Events
We are organising a series of events including workshops, seminars and conferences to gather thoughts, inspire research and disseminate outputs.
The workshop of ‘How to be a successful early career researcher’, London, UK. 08/12/2023
The China Planning Research Group (CPRG) held a themed workshop ‘How to be a successful early career researcher’ on UCL campus, London. UK. Dr. Yuerong Zhang, Dr. Weikai Wang, Pengpeng Li, Dr. Zheng Wang, and Dr. Mengqiu Cao shared their experiences on why and how they got their positions as a PhD candidate, a postdoctoral researcher, and a lecturer, and the life afterwards. The workshop attracted more than 30 audience and led to active discussions.
Dr. Yuerong Zhang is a Lecturer in Geospatial Machine Learning at the Energy Institute, School of Environment, Energy and Resources, Bartlett College, UCL. Prior to this she was a Leverhulme Early Career Researcher at the Bartlett School of Planning and a Transport Modelling and Policy Researcher at UCL’s MaaSLab. She completed her PhD at the Bartlett School of Planning and UCL’s Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA).
She shared her experiences of securing Leverhulme Early Career (postdoc) Fellowship.
Dr. Weikai Wang is a postdoctoral research fellow on the ERC-funded ‘ChinaUrban’ Project at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL. Prior to joining UCL, he worked as a Research Associate on a NERC-Newton funded research project in the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow (2020-2022). He completed his doctoral research in Urban Studies at University of Glasgow. Outside academia, he worked as a planning consultant in Beijing (2014-2016).
He shared his experiences on finding project-supported postdoc positions.
Pengpeng Li is a PhD candidate at the Bartlett School of Planning. His PhD topic is housing policy and talent agglomeration in China. Pengpeng shared his personal experiences in approaching potential supervisors, managing PhD life, and thoughts about the future after PhD.
Dr. Zheng Wang is a Lecturer in Sustainable Cities at the Department of Geography, King’s College London. He was previously a lecturer at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Sheffield (2017-2022) and Research Associate on the ESRC funded project ‘Governing the Future City’ (2016-2017). He got his PhD at the Bartlett School of Planning.
He shared his views about being a lecturer in the academia and compared the life in and outside research.
Dr. Mengqiu (Matthew) Cao is a Senior Lecturer in Transport, Logistics and Urban Planning at the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster. He has extensive experiences in both academia and industry, working with public authorities and international funding organisations. He has served as the UK Ambassador for the Association of European Transport. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and other academic organisations. He is a member of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) and other academic and professional bodies. He also received his PhD at the Bartlett School of Planning.
He shared his experiences in building careers in both research and industry.
ChinaUrban 