation of the digitisation, assisting the Needham Research Institute's librarian, John Moffett, and working with the Cambridge University Library's Digital Content Unit. This project is serving as a 'pilot' for future digitisation projects, and so I was also involved in preliminary discussions about future phases. I also completed work on an ongoing project to compile an electronic version of data from a card index compiled by Needham while working in China's wartime capital, Chongqing, containing details of more than three thousand Chinese scientists and scientific administrators whom Needham met or worked with while in China. I also selected images and created text for a 'pop-up' exhibition of ten portable roller banners entitled 'Chinese Wartime Science through the Lens of Joseph Needham'. I liaised with graphic designers from Dirty Design in Bristol, as well as University of Bristol's Print Services, on design and production of the banners. The exhibition was displayed as part of Open Cambridge 2015 and the Bristol Museum and Gallery's Chinese New Year Celebrations in 2016. I was on-hand at both events to answer questions from members of the public. I assisted with preparations for the NRI's participation in Open Cambridge 2015 and, with John Moffett, co-delivered three public talks relating to the collection and exhibition. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Needham Research Institute provided the archival material to be digitised and has been working with the Cambridge University Library's Digital Content Unit on the project. The NRI librarian, John Moffett, has overseen and coordinated all aspects of this involvement. The NRI also provided me desk space in their archive in which to work, along with access to their electronic and library resources, in order to facilitate work on this project. He created metadata for objects and updated metadata for digital versions of the material. John Moffett is currently working with the Digital Content Unit to proof and make corrections/updates to the digital content before it goes live in April. |
Impact | The Needham wartime collection of digitised photographs, diaries, and documents went live on the Cambridge University Digital Library in May 2016: http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/needham |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | BICC Postdoctoral Fellowship and the National Trust |
Organisation | National Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The Project Initially the remit of the project was to discover the provenance of one clock in the collection of Anglesey Abbey (AA), Cambridgeshire, which had been restored by Matthew Read, Brittany Cox and others at West Dean College. Following an initial inspection of the clock, and other items in the AA collection, it was soon realized that the project would need to expand in scope to include more than just this one clock, as there had clearly been a close relationship between two or more of the clocks in the collection since at least as far back as the turn of the nineteenth century. |
Collaborator Contribution | The main clocks examined on in this report in collaboration with the National Trust at Anglesy Abbey are The Anglesey Abbey Clocks Pagoda Clock A Tower Clock A Singing Bird Clock The pairs to the AA Clocks Pagoda Clock B Tower Clock B Other Clocks in the Robersons' Catalogue Eighteenth Century Clocks Imperial Immortal Mountain Clock Mirror Clock Elephant Clock |
Impact | Report commissioned for BICC and the National Trust, available on the BICC website at the above URL. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | BICC network, 'The Chinese Reception of Indian Religious and Intellectual Practices' |
Organisation | University of Kyoto |
Department | Institute for Research in Humanities |
Country | Japan |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This was led by Dr Eric Greene, then University of Bristol, now Yale University. The outputs from this were; 20-21 September 2014, workshop 'Mapping the Religious Landscape of the Wu Kingdom' held at University of Oxford. Relevant research presented by network members Eric Greene (Bristol) and Stefano Zacchetti (Oxford). As part of this network, an exchange also took place on the 24-26 October 2014 (Eric Greene) to the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (Taiwan) to present related research. |
Collaborator Contribution | Workshops held in Paris, and in Oxford. |
Impact | Workshops held in Paris, and in Oxford. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | BICC network, 'The Chinese Reception of Indian Religious and Intellectual Practices' |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Department | Faculty of Oriental Studies |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This was led by Dr Eric Greene, then University of Bristol, now Yale University. The outputs from this were; 20-21 September 2014, workshop 'Mapping the Religious Landscape of the Wu Kingdom' held at University of Oxford. Relevant research presented by network members Eric Greene (Bristol) and Stefano Zacchetti (Oxford). As part of this network, an exchange also took place on the 24-26 October 2014 (Eric Greene) to the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (Taiwan) to present related research. |
Collaborator Contribution | Workshops held in Paris, and in Oxford. |
Impact | Workshops held in Paris, and in Oxford. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | BICC network, 'The Chinese Reception of Indian Religious and Intellectual Practices' |
Organisation | École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This was led by Dr Eric Greene, then University of Bristol, now Yale University. The outputs from this were; 20-21 September 2014, workshop 'Mapping the Religious Landscape of the Wu Kingdom' held at University of Oxford. Relevant research presented by network members Eric Greene (Bristol) and Stefano Zacchetti (Oxford). As part of this network, an exchange also took place on the 24-26 October 2014 (Eric Greene) to the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (Taiwan) to present related research. |
Collaborator Contribution | Workshops held in Paris, and in Oxford. |
Impact | Workshops held in Paris, and in Oxford. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | BICC/WREA Network |
