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Shichong Li

Shichong Li

Profile

I achieved my Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction at Southwest University in China. During my stay, I had three academic journal publications in Chinese, one conference presentation experience, and two academic exchanges, respectively, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), USA and National Chung Hsing University (NCHU), Taiwan. I have also participated in three education-related research projects launched in China by collecting data, structuring literature reviews and writing reports. 

I am pursuing my PhD at the University of Leeds in researching children’s agency in peer relations in the Chinese context. My participants are the Left-behind Children (LBC) in China whose parents are migrant workers of China’s ongoing internal migration leading to massive social mobilities. People always need a context to understand childhood in different countries or contexts. Hence, weaving theories from the sociology of childhood with a focus on the LBC’s daily life would raise people’s awareness of what LBC care about and their living conditions from their perspectives in the Chinese context. I mainly use debates on children’s agency as my theoretical framework to navigate my research regarding LBC’s peer relations in their family and school contexts. 

Teaching assistant experience at Leeds

  • 21/22, spring: EDUC TESOL Forum SMR;
  • 22/23, autumn: EDUC 1014; EDUC 2101;
  • 22/23, spring: SLSP 2150; EDUC 5867; EDUC 1207; EDUC 1203;

Selected conference presentations

  • 21 June 2022, The University of Sheffield, China in the Social Sciences: Emerging Research from the North of England (ChiNESS), presentation on “Children’s agency in peer relations: taking the Chinese Left-behind Children as an example”;
  • 31 August to 1 September 2022, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, British Association of Chinese Studies 2022 Conference, presentation on “Tackling with the incompatibility of ethical requirements in the UK for UK-based Chinese social science research”;
  • 1-2 June 2023, the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Kaleidoscope Conference 2023 (the 20th Annual Kaleidoscope Conference), presentation on “Exploring the agency of Chinese Left-behind Children in peer relations”;
  • 22-25 August, 2023, University of Glasgow, European Conference on Educational Research-ECER, 2023, presentation on “Probing into Chinese Left-behind Children’s Peer Interaction from a Perspective of the Hidden Curriculum”;

Academic activities

  • Member of the 2nd ChiNESS conference committee (China in the Social Sciences: Emerging Research from the North of England) funded by Think Ahead at The University of Sheffield;
  • Abstract reviewer of the 2023 BERA annual conference;
  • IMISCOE PhD Social Network Buddy System;

Social media

Research interests

  •  Sociology of childhood
  • Children’s agency in the Chinese context
  • Family relations in contemporary China
  • Research ethics in practice
  • Ethical dilemmas of childhood studies in the Chinese context
  • Cross-cultural perspectives
  • Migration (internal and external) studies
  • Migrant parents 

Qualifications

  • MA in Curriculum and Instruction at Southwest University (China)
  • BA in English Teaching at Sichuan University of Science and Engineering
  • Student Ambassador at International Office, Faculty of Education, Southwest University (China)
  • Certificate of the Exchange Program at National Chung Hsing University
  • Teacher's Certificate of the PRC in High School English Teaching

Research groups and institutes

  • ICY: Inclusion, Childhood & Youth Research Centre