Danielle is a DPhil student researching how Black-British doctoral students navigate the spaces of the elite, providing a new theoretical framework to understand their agency better.
Her main interests are in Human Flourishing, Cultural Geography, Psychology, and Justice, and her work aims to inform and reform educational frameworks and practices.
Following Danielle’s BSc in Psychology and MRes in Research Methods in Psychology, she founded a social enterprise that merges psychological and academic strategies to guide undergraduate and master’s students study practices. In addition to this, Danielle provided pedagogical and behavioural support across SEN college, secondary and primary schools.
Some of Danielle’s notable work includes her research introducing a new University-wide EDI strategy at her former Higher Education institution, presenting insights and way-forwards on youth homelessness to HRH Prince Williams, and providing discipleship to next-gen leaders.
Jiayi Li is a doctoral student in the Department of Education. Her research interests encompass macro-level education policy, students’ self-formation and political identity development in the context of international higher education.
Prior to her DPhil studies at Oxford, Jiayi worked as a research assistant with the Rees Centre on policy mapping and local authority data analytics projects in the UK (PI: Professor Leon Feinstein). Jiayi holds a MSc degree in Comparative and International Education from University of Oxford and a BA degree (double major) with high honours in Educational Studies and Economics from Colgate University.
Her current doctoral research explores how international students from ambiguous territories (Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau) develop civic consciousness and political identity in Chinese universities with “Chinese characteristics”.
Anding Shi is a Dphil student in higher education at the department of Education and St. Antony’s College. Her doctoral research is fully funded by China Scholarship Council.
Anding’s doctoral research focuses on the policy reform of academic publishing in China and its impact on doctoral education. She also has strong interests in academic profession and the internationalization of higher education.
Prior to coming to Oxford, Anding completed her master’s degree in Comparative Education at the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. She also studied as an exchange student in the Faculty of Education and Culture at Tampere University.
Gift Sonkqayi is a doctoral student in the department. He is fully funded by the Clarendon Scholarship and Brasenose college.
He is mainly interested in all things concerning the epistemology of decolonising the university space within and beyond the South African context.
Qingling is a DPhil student in Higher Education and a Kwok Scholar.
Qingling’s research examines the enabling and hindrance factors in enhancing the quality of higher technical education in Africa for youth upskilling and empowerment. Her research interests encompass higher technical skills training, work-based learning, university-industry collaboration, employability, and entrepreneurship.
As a part-time learner, Qingling is a full-time practitioner in international development advancing inclusive and equitable quality higher education, with focuses on quality assurance, internationalization of higher education, skills development and youth empowerment.
Holding a Master in Public Policy Degree from Oxford (Kwok Scholar) and an MSc in Development Management (Lee Scholar) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Qingling has worked across developing contexts in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Yushan Xie is a Doctoral student in education and a Clarendon scholar at the University of Oxford. Her research is fully funded by the Clarendon Fund and Brasenose College.
Her research focuses on the self-formation of students of rural backgrounds in universities in China, against the backdrop of higher education massification, urbanisation and digitalisation.
Prior to Oxford, Yushan worked as a social entrepreneur in rural Hunan Province and educational policy researcher which enabled her to conduct health and education intervention research in the rural west of China, including Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces. She also gained professional experience in working as a youth culture researcher in a leading Chinese consulting firm.
Yushan completed her MPhil in Education from Cambridge University where she was awarded a ‘Best Dissertation Award’ from the Faculty and the ‘Special Commendation Award’ from the British Council ELT Master’s Dissertation Competition. She holds a BA in Translation from Nankai University in China during which she was awarded the National Scholarship from the Ministry of Education.
Publications
Xie, Y. & Liu. Y. (2021). Who do you hand out with? How Chinese students’ social networks relate to perceived oral proficiency gains during study abroad experiences. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, 6(1), 59-90.
Kexin is a Doctoral student in higher education at the Department of Education.
Kexin’s research interest lies in the global scientific system and the internationalisation of social sciences, with a special focus on international research collaborations and epistemic injustice.
Prior to her Doctoral study, Kexin obtained her M.Sc degree (Higher Education) with Distinction at the Department of Education, University of Oxford. In her master’s project, Kexin explored the patterns and dynamics in the China-UK collaborations in education research through bibliometric analysis and interviews. Under the supervision by Dr. Xin Xu, Kexin’s master study demonstrated the development trajectory, external and internal motivations, and the potential challenges in China-UK collaboration practices.
Kexin will further the master’s project in her doctoral studies under the supervision of Professor Simon Marginson and Professor Alis Oancea. She will investigate the internationalisation of social sciences in China and Europe through a comparative lens.