Organisation | White Rose East Asia Centre |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sacred Models: Religious Authority and Representation in Asian Religions A cross-centre initiative funded through BICC and WREAC Project co-ordinators: Erica Baffelli and Jane Caple (University of Manchester) This network aims to bring together scholars from social anthropology, religious and cultural studies to analyse changing forms of religious authority in Asia. Social and technical transformations have spurred a rapid shift in forms of interactions between religious specialists or institutions and their wider communities within both institutionalised religions such as Buddhism and new religious movements. Both traditional modes of authority (such as temple/monastic - laity relationships in Buddhism) as well as new (for example self-appointed online experts) are challenged by changes in family structures, societal value shifts and the ways in which authorities are sometimes acting across linguistic, social, ethnic and regional borders. In this situation it becomes crucial to establish a research forum looking beyond the boundaries of geo-political areas and religious traditions. It is also essential to critically engage with the ways in which issues of religious authority have been understood and treated within academia. Project activities (Feb 2014 - May 2016) included three international workshops, an international roundtable discussion, and a series of public talks. The project is a cross centre collaboration between BICC and the White Rose East Asia Centre (Universities of Leeds and Sheffield). |
Collaborator Contribution | The White Rose East Asia Centre (Universities of Leeds and Sheffield) contributed to the network with supplementary funding (£5000) and with helping in advertising events. |
Impact | - three international workshops - one international roundtable discussion - a series of public talks |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Calling the Shots |
Organisation | Calling the Shots |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Co-produced the film with Director Jeremy Routledge, Calling The Shots, a Bristol based production company. http://callingtheshots.co.uk/ |
Collaborator Contribution | Calling the Shots developed the script, filmed, and co-produced the film. |
Impact | Film, 'For China and the World: Robert Hart' |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | China in Britain: 1760-1860 conference |
Organisation | National Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Although historians have studied Britain in China, they have largely ignored China in Britain. This project will culminate in a conference in May 2016 to pioneer Anglo-Chinese studies. |
Collaborator Contribution | Several participants work for and with NT and its vast collection on China. I hope this conference will open more doors for the field. |
Impact | Possibly a large grant in the future and an edited volume |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Cultural Partnership Project: Catalogue of British Library's Collection of Chinese Propaganda Posters |
Organisation | The British Library |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | A project to catalogue the British Library's collection of Chinese propaganda posters, as part of a three-month Cultural Engagement Partnership. During the course of the project I identified, catalogued and researched the collection in collaboration with curators within the China Section. I also investigated opportunities for the digitisation and display of the collection and any copyright implications. The catalogue will shortly be available for download from the Asia and Africa section of the new British Library website, making the collection considerably more accessible to researchers and members of the general public alike. |
Collaborator Contribution | Access to the collection and resources, and specialist advice. A work-station within the Asia and Africa section. |
Impact | A catalogue of the collection. A report on copyright restrictions relevant to the collection. Materials for the forthcoming new British Library website. A series of posts for the Asia and Africa blog. A number of academic papers (one currently in preparation). |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Disaster Research Network Collaboration |
Organisation | Institute of Qing History |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I organized and hosted a workshop at Manchester in September 2014 that brought together scholars from Beijing, France, Finland, the United States and elsewhere in the UK with the aim of creating an online platform and database for research on disasters in Chinese history. The workshop led to the creation of the online resource www.disasterhistory.org, which makes leading research on disasters in Chinese history accessible to researchers and the general public. |
Collaborator Contribution | Partners both attended this workshop, contributed ideas regarding the creation of the website, and contributed material for publication on the website. |
Impact | The most tangible output was the launching of www.disasterhistory.org in 2015, an online platform for research produced by us and our partners, for the use of other researchers and the general public. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | False accusations |
Organisation | Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I organize a workshop on the importance of false accusations as an instrument of social warfare in China. The purpose is first and foremost a reconnaissance of the possibilities, as this topic is usually ignored in favour of assuming that any accusation is always true to its own claims. For example ideological or witchcraft accusations are taken as face value in China historiography, rather than as instruments of social/political/economic struggle. |
Collaborator Contribution | My partners contribute their respective research materials, to see whether this approach will work or not. |
Impact | We take part in a workshop in early May 2016. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | False accusations |
Organisation | Lund University |
