Joel Andreas is a Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University since 2003, serving as Program Director of the East Asian Studies Program. His research focuses on political contention, social inequality, and social change in contemporary China. He holds a PhD in Sociology from UCLA and teaches social theory, political sociology, and courses on Chinese society. He has held visiting positions at universities including the University of Sydney, Hong Kong University, and Ningxia University. His work examines labor movements, rural land policies, and class dynamics in China. Recent research includes analyses of staff-worker congresses, rural land dispossession, and the persistence of militarism in U.S. policy. He critiques market reforms and explores the legacy of the Cultural Revolution. Andreas has contributed to debates on China’s transition to capitalism and the decline of socialist systems. His publications span topics from urbanization to state coercion in rural development. He maintains an active role in academic exchanges and policy-relevant research on China’s socio-political landscape.
University of California, Los AngelesUnited States
Yunxiang Yan is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His work focuses on China and Cultural Anthropology , with specific expertise in Economic Anthropology , Family and Kinship , and Individualization . Education: Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University (1993). Yan’s research explores the intersection of social change , moral theory , and family dynamics in modern China. His ethnographic studies in rural villages provide foundational insights into exchange theory and cultural globalization . Recent publications analyze food safety , medical ethics , and moral crises in China, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach combining anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. Articles span themes like intergenerational intimacy , political oppression , and networked social structures . Scientific Awards: Guggenheim Fellowship Levenson Prize-winning Research Yan’s work bridges local Chinese studies with global anthropological discourse. He has held positions at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Johns Hopkins University, and UCLA since 1996. His career reflects a commitment to documenting the lives of ordinary people, rooted in his early experiences as an expelled villager during Maoist China. Contact: yan@anthro.ucla.edu
Ryan Heuser is an Assistant Professor in Digital Humanities at the University of Cambridge, specializing in computational approaches to literary and intellectual history, prosody, and artificial intelligence's impact on language. His work bridges data science, machine learning, and literary studies through digital methodologies. Doctoral training in Eighteenth-Century British Literature, Stanford University (2019) Founding member & Associate Research Director, Stanford Literary Lab Junior Research Fellow, King’s College Cambridge (2019-2022) Research interests span computational modeling of semantic revolutions, large-scale literary field analysis, and the intersection of digital methods with historical and intellectual studies. His book Explorations in the Digital History of Ideas (2023) co-edited with Peter de Bolla exemplifies this approach. Recent publications focus on historical semantics, metrical analysis, and digital mapping of emotions in literature, reflecting his interdisciplinary expertise in natural language processing, network theory, and literary data visualization. Currently leads teaching initiatives at Cambridge Digital Humanities and contributes to computational projects exploring textual rhythms and large language models.
Sigrid Schmalzer is a Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, specializing in the history of science and modern China. She holds a Ph.D. in History and Science Studies from the University of California, San Diego (2004). Her research bridges the social, cultural, and political dimensions of science in China, with a focus on the intersections of agriculture, activism, and revolutionary movements. Schmalzer is the author of *Red Revolution, Green Revolution: Scientific Farming in Socialist China* (2016), winner of the Joseph Levenson Book Prize, and *The People's Peking Man: Popular Science and Human Identity in Twentieth-Century China* (2008), recipient of the Allan Sharlin Award. Her current projects include a book on agricultural heritage in the People’s Republic of China and leadership roles in organizations like the Critical China Scholars and Science for the People. She co-edits the *Activist Studies of Science and Technology* series for UMass Press, emphasizing socially engaged scholarship. Schmalzer also serves as Co-President of the MSP faculty union at UMass Amherst. Research interests span the history of science activism, transnational movements, and the legacy of Maoist science. Notable awards include the Freeman Book Award (2018) for her children’s book *Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean*, which integrates science education with historical narratives. Her work often critiques capitalist and authoritarian structures while advocating for science as a tool for justice and sustainability. Recent publications explore themes like agroecology, science policy, and the global dimensions of China’s scientific history. She teaches courses on modern China, science in society, and radical science movements, blending interdisciplinary approaches to engage students in critical analysis of historical and contemporary issues.
