Hua Ma

Hua Ma is an Associate Tutor and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia (UEA), affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Institute for the Humanities. She completed her PhD, focusing on young Chinese women’s beauty practices, agency, and feminist theory.

Her research centers on gender, feminism, and beauty culture in contemporary China. She explores how young women negotiate identity through beauty practices, examining themes of choice, pleasure, postfeminism, and inner/outer beauty. Her work is interdisciplinary, drawing from feminist theory, cultural studies, and sociology.

The recent publications highlight a consistent focus on Chinese women’s experiences with beauty and eating disorders, using qualitative methods and feminist frameworks. Her work bridges cultural analysis with psychological and social dimensions of gendered self-presentation.

• HUM Graduate School Prize 2023 - Graduate Teacher Prize
• Special Merit in Research Award (2022)
• Special Merit in Research Award (2022)

Hua Ma collaborates with Professor Su Holmes on research about eating disorders among young Chinese women. She has been actively involved in organizing and presenting at academic events, including seminars and conferences, and has contributed to teaching in the MA Gender Studies program. She has not supervised any named students but plays a significant role in academic outreach and public engagement.

She is involved in the Feminist Media Studies Group and the MA Gender Studies seminar series at UEA, and has hosted and presented at interdisciplinary events such as 'Under Challenge: Gender Studies and its Critics'.