Country | Sweden |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I organize a workshop on the importance of false accusations as an instrument of social warfare in China. The purpose is first and foremost a reconnaissance of the possibilities, as this topic is usually ignored in favour of assuming that any accusation is always true to its own claims. For example ideological or witchcraft accusations are taken as face value in China historiography, rather than as instruments of social/political/economic struggle. |
Collaborator Contribution | My partners contribute their respective research materials, to see whether this approach will work or not. |
Impact | We take part in a workshop in early May 2016. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | False accusations |
Organisation | Stanford University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I organize a workshop on the importance of false accusations as an instrument of social warfare in China. The purpose is first and foremost a reconnaissance of the possibilities, as this topic is usually ignored in favour of assuming that any accusation is always true to its own claims. For example ideological or witchcraft accusations are taken as face value in China historiography, rather than as instruments of social/political/economic struggle. |
Collaborator Contribution | My partners contribute their respective research materials, to see whether this approach will work or not. |
Impact | We take part in a workshop in early May 2016. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | False accusations |
Organisation | University of California, Davis |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I organize a workshop on the importance of false accusations as an instrument of social warfare in China. The purpose is first and foremost a reconnaissance of the possibilities, as this topic is usually ignored in favour of assuming that any accusation is always true to its own claims. For example ideological or witchcraft accusations are taken as face value in China historiography, rather than as instruments of social/political/economic struggle. |
Collaborator Contribution | My partners contribute their respective research materials, to see whether this approach will work or not. |
Impact | We take part in a workshop in early May 2016. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | False accusations |
Organisation | University of Tulsa |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I organize a workshop on the importance of false accusations as an instrument of social warfare in China. The purpose is first and foremost a reconnaissance of the possibilities, as this topic is usually ignored in favour of assuming that any accusation is always true to its own claims. For example ideological or witchcraft accusations are taken as face value in China historiography, rather than as instruments of social/political/economic struggle. |
Collaborator Contribution | My partners contribute their respective research materials, to see whether this approach will work or not. |
Impact | We take part in a workshop in early May 2016. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Kyoto Bridge network, BICC |
Organisation | University of Kyoto |
Department | Institute for Research in Humanities |
Country | Japan |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | BICC's Kyoto Bridge network aims to build connections between scholars of Chinese studies in Japan and the UK, both established and early career researchers, building on the University of Bristol's strategic partnership with the University of Kyoto. In August 2015 a team funded by the BICC made its way to Kyoto to participate in a panel co-organised with colleagues at Kyoto University at the 2015 World Economic History Congress, held in the city's International Conference Center. BICC Co-Director Robert Bickers, BICC alumni Dr Isabella Jackson, and Bristol University postgraduate research student Sabrina Fairchild, took part in a panel on 'Special Economic Zones: Treaty Ports and Port Cities of Maritime Asia, 1842-1942', alongside colleagues from Kyoto University, and, amongst others, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Heidelberg, Nottingham and Nihon universities, and UT Austin. The panel first convened on Sunday 2 August at the Humanities Research Institute at Kyoto University (Jinbunken), and then again during the Congress. Dr Jackson explored the business backgrounds of the men who ran the Shanghai International Settlement's Shanghai Municipal Council, arguing for the need to understand the political infrastructure in the treaty ports, while Sabrina Fairchild looked at Fuzhou's position within global and imperial shipping infrastructure to better understand change in the treaty port's maritime networks. Robert Bickers served as chair and discussant. Discussion explored the need to understand the physical infrastructures that facilitated the growth of the network of treaty ports and port cities, as well as the need to think across borders - treaty ports are usually considered solely within national frameworks - and to understand how Chinese and other Asian communities made use of the infrastructures that evolved. Law and treaties, it was concluded, needed to be better understood and more routinely discussed. The panel was unusual in bringing together historians of Japan, and of China, and we emerged with a clear sense of the need to exchange views more routinely. The discussion in many ways built on the BICC phase 2 'Chinese Urban Studies Network', led by Isabella Jackson, as well as on the pioneering research of co-organisers Kagotani Naoto from KU, and economic historian of Japan Mark Metzler from UT Austin. It was also one of three panels at the Congress that explored treaty ports in nineteenth and twentieth century Asia, as port cities, 'logistics clusters', and as sites of the work of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. The BICC team also had meetings with KU colleagues, including Professors Toshihiko Kishi and Kanazawa Shusaku, to discuss future potential collaborations and exchanges. British ties with colleagues in Japan in modern Chinese studies could be much stronger. Japanese resources for modern Chinese history are strong, and the expertise is deeply rooted, and the Kyoto Bridge activities have, we believe, materially strengthened connections between the research communities in BICC and the Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China KU, one of the network of Centers funded by Japan's National Institutes for the Humanities. |