Professor David A Palmer is a distinguished academic jointly appointed by the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong, where he has been teaching since 2008. His interdisciplinary work bridges anthropology, sociology, religious studies, and Sinology, establishing him as a leading scholar in Chinese religious studies and transnational religious movements. Palmer's educational background includes a PhD in Anthropology of Religion from Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne, Paris), an MPhil in Clinical Psychology/Medical Anthropology from University of Paris-VIII, and a BA in Anthropology and East Asian Studies from McGill University. His scholarly contributions span multiple disciplines with particular emphasis on Chinese religious traditions and their global manifestations. His research interests focus on the anthropology and sociology of spirituality and religion, especially Daoism and Chinese religion; religion in modern and contemporary China; inter-Asian and transnational religious circulations; Baháʼí Faith; civil society, volunteering, philanthropy, community engagement; and cultural and religious interactions on the Belt and Road. His work examines how religious traditions navigate modernity, state power, and globalization, with particular attention to the Belt and Road Initiative's cultural dimensions. Palmer's publications reveal a consistent focus on understanding Chinese religious traditions within broader theoretical frameworks of social theory, civil society, and transnational religious networks. His articles demonstrate how Chinese religious practices and institutions both adapt to and shape contemporary social and political contexts, with particular attention to the intersections of spirituality, modernity, and state-society relations. Joseph Levenson Award of the Association for Asian Studies PROSE award of the American Publishers' Association Francis L.K. Hsu Award of the Society for East Asian Anthropology Edward Bruner Prize for the best book in Anthropology of Tourism HK Research Grants Council RGC Research Fellowship (2021-2025) HK Research Grants Council Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship (2019) Palmer currently leads multiple significant research projects including 'Global China, Local Cultures: Chinese Modernity and Soft Power on the Belt and Road' (RGC Research Fellowship, 2021-2025), 'Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road' (CRF, 2019-2023), 'Rituals and Manuscripts of the Lanten Yao (Laos)' (GRF, 2021-2024), and 'Religious Cosmopolitanism in China, 1895-1927' (GRF, 2021-2024). He leads the 'Asian Religious Connections' research cluster at HKIHSS, co-convenes the 'Culture, Community and Social Equity' research cluster in the HKU Faculty of Social Sciences, and serves as co-convenor of the HKU Anthropology Research Network. As President of the East Asian Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, he plays a key role in advancing scholarly understanding of religion in the region.
Douglas W. Diamond is the Merton H. Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, where he has been on the faculty since 1979. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2022 for his groundbreaking research on banks and financial crises. Diamond is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. His research focuses on financial intermediaries, financial crises, and liquidity. Diamond's work has established the theoretical foundations for understanding why banks exist, how they create liquidity, and why they are vulnerable to runs. His seminal papers with Philip Dybvig on bank runs and deposit insurance form the basis of modern bank regulation. Diamond's extensive publication record shows a consistent focus on banking theory, financial intermediation, and financial stability. His research has evolved from foundational theoretical work to more recent analyses of liquidity, pledgeability, and the role of banks in the financial system. His work has become increasingly relevant following the 2008 financial crisis and the more recent banking turmoil. Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2022) Onassis Prize in Finance (2018) CME Group-Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Prize (2016) Morgan Stanley-American Finance Association Award (2012) Member of the National Academy of Sciences Fellow of the Econometric Society Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Diamond has served as president of both the American Finance Association and the Western Finance Association. He has advised policymakers during financial crises, including providing analysis of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in 2023. His research has directly influenced financial regulation and central bank policy regarding bank stability and liquidity requirements.
Sharese King is the Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Chicago, where she has taught since 2018. She earned her Ph.D. and Master's in Linguistics from Stanford University, focusing on language variation across African American communities. Her research bridges sociolinguistics, critical race theory, and phonetics to examine how African American speech is constructed, racialized, and socially evaluated. Education: Ph.D., Linguistics, Stanford University (2018) M.A., Linguistics, Stanford University Research Interests: Sociolinguistics Language Variation & Change African American Language Critical Race Theory Phonetic and experimental analysis Dialect and judicial systems Notable Contributions: Interdisciplinary studies on raciolinguistics and courtroom bias Analysis of /s/ articulation in intersectional contexts Reconceptualization of AAVE as AAL to emphasize linguistic diversity Fieldwork in Bakersfield, Rochester, and Chicago Publications in American Speech , Journal of Sociolinguistics , Language , and Nature Scientific Awards: Provost's Postdoctoral Fellowship Neubauer Family Assistant Professorship Labs & Projects: Co-founder of the Chicagoland Language Project
Professor Jo Barraket is a leading academic and researcher in social equity, social innovation, and public policy. As Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and member of the Dilun Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership, she focuses on improving social equity through organizational innovation, cross-sector collaboration, and policy design. Her research addresses social procurement, health equity, digital inclusion, and employment pathways for marginalized groups. Her work includes landmark projects such as the Australian Digital Inclusion Index and evaluations of Commonwealth Social Enterprise Development Funds. She has secured over $11M in research grants, including multiple ARC grants, and produced over 75 scholarly publications. Her current projects compare social procurement policies in Australia and Scotland, and study youth unemployment in construction via employment-focused procurement. Key research themes include: social enterprise scaling strategies, cross-sector partnerships for policy implementation, and the role of philanthropy in equitable housing. She advises governments and OECD on inclusive employment policies and chairs major research initiatives like the Social Enterprise Impact Lab. Prof Barraket’s transdisciplinary approach combines rigorous academic research with practical outputs like policy guides and digital tools to maximize societal impact. She previously founded the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne, now a global leader in social economy research.
