Luis Fernando Bernardi Junqueira

Luis Fernando Bernardi Junqueira is a D. Kim Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. He holds a PhD in History from University College London (2023), awarded with no revisions, and has held research positions at Tohoku University and the University of Strathclyde. His research focuses on intersections of science, medicine, and religion in 19th-20th century China, with special attention to psychology, mental health in East Asia, and alternative medicine in South America.

Education: B.A. in History (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil), M.A. in Chinese History (Fudan University, China), PhD in History (UCL, UK). Awards include the 2024 Royal Asiatic Society Bayly Prize, British Association Best Thesis Award, and Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (2025-2028). His upcoming monograph The Science of the Spirit challenges narratives of secularization by exploring how modern science reinvigorated spiritual practices among Chinese elites.

Research interests include decolonizing methodologies, transnational knowledge exchange, and the role of laypeople in producing scientific knowledge. Key publications include edited volume Therapy, Spirituality and East Asian Imaginaries (2025) and articles on psychical research in Republican China, talismanic practices, and media dissemination of scientific ideas.

• Grants: £160k Leverhulme Fellowship, $60k D. Kim Foundation
• Affiliations: Royal Historical Society Associate Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society Fellow

Future projects include a Leverhulme-funded study on transnational esotericism and a comparative analysis of alternative therapies in South America.