Collaborator Contribution | In early July 2015 Professor Ishikawa Yoshihiro visited Bristol to deliver a keynote address at the 8th Annual China Postgraduate Network Conference on 2-3 July. This interdisciplinary conference was attended by 35 postgraduates and postdoctoral scholars from 16 different institutions across the UK, and from Ireland and the Netherlands, and was sponsored by the BICC, the British Association for Chinese Studies, and the Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts. Professor Ishikawa, Director of the Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China at Kyoto University, delivered a stimulating and well-received address on 'The Early Global Reception of Images of Mao', and was an active and generous contributor to formal and informal discussion during the conference suggesting many ways to rethink findings for many of the speakers, and suggesting avenues for further research. |
Impact | Workshops, panel session, conference keynote. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Sacred Models |
Organisation | White Rose East Asia Centre |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sacred Models: Religious Authority and Representation in Asian Religions A cross-centre initiative funded through BICC and WREAC Project co-ordinators: Erica Baffelli and Jane Caple (University of Manchester) This network aims to bring together scholars from social anthropology, religious and cultural studies to analyse changing forms of religious authority in Asia. Social and technical transformations have spurred a rapid shift in forms of interactions between religious specialists or institutions and their wider communities within both institutionalised religions such as Buddhism and new religious movements. Both traditional modes of authority (such as temple/monastic - laity relationships in Buddhism) as well as new (for example self-appointed online experts) are challenged by changes in family structures, societal value shifts and the ways in which authorities are sometimes acting across linguistic, social, ethnic and regional Sacred Models: Religious Authority and Representation in Asian Religions A cross-centre initiative funded through BICC and WREAC Project co-ordinators: Erica Baffelli and Jane Caple (University of Manchester) This network aims to bring together scholars from social anthropology, religious and cultural studies to analyse changing forms of religious authority in Asia. Social and technical transformations have spurred a rapid shift in forms of interactions between religious specialists or institutions and their wider communities within both institutionalised religions such as Buddhism and new religious movements. Both traditional modes of authority (such as temple/monastic - laity relationships in Buddhism) as well as new (for example self-appointed online experts) are challenged by changes in family structures, societal value shifts and the ways in which authorities are sometimes acting across linguistic, social, ethnic and regional borders. In this situation it becomes crucial to establish a research forum looking beyond the boundaries of geo-political areas and religious traditions. It is also essential to critically engage with the ways in which issues of religious authority have been understood and treated within academia. Project activities (Feb 2014 - May 2016) included three international workshops, an international roundtable discussion, and a series of public talks. The project is a cross centre collaboration between BICC and the White Rose East Asia Centre (Universities of Leeds and Sheffield). |
Collaborator Contribution | The White Rose East Asia Centre (Universities of Leeds and Sheffield) contributed to the network with supplementary funding (£5000) and with helping in advertising events. |
Impact | 1. Three international workshops 2. One international roundtable discussion 3. A series of public talks |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | "Revolutionary Natures: The Environment in Modern Chinese History" workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This workshop provided an opportunity to build networks by gathering a group of experts to present cutting-edge academic research on Chinese environmental history, while at the same time opening up conversations between historians and journalists working on environmental issues in China. In addition to plans for a special edition of an academic journal, which will be organized and submitted for review by the end of summer 2016, the workshop gave rise to the idea of an environmental history section on the website chinadialogue.net, for which I will solicit contributions and oversee editing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | 'British Born Chinese' official programme selection and screening at the 'Days of Ethnographic Film' festival, Moscow, September 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Film festival screening and discussion of 'British Born Chinese' open to general public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | 'British Born Chinese' official programme selection at Antropofest, Prague, 27-28 January 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Screening and discussion of the film as part of the film festival aimed at general public |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | 'British Born Chinese' programme selection and screening at World Film Festival, Tartu, Estonia, March 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Over 50 members of general public attended the screening of British Born Chinese as part of the World Film Festival |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | 'British Born Chinese' screening and discussion |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | An invited screening of 'British Born Chinese' at the School of Social and Behavioral Studies, Nanjing University, 4 July 2016 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Annual Meeting, Association for Asian Studies |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Invited participant, roundtable on 'Thirty Years of Discovering History in China', AAS, Philadelphia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Asia House panel, From Peking to Paris: China and the First World War |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Invited participant, panel discussion. Description: During the First World War, 95,000 Chinese farm labourers volunteered to leave their remote villages and work for Britain. They were labelled "the forgotten of the forgotten", as their stories failed to form part of the public record on the War. This is just one example of many of the lesser known stories relating to China and the Great War. But these stories are now starting to be addressed. To mark the centenary of the First World War, Penguin China has published a series of short histories on the economic and social costs it brought to China and the Chinese. Each book - written by a leading expert in the field - tells a fascinating tale which will fill the gaps of your China and WWI knowledge, including the only land battle in East Asia fought by Japan and Britain against the German concession in Shandong. Asia House hosted a panel with several of these authors. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://asiahouse.org/events/peking-paris-china-first-world-war/ |
Description | British Museum Panel on Global China: Past and Present |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Chaired public event, related to British Museum's exhibition 'Ming: 50 years that changed China' Panel description: 'The Ming period saw the creation of institutions and political centres that would help define Chinese governance and culture for generations. As we embark on a period in which China's economy and trade will lead global markets, this panel discussion examines the country's global role today and how other leading nations' economies, governance and culture might develop in relation to China. The discussion was chaired by Robert Bickers, Professor of History, University of Bristol, and featured Jonathan Fenby, author, journalist and Managing Director of the China team at the emerging markets consultancy firm Trusted Sources, Steve Tsang, Professor of Contemporary Chinese Studies and Head of School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham, and Elizabeth Wright, Chair of the Advisory Board of the China Policy Institute and Special Professor, University of Nottingham. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/event_detail.aspx?eventId=1716&title=Global%20... |
Description | Chinese Wartime Science through the Lens of Joseph Needham (Bristol Museum & Gallery Chinese New Year Celebration 2016) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The exhibition was viewed by an estimated 300 members of the general public of all ages, from young children through to those of retirement age, who were attending the Chinese New Year activities being held at the Bristol Museum and Gallery on the weekend of 6-7 February 2016. Numerous members of the general public, as well as multiple stall-holders at the event, spoke with me (Gordon Barrett) about the exhibition and about the related digitisation project, on both days. Many also took flyers I created that had information about the exhibition, collection, and information about accessing the digital collection on the Cambridge University Digital Library from April 2016. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/february/chinese-wartime-science-.html |
Description | Chinese Wartime Science through the Lens of Joseph Needham (Open Cambridge 2015) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Approximately 70 members of the general public attended a trio of public talks held at the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, as part of Open Cambridge 2015 by delivered by myself (Gordon Barrett) and John Moffett, NRI Librarian. Each talk prompted many lively questions and discussion after the talks and requests for further information, particularly relating to digital collection that will be available on the Cambridge University Digital Library website in April 2016. Members of the public also had the opportunity to view a 'pop up' exhibition of 10 roller banners. These featured photographs and text related to the topic of the talk, as well as view key objects from the NRI's collection such as Dr. Needham's reports and Chonqing card index of scientists and administrators working in China during the Second World War. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Contribution to the LSE Literary Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Screening and discussion of 'British Born Chinese' documentary film as part of the LSE Literary Festival, 27 February 2016. The event was intended to familiarise the audience with the research project on the experiences of the second generation of British Chinese in the UK. It generated a lively discussion and Q&A and positive feedback from the audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/publicLecturesAndEvents/player.aspx?id=3414 |
Description | Cultural Engagement Partnership at the British Library: blogposts |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | As part of my cultural engagement project at the British Library, I was asked to contribute three blogposts based on my research and activities during the project for the British Library Africa and Asia blog and the BICC website. These blog posts were also featured on my personal research blog. The posts for the British Library blog, in particular, received a number of shares on social media, predominantly Twitter. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
URL | http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/ |
Description | Cultural Partnership project: Doctoral students' open day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I was asked to make a short presentation at the British Library's open day for doctoral students interested in the Asia and Africa collections (18 January 2016). The presentation provided an overview of the project - but I also talked about my background, the application process, and my activities during the duration of the project, with a view to asserting the value of the British Library's collections in doctoral research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.bl.uk/events/asian-and-african-collections |
Description | ESRC festival of Social Sciences event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This public event attracted over forty interested members of general public to watch a documentary film British Born Chinese (2015), and to learn about the first Hong-Kong-born parliamentarian in Europe Anna Lo's journey to politics in Northern Ireland. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.esrcmanchesterfest.ac.uk/events/where-do-you-call-home/ |
Description | Global China: China Postgraduate Network Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The conference, under the theme Global China, sought to explore the global engagements of China and the Chinese from a multi-disciplinary perspective covering all disciplines in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The combined aim of the keynote speeches and the conference papers was to situate China within and increasingly globalised world and to identify the potential for future interdisciplinary research.The conference was attended by 35 delegates from 16 institutions across the UK as well as 2 from institutions in the EU (Dublin and Amsterdam). In addition to 25 paper presentations from postgraduate students, the conference included talks from three keynote speakers: Professor Ishikawa Yoshihiro of Kyoto University presented on the early global reception of images of Mao. Professor Robert Bickers of the University of Bristol presented on the university's 'Historical Photographs of China' website. Acclaimed novelist Xue Xinran addressed the audience about her charity's ongoing work in mainland China as well as on her experiences as a writer. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/arts/gradschool/documents/global-china-programme.pdf |
Description | Interviewed by New York Times Style magazine on British Chinese participation in the 2015 UK general elections |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Contacted by the journalist of New York Times Chinese edition for my assessment of the British Chinese participation in the 2015 UK general elections |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://cn.nytstyle.com/culture/20150505/tc05ukelection/ |
Description | Invited seminar speaker, University of Hong Kong, Department of History |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Abstract This talk explored the acceleration of travel, and the interaction of various performers with China, c. 1850s-1890s. It uses "professionals" in an old sense, of theatres and performers, and discusses amateur and professional music, circuses, Hong Kong's first tourist, a Chinese giant, jugglers and acrobats. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.history.hku.hk/news/2015bickers.html |
Description | Invited speaker, Tenth Anniversary Public Lecture Series, University of Nottingham Ningbo China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Abstract:As part of the University's 10th anniversary public lecture series, Professor Robert Bickers, a renowned British historian will give a public talk on the campus in March. About the talk: Topic of the talk is "World in Motion: Professional Circuits through Nineteenth Century China". It explores the acceleration of travel, and the interaction of various performers with China, c. 1850s-1890s. It uses "professionals" in an old sense, of theatres and performers, and discusses amateur and professional music, circuses, Hong Kong's first tourist, a Chinese giant, jugglers and acrobats. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.nottingham.edu.cn/en/events/2015/10th-anniversary-public-lecture-professor-robert-bickers... |
Description | Invited speaker, conference on 'The Lighthouse as a Public Good', Paris |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | This was the launch workshop of a network, run by scholars from University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, Maison des Sciences Economiques. The network co-ordinator describes this as follows: This project focuses on the modes of financing and operating of lighthouses in Europe and its colonies, from the 17th century to the present day, in relation with their nature of collective goods. The approach is mainly historical, in its object (past periods) or the (sub-) disciplines that are used. Several levels of analyses will be developed such as: describe some modalities of financing in places or times that have not yet been studied, economically analyse these historic modalities of lighthouse-services provisions, link these historic modalities to the contemporaneous structure of the State, study the interaction between political debates on lighthouse-services financing and the contemporaneous economic debates, review the history of the use of the lighthouse example in economics literature and its diffusion in the non-academic world, etc. This is an interdisciplinary project, which mainly unite economics (history of economic thought, economics of contracts, transport economics, public economics, economics of culture and heritage), history (economic history, history of architecture, history of sciences and techniques, maritime history), law (history of law, law and economics of property rights). This is an international project, uniting researchers from Estonia, France, Sweden and United States." I presented work on lighthouse development in modern China: 'Building South Cape, or, "The Fighting Lighting Machine"''. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://lighthouse.hypotheses.org/ |
Description | Invited talk on 'Historical Photographs of China' project, at Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Invited talk on 'HIstorical Photographs of China' project, at Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://whis.cssn.cn/sjs/sjs_xsbgt/201503/t20150319_1553115.shtml |
Description | Keynote address, 'Moved by Conflict' schools conference, M-Shed, Bristol |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Keynote talk on China and the First World War, and also its Bristol links, at a one day conference for KS3+ to complement the themes of the Moved by Conflict exhibition at M She |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/m-shed/whats-on/moved-conflict-schools-conference/ |
Description | Premiere, 'For China and the World: Robert Hart', Philadelphia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The film received its world premiere on Saturday 29 March during the Asian Film Expo at the 2014 annual meeting of the US Association for Asian Studies in Philadelphia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.bicc.ac.uk/2014/03/27/for-china-and-the-world-sir-robert-hart/ |
Description | Public presentation of the 'Historical Photographs of China' project, University of Nottingham Ningbo China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Public presentation of the 'Historical Photographs of China' project, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Abstract: Since 2006 a small team at Bristol University has located, digitised and published online 9,000 historic photographs of China. Twice that number are being processed, and more arrive every month, Mainly sourced from families living in Britain with historical connections to China, these cover the period 1857-1950, range geographically across rural and urban China -- including nineteenth century Ningbo -- and were taken by professionals, talented amateurs and lucky snap-shotters, and form a rich, virtual archive. Robert Bickers, project director, will introduce the project, and its aims, progress and challenges. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Roundtable discussion: 20 YEARS AFTER THE TOKYO SUBWAY ATTACK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | The event was a roundtable discussion titled "20 years after the Tokyo subway attack: the impact of Aum's violence in Japan and beyond". Participants: - Professor Ian Reader (Lancaster University); - Professor Mark Mullins (U. of Auckland); - Dr. Mark Pendleton (Sheffield University) - Mr Mori Tatsuya (film director, author); Dr Erica Baffelli (University of Manchester). The event attracted a large audience and it was filmed by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting ). The programme was aired on March 24, 2015 in Japan, during the 9pm News Watch 9 programme, the flagship evening news program for NHK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Roundtable discussion: 20 YEARS AFTER THE TOKYO SUBWAY ATTACK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | The event was a roundtable discussion titled "20 years after the Tokyo subway attack: the impact of Aum's violence in Japan and beyond". Participants: - Professor Ian Reader (Lancaster University); - Professor Mark Mullins (U. of Auckland); - Dr. Mark Pendleton (Sheffield University) - Mr Mori Tatsuya (film director, author); Dr Erica Baffelli (University of Manchester). The event attracted a large audience and it was filmed by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting ). The programme was aired on March 24, 2015 in Japan, during the 9pm News Watch 9 programme, the flagship evening news program for NHK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Screening and discussion of 'British Born Chinese' at the meeting of University of Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group, 21 February 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | An invited screening and discussion of 'British Born Chinese' attended by the members of the study group and students |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Screening of 'British Born Chinese' at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 23 June 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Members of public and University staff/students attended the screening and contributed to the post-screening discussion of the film |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Screening, For China and the World, Queen's University Belfast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Screening of BICC-funded film 'For China and the World: Robert Hart', during Wiles Lectures, Queen's University Belfast. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Shanghai: World City Redux |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Contribution to 'Shanghai: World City Redux', programme by Rana Mitter, produced by Phil Tinline, in which I was interviewed, and in which excerpts were broadcast from my book Empire Made Me: An Englishman Adrift in Shanghai. First broadcast on 26 January 2014 and rebroadcast on 11 September 2014. My sections were rebroadcast on 'Pick of the week'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03rx8jf/Sunday_Feature_Shanghai_World_City_Redux/ |
Description | Showcase at GREAT Festival of Creativity, Shanghai, China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Showcase of 25 photographs in Long Museum, Shanghai, during the UKTI 'GREAT Festival of Creativity' organised by Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Collaborated with AHRC; SIN China. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/researchrevealedinshaghai/ |
Description | Summer school film screening |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | "British Born Chinese" was screened as part of the Alien summer camp in Athens (1-9 July 2017) aimed at promoting advanced Learning and Inclusive EnviroNment (ALIEN) for Higher Education through greater knowledge and understanding of migration flows in Europe. The organisers of the event distributed feedback sheets among the audience and returned about 30 completed forms to Elena Barabantseva. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://alien.pja.edu.pl/index.html |
Description | Talk and Film screening by Tim Graf |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Film screening of "Buddhism after the Tsunami. The Souls of Zen 3/11 Japan Special" and discussion with the director attracted a large audience including postgraduate and undergraduate students, academics, and representative of local Buddhism communities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Talk and Film screening by Tim Graf |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Film screening of "Buddhism after the Tsunami. The Souls of Zen 3/11 Japan Special" and discussion with the director attracted a large audience including postgraduate and undergraduate students, academics, and representative of local Buddhism communities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Talk at Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Public talk on book 'Getting stuck in for Shanghai', which explores the contribution of British Shanghai residents to the First World War, and its legacies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Talk by Dr Birgit Staemmler |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | The talk on "Competency, Reliability and Benevolence as Elements of Trustworthiness in the Websites of Japanese Religious Healer" by Dr. Birgit Staemmler (Tuebingen University) attracted a large number of undergraduate and postgraduate students. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Talk by Dr Birgit Staemmler |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | The talk on "Competency, Reliability and Benevolence as Elements of Trustworthiness in the Websites of Japanese Religious Healer" by Dr. Birgit Staemmler (Tuebingen University) attracted a large number of undergraduate and postgraduate students. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Talk by Dr. Aike Rots |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | The talk on "Making Sacred Forests: Shinto, Environmentalism, and Chinju no Mori" by Dr. Aike Rots (Oslo University) attracted a significant number of undergraduates and was followed by a lively debate regarding religion and environmentalism. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Talk by Dr. Aike Rots |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | The talk on "Making Sacred Forests: Shinto, Environmentalism, and Chinju no Mori" by Dr. Aike Rots (Oslo University) attracted a significant number of undergraduates and was followed by a lively debate regarding religion and environmentalism. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Talk by Professor Fabio Rambelli |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | We were delighted to welcome Professor Fabio Rambelli to Manchester in September 2014 to open our series of public talks on Religious Authority in Asia. Professor Rambelli challenged the received assumption concerning Japanese Buddhist institutions' organic support of the imperial state throughout history. Focusing on the nature and typologies of Buddhist political thought and praxis in premodern Japan, he emphasized the strong sense of institutional autonomy animating Buddhist institutions for a large part of their long history. Fabio Rambelli is Professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Languages at the University of California, Santa Barbara |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.bicc.ac.uk/research-networks/bicc-sacred-models-religious-authority-and-representation-in... |
Description | Talk by Professor Fabio Rambelli |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | We were delighted to welcome Professor Fabio Rambelli to Manchester in September 2014 to open our series of public talks on Religious Authority in Asia. Professor Rambelli challenged the received assumption concerning Japanese Buddhist institutions' organic support of the imperial state throughout history. Focusing on the nature and typologies of Buddhist political thought and praxis in premodern Japan, he emphasized the strong sense of institutional autonomy animating Buddhist institutions for a large part of their long history. Fabio Rambelli is Professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Languages at the University of California, Santa Barbara |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Workshop on Contemporary Religion |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | A joint-workshop with researchers and postgraduate students from Tuebingen university to discuss current research projects and develop plans for future collaboration and grant applications. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Workshop on Religious authority |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | In autumn 2014, we held an international workshop at the University of Manchester which explored problems and strategies of recognition of religious authority in contemporary Asia in a comparative context. The workshop brought together scholars who are working on both 'traditional' and new modes of authority, on both institutionalised religions and individual religious specialists, and on different religious traditions and movements in Japan, Korea, the PRC and Taiwan. Workshop participants examined these issues from three main perspectives: scholarly discourse on religions; relationships between religious specialists and their supporting communities; and the state-religion interface. Project co-ordinators Erica Baffelli and Jane Caple are now working with the other participants to develop a publication and are currently in discussion with the editors of Asian Ethnology, a high profile peer-reviewed and open access journal about plans for a special double issue in 2017-18. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.bicc.ac.uk/research-networks/bicc-sacred-models-religious-authority-and-representation-in... |
Description | Workshop on Religious authority |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | In autumn 2014, we held an international workshop at the University of Manchester which explored problems and strategies of recognition of religious authority in contemporary Asia in a comparative context. The workshop brought together scholars who are working on both 'traditional' and new modes of authority, on both institutionalised religions and individual religious specialists, and on different religious traditions and movements in Japan, Korea, the PRC and Taiwan. Workshop participants examined these issues from three main perspectives: scholarly discourse on religions; relationships between religious specialists and their supporting communities; and the state-religion interface. Project co-ordinators Erica Baffelli and Jane Caple are now working with the other participants to develop a publication and are currently in discussion with the editors of Asian Ethnology, a high profile peer-reviewed and open access journal about plans for a special double issue in 2017-18. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |