Dr Graeme Were and Dr Allison Holland from the School of English, Media Studies and Art History travelled to China recently as part of the UQ-Hanban Visiting Fellowships program run by UQ's Confucius Institute and partner institute, Tianjin University.
Dr Were and Dr Holland were among the first Fellowship holders to engage in travel to China under this program, and undertook a series of meetings and site visits to both promote their own individual research objectives as well as Faculty and University engagement.
Dr Holland said making connections with the staff at Feng JiCai Institute of Art and Literature at Tianjin University was invaluable.
"The Institute is integral to protecting some of China's intangible cultural heritage and undertaking significant research in the area of Chinese Folk Art," she said.
"These areas are of interest to students in both the Art History and Museum Studies programs."
Facilitated by UQ's Confucius Institute, the 2014 UQ-Hanban Visiting Fellowships program will see 11 UQ staff from various Faculties and offices undertake visit programs to help strengthen an understanding of UQ’s strengths internationally.
The Fellowship program importantly provides UQ staff (academic and professional) an opportunity to establish connections with Chinese counterparts focusing on long-term engagement within academic, administrative and industry sectors.
The Confucius Institute works closely with Tianjin University and Ministry of Education’s Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (HANBAN) in providing opportunities for the greater UQ community including students and staff to further the understanding of Chinese language and culture.
Key in-country programs currently include the UQ Staff Fellowship program and the annual UQ Study Research Study Tour to China.
The Faculty would also like to congratulate Associate Professor Chi Kong Lai (HPRC), Dr Nina Hall (School of Social Sciences) Dr Liam Viney (School of Music, Faculty of Arts) and Dr Peter Westoby (School of Social Sciences) on their appointments in the inaugural Fellowship round.