Sunita Sarawagi is a Professor at Computer Science and Engineering , IIT Bombay, and a member of AI Labs@CSE . She is also associated with the Center for Machine Intelligence and Data Science (CMInDS), which she founded in 2020. Education: PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley (Thesis: Query Processing in Tertiary Memory Databases), BTech in Computer Science from IIT Kharagpur Research Interests span machine learning , data analytics , graphical models , and structured learning , with applications in text segmentation, sequence modeling, domain adaptation, and human-in-the-loop systems. Her publications reveal a strong focus on integrating data mining with database systems , temporal data analysis , and information extraction using probabilistic methods. Professional Activities include serving on the IEEE John Von Neumann Medal committee (2017-), VLDB 2011 Research Track Co-chair , and multiple program committee roles at top conferences like ICML, KDD, and SIGMOD. Labs & Teams : Leads the SS Lab , a research group focused on probabilistic graphical models, sequence modeling, and data integration techniques.
Nicholas Evans is Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL) at the Australian National University’s School of Culture, History & Language. His work bridges fieldwork-based language documentation with theoretical questions in typology, cultural evolution, and social cognition. Focus on endangered Australian and Papuan languages Director of ARC Laureate Project on 'The Wellsprings of Linguistic Diversity' Co-leader of SCOPIC (Social Cognition Parallax Corpus) study Collaborator in global linguistic diversity initiatives His research explores how micro-level community multilingualism shapes macro-level linguistic diversity, with fieldwork spanning seven years in remote Indigenous communities. Recent projects include PARABANK (paradigm syncretism analysis) and Southern New Guinea language studies, particularly Nen and Yam family languages. Scientific recognition includes the Ken Hale Award (Linguistic Society of America), Anneliese Maier Forschungspreis, and fellowships in the Australian Academy of Humanities, Australian Social Sciences Academy, and the British Academy.
Prof. Sergio Ginebri is an Associate Professor at the Department of Jurisprudence, University of Rome Tre. He holds a PhD in Economics from Sapienza University of Rome and has extensive experience in fiscal policy, pension systems, and public finance research. His work focuses on topics like pension sustainability, social inequality, and the political economy of public debt. Education: PhD in Economics, Sapienza University of Rome (1988–1992) MA in Economics, University of Warwick (1987–1988) Laurea in Statistics and Demography, Sapienza University of Rome (1977–1984) Research Interests: Prof. Ginebri specializes in public policy, fiscal sustainability, and the social impacts of pension reforms. His research explores how demographic trends, wealth distribution, and political dynamics shape economic policies. Recent work includes analyses of longevity risks, pension equity, and fiscal policy integration in the EU. Key Projects: Coordinated studies on pension system sustainability (2002–2018) Developed models for forecasting public pension expenditure Contributed to EU tax policy observatories Awards: Recipient of the national PhD award (1994) and recognition for academic excellence in tax policy research (2001). Teaching: Teaches courses in political economy, public finance, and macroeconomics at undergraduate and graduate levels.
Yarin Gal is an Associate Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Oxford's Department of Computer Science and a Tutorial Fellow at Christ Church College. He is also a Turing AI Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute and Director of Research at the UK Government’s AI Safety Institute. He leads the Oxford Applied and Theoretical Machine Learning (OATML) Research Group, focusing on Bayesian deep learning, AI safety, and uncertainty quantification. Education PhD in Uncertainty in Deep Learning (2016) Research Interests His research integrates Bayesian methods with deep learning to address challenges in AI safety , uncertainty quantification , and robustness . Key areas include: Bayesian neural networks and approximate inference Uncertainty estimation in deep learning AI safety and interpretability Applications in autonomous driving, medical imaging, and NLP Publications & Trends His recent work spans Bayesian optimization , adversarial robustness , and continual learning . Notable contributions include Targeted Dropout for model pruning, Uncertainty in Autonomous Driving , and theoretical studies on adversarial examples in Bayesian networks. Awards & Honors Turing AI Fellow Teaching & Supervision He has taught Advanced Machine Learning , Uncertainty in Deep Learning , and contributed to NASA's Frontier Development Lab. His current students include Kelsey Doerksen, Gunshi Gupta, and Shreshth Malik. Labs & Teams He leads the OATML Group , a multidisciplinary team advancing theoretical and applied machine learning, with a focus on safety and interpretability in AI systems.
Jonathan Rosa is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, and, by courtesy, Departments of Anthropology, Linguistics, and Comparative Literature at Stanford University. He serves as Director of Stanford's Program in Chicanx-Latinx Studies and has held leadership positions including President of the Association of Latina/o and Latinx Anthropologists of the American Anthropological Association. Dr. Rosa's educational background includes: Ph.D. in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology from the University of Chicago (2010) M.A. in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology from the University of Chicago (2006) B.A. in Linguistics and Educational Studies from Swarthmore College (2003) Dr. Rosa's research examines the co-naturalization of language and race as a key feature of modern governance, tracking colonially structured interrelations among racial marginalization, linguistic stigmatization, and institutional inequity. His scholarship centers on raciolinguistic ideologies, Latinx studies, and educational justice, with a community-based approach that develops tools for challenging systemic vulnerability. He investigates how race and language are jointly defined across historical, geopolitical, and institutional contexts, with particular focus on Latinx communities and educational settings. His recent publications demonstrate a consistent thematic focus on decolonizing linguistic and educational frameworks, challenging standard language ideologies, and examining the intersections of race, language, and power. The work spans multiple disciplines including sociolinguistics, anthropology, education, and critical race studies, increasingly emphasizing undoing raciolinguistics and addressing coloniality in language education and assessment practices. Dr. Rosa has received numerous prestigious awards for his scholarship: Distinguished Summer Scholar, Banks Center for Educational Justice, University of Washington College of Education (2024) Outstanding Book of the Year Award for "Looking like a Language, Sounding like a Race," American Association of Teaching and Curriculum (2022) First Book Award for "Looking like a Language, Sounding like a Race," American Association for Applied Linguistics (2021) Prose Award for Excellence in Language & Linguistics for "Looking like a Language, Sounding like a Race," Association of American Publishers (2020) Charles A. Ferguson Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Center for Applied Linguistics (2018) Dr. Rosa actively mentors doctoral students across multiple programs, serving as primary advisor for students researching race, ethnicity, language, and education. His research has been supported by major grants from the National Science Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and Ford Foundation. He collaborates extensively with community organizations, particularly in Chicago, to develop educational approaches grounded in decolonial praxis, focusing on how scholarship can serve as a platform for social transformation. Dr. Rosa co-directed Stanford's Center for Global Ethnography (2021-2023) and directed Stanford's Program in Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies (2020-2023). He serves on multiple editorial boards including Current Anthropology and Equity & Excellence in Education, and has held leadership positions in professional organizations including President of the Association of Latina/o and Latinx Anthropologists (2020-2022).
Adam Hollowell is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Program in Education at Duke University, where he also serves as Senior Research Associate at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity and Director of the Inequality Studies Minor. His teaching spans ethics, inequality studies, and history across Duke’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, Sanford School of Public Policy, and Department of History. Hollowell holds a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh (2009). His research focuses on inequality, higher education, public policy, and ethics, with notable work on pandemic impacts, telemedicine in education, and reproductive health access during crises. In Inequality Studies , Hollowell emphasizes understanding policies to drive social change, as highlighted in recent media coverage. His publications explore topics like student behavior shifts during the pandemic, telemedicine adoption in universities, and James Baldwin’s ethical challenges. He is a finalist for the Judith Deckers Prize (2024). Professionally, Hollowell leads projects such as Bass Connections on college contraception access and Story+ initiatives. His work bridges academia and public engagement, addressing systemic inequities through interdisciplinary approaches.
Janine O'Flynn is the Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University (ANU) since 2023. Previously, she held the position of Professor of Public Management at the University of Melbourne and served as a visiting professor at institutions like City University Hong Kong and Fudan University. Her research focuses on public management reform, governance relationships, and ethical policy-making. Notable contributions include work on public value creation, performance management systems, and positive public administration. She has authored over 75 publications, including Pathways to Positive Public Administration (2024) and co-edited the Research Handbook on Public Management and COVID-19 (2024). O'Flynn has received prestigious awards such as the National Academy of Public Administration Fellowship (2022) and the Best Book Award at the Academy of Management (2013). She actively advises governments globally and chairs research committees for organizations like the Centre for Public Impact. Education: PhD (Melbourne), Bachelor of Commerce (Hons., Melbourne). Key Roles: Editorial Board Member: Public Administration , Public Management Review , and others Board of Directors, Public Management Research Association Advisory Board, Victorian Public Sector Commission Research Focus: Public sector reform, governance ethics, policy complexity, and agile government frameworks.
