News

Four UIC students from the Contemporary English Language and Literature (CELL) programme, the English Language and Literature Studies (ELLS) Programme as well as the Finance (FIN) Programme presented their research at the inaugural Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference in Duke Kunshan University (DYU) from 19 to 21 April, with one student winning the award for top presentation.

Out of 230 papers that were submitted, about 40 young scholars from Duke Kunshan University, Duke University-North Carolina, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Fudan University, Nanjing University, New York University, Peking University, Renmin University of China, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, and UIC presented research to an audience of their peers.

CELL student Li Yifan wins the Best Paper Award

The four UIC presenters were Year 4 CELL student Li Yifan, Year 3 ELLS Lin Yanping, Year 3 ELLS Li Siqing, and Year 3 FIN student who will be joining ELLS in 2019-2020 Song Baomu. Their presentations included gendered voice and subjects, as well as media studies, which the audience found intriguing.

The UIC presenters

These students consider attending the DYU conference a worthwhile, rewarding experience. They shared their feelings and thoughts about the conference:

Li Yifan

“It was truly a great honor for me to be given the chance to attend Duke Kunshan University’s Conference and meet many promising young scholars of the same age. During two days’ time, we listened to three very inspiring keynote addresses, many excellent presentations from students, and returned to UIC with our horizons broadened. As for my receiving the Best Paper Award, I feel very grateful for my supervisor Dr Heather Duncan, who continued to support and advise me for the past seven months. This was truly an incredible and unforgettable experience.”

Li Yifan presents a paper entitled, “Alienation and Despair in The Big Sleep and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”

Lin Yanping

“I revised my paper many times before my presentation. After finishing the conference, I think it was worth all of the effort. From the keynote lecture by Kyoo Lee, I learned that reading is like entering into the psyche of the author, as readers should have their own reading room, a mental room. At the conference, I was surprisingly introduced to the collision and fusion of different topics and majors that I never thought to be connected. The conference really benefited me a lot. Last but not least, I want to thank Prof James Chen and Dr Sadie Chandler who provided help on revising my paper and encouraging me.”

 Lin Yanping presents a paper entitled, “Female Body and Power in Gulliver’s Travels”

Li Siqing

“The conference gave me a wonderful opportunity to become familiar with different topics in humanities and social science areas such as philosophy and gender. In addition, I am eternally grateful to all the people who made these three days possible by providing comments and suggestions on my paper and inspiring me to think deeper about my research. It was a truly memorable trip and motivated me to insist on enriching my academic research experience in my further studies. Finally, a special thanks to Dr Sadie Chandler for supervising my research and giving me valuable guidance in every stage of the writing of this work.”

 Li Siqing presents a paper entitled, “Alice Munro’s Feminism Behind the Double-sided Nature of Flora’s Character in Runaway”

Song Baomu

“It was an amazing experience to present my first film studies project at the conference. Meeting and listening to students and professors from other prestigious academic institutions was unforgettable. I learned a lot from the conference. I appreciate Dr Benjamin Olin and Dr Milen Jissov’s supervisions and their efforts to guide me through the labyrinths of Arendt and Foucault. Dr Sadie Chandler, Dr Mark Perry and Dr Heather Duncan contributed a lot to my project in their own ways and I’m grateful for their help.”

Song Baomu presents a paper titled, “An Image of Authoritarianism”: Omniscience in Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler”