At BNBU’s recent graduation ceremony, President Chen Zhi shared the story of alumnus Zhang Qifan. As a student of the class of 2023 of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zhang has already completed his master’s at Yale and will begin his doctoral studies at the University of Oxford. His research journey has taken him repeatedly to sub-Saharan Africa, where he conducts fieldwork on agricultural technology projects and their impact on local communities.
Zhang Qifan
Class of 2023, Department of Social Sciences
MA in East Asian Studies, Yale University
DPhil in International Development with a full scholarship, University of Oxford
Zhang’s connection to Africa began long before university. Growing up near Xiaobei Road in Guangzhou, he was surrounded by African neighbours and classmates from countries such as Angola, Nigeria and Ghana. His first English teacher, from Kenya, sparked his interest in cross-cultural encounters and planted the seed for future research.
At BNBU, this early fascination took shape academically. A class assignment helped him formalise his initial ideas, eventually becoming his undergraduate thesis on the interactions between Chinese enterprises and agricultural communities in Mozambique. Guided by BNBU’s teachers, he learned to transform broad questions into layered, researchable problems.
Zhang in Mozambique
Zhang summarises his approach with a simple creed: “Read widely, travel far, and commit to one thing.” His past reflects this ethos, ranging from studying Douyin livestreaming to forming a start-up team with BNBU classmates to make academic books more accessible. These explorations ultimately taught him that solid foundational research is the prerequisite for meaningful innovation.
Zhang graduates from Yale, May 2025
Now preparing to begin his doctorate at Oxford, Zhang intends to deepen his long-term research focus on international agricultural technology cooperation, particularly in southern African countries. His goal is to bridge academic insight with real-world impact, asking, in essence, how science and society can continue learning from each other.
From MPRO
Reporter: Cecilia Yu
Photos provided by the interviewee
