University Leadership

Professor Shearer West

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham

Professor Shearer West is the seventh Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Nottingham, taking up office on 2 October 2017.

Professor West is a Professor of Art History and has held a number of significant leadership roles in universities and higher education. She obtained her B.A. degree in Art History and English at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and her Ph.D. in Art History at St. Andrews.

Find out more about Professor Shearer West's career and the role of the Vice-Chancellor.

Xu Yafen

Chair of UNNC Board and Chair of Zhejiang Wanli University 

Xu Yafen became a party member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1981 and is a representative of the eleventh CPC Congress of Zhejiang Province and a member of Zhejiang CPPCC Committee. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Dundee and is a visiting professor of Tsinghua University, as well as a research fellow of the Human Science Institute of Management Science Academy of China. 

Wanli Education Group, which she founded, has a national reputation for academic excellence and Xu has made a considerable contributions to educational reform in China. She has published many papers on psychology, behavior science, management, education and other fields in national and provincial academic journals and other publications.

Ying Xiong 

Party Secretary of UNNC

Ying Xiong is a researcher and a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Political Consultative Conference. He is currently the Party Secretary and the Executive Director of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. He is also the Chairman and Party Secretary of Zhejiang Wanli Education Group. He has successively won the title of outstanding party member of Ningbo City and Zhejiang provincial labor model.

As an educator, he has been researching the internal rules and development trends of higher education for many years, and he has achieved many research results. He won the second prize of the National Education Achievement Award and the first prize of the Zhejiang Education Achievement Award. He has published a monograph and many academic papers in core journals.

Professor Nick Miles OBE

Provost and Pro-Vice-Chancellor

Nick Miles is undertaking his second term as Provost of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Between 2015 and 2019 he was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement responsible for the University of Nottingham’s global engagement strategy and for the University’s advancement portfolio in promoting philanthropy and alumni development.

Prior to this, Nick was the Provost of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) between 2010 and 2015 and led the University through a period of substantive growth from 2,000 to 6,500 students and 300 to 800 staff achieving a turnover in excess of £50 million. He received the Camilla Award from the City of Ningbo (2013) in recognition of developing international education, the Zhejiang Province West Lake Friendship award (2014) and an OBE for services to UK/China educational interests in Her Majesty The Queen’s 2013 Birthday Honours list.

Professor Miles is a mineral processing engineer with research experience in particle processing, waste minimisation and recycling, mineral processing and coal preparation. He has an extensive research portfolio (over 40 PhD supervisions) supported through UK Research Councils, European, UK government, Zhejiang Provincial Government, Ningbo Municipal Government and industry funding and a strong record of inter-disciplinary research with colleagues in the physical sciences, including Chemistry and Physics. He has been a member of assessment panels for EPSRC (chair and panel member), NERC, Defra, DTI, ECSC and EU; and has over 120 publications.

Professor Shen Weiqi

Vice-Provost for External Relations

Professor Shen Weiqi serves as an expert on Sino-foreign education evaluation at the Chinese Ministry of Education, is a member of the sixth board of the National Review Committee on Setting up Higher Education Institutions, and a member of the Commission on Chinese-foreign Cooperation in Education (CEAIE). 

He has published more than 50 papers in national and international academic journals - his primary research areas are plant nutrition and flowering physiology.

Professor Shen has been honoured for the quality of both his teaching and research by municipal and provincial authorities. 

Dr K. Cohen Tan 

Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning

Dr K. Cohen Tan is Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning at University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) and Associate Dean in Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. With a background in literature and philosophy, Dr Tan completed his PhD in Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham (UK), theorising a comparative approach to French Deconstruction and Indian Buddhist philosophy. His other research interests include the impact of technology on digital nomadism, media and cultural studies. Dr Tan is Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) and Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts (FRSA). An educator with multiple awards for teaching excellence, he is recipient of the Chancellor’s Award (2012) and the Lord Dearing Awards (2018, 2021). Dr Tan was interviewed by the BBC and Agence French Presse (AFP), and recently led UNNC to win the prestigious 2021 China Social Impact Awards organised by the British Chambers of Commerce and United Nations.

Professor Patrick Y.K. Chau

Vice Provost for Research and Knowledge Exchange

Professor Patrick Y.K. Chau joined the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) as Vice Provost in Research and Li Dak Sum Chair in Information Systems and Operations Management in March 2019. He was appointed as Vice Provost for Research and Knowledge Exchange in June 2020.

Prior to joining UNNC, he has served at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) for almost twenty years during which he has held various management positions including Director of the School of Business and Associate Dean at the Faculty of Business and Economics.  In the academic community, he was the Founding President of both the College for Academic Leadership, Association for Information Systems (AIS) in 2015-2017 and the Hong Kong Chapter of AIS in 2006.  He was also President of the Chinese Association for Information Systems (ChAIS) in 2005-2007.  He served on the Council of AIS twice, once as a Council Member representing the Asia-Pacific Region (2000-2003) and the other time as Vice-President for Meetings and Conferences in 2006-2008.

Professor Chau’s academic achievements and contributions have been recognized by a number of appointments and award, including Chang Jiang Scholar Chair Professorship by the Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China in March 2010, Padma and Hari Harilela Professorship in Strategic Information Management at The University of Hong Kong in February 2014, Qiushi Chair Professorship at Zhejiang University, China in September 2014, and Li Dak Sum Chair Professorship at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China in September 2017. He also received the AIS Fellow Award in December 2013, an award by the Association for Information Systems (AIS) to no more than six scholars in the discipline of Information Systems each year globally. He was also invited and is now serving on the International Advisory Board of the Consumer and Organisational Data Analytics (CODA) Research Centre of King’s College London (KCL) in the U.K., the FinTech and Digital Governance Research Centre of the Chung Cheng University in Taiwan, and the Faculty of Management and Economics of the Dalian University of Technology, China.

Dr Hongbo (Jenny) Dong

Deputy Party Secretary 

Hongbo (Jenny) Dong was previously Dean of Innovation Entrepreneur College, Zhejiang Wanli Unveristy (ZWU), Party Secretary of Ningbo Mechanical Industry School, and the branch secretary of the Party in ZWU.  

She obtained an Ed.D (doctorate in education) degree in Durham University, UK, in 2014. The focus of her doctoral project was to explore the Chinese staff’s intercultural experiences with their culturally different colleagues at UNNC. After completing the Ed.D, she opened two courses (Intercultural Communication and Intercultural Ability Training) for the international students in ZWU and Chinese students in Innovation College respectively.

She is familiar with the educational systems and practices in higher institutions in both China and UK, and specialized in Party and Student affairs. Meanwhile, she has received several honorary titles in municipal and provincial levels, and has published many articles in the Chinese media on topics of education and student management.

Professor Ping Cui

Associate Provost

Professor Ping Cui is a Principal Research Fellow, Doctoral supervisor, received her Bachelor’s Degree from Anhui University in 1982, and PhD degree from the Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1990. Her PhD supervisor was the world-renowned physicist Professor T. S. Kě.

In the early 2004, assigned by Chinese Academy of Sciences, she established the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering and took the position as the founding Director. She was the Founding Director of the Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology (CNITECH), the Chinese Academy Sciences.

Over the years, she has mainly engaged in internal friction and solid defects, nanomaterials, organic/inorganic nanocomposites and engineering studies.

She has been the Principal Investigator for many projects funded by National 863 Program, the Research Priorities Scheme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, local government and industry, etc.

She has published more than 100 articles in JACS, PRB and other internationally renowned journals, edited five academic works, and been granted with more than 50 patents.

Due to her indelible achievements in scientific research and innovation, she has received numerous academic awards, including the first prize of the CAS Awards for Scientific and Technological Progress, the CAS President Excellence Award, CAS Natural Sciences Awards, etc.

Professor Martin Liu

Interim Dean of Nottingham University Business School China (NUBS China)

Professor Martin Liu joined the University of Nottingham Ningbo China and NUBS China in 2009 and is a Professor in Marketing and Innovation. Before this appointment, he was the Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange at NUBS China, the Director of Executive Education, the Head of the Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Management System Department and the Director of Undergraduate Programmes. He has extensive experience in teaching, research and administration.

Professor Tao Wu

Vice Provost for China Beacons Institute, Dean of Faculty of Science and Engineering

Professor Tao Wu is currently the Vice Provost for China Beacons Institute and the Dean of Faculty of Science and Engineering (FoSE). Prior to taking up current position, he was the Head of Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Associate Dean for Research and Director of Health, Safety and Estate Matters of the FoSE. Professor Wu received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nottingham UK. He joined the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) in 2007 as a lecturer. He was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2010, an Associate Professor and Reader in 2013, and then a full Professor in 2015.

Professor Tao Wu has over 20 years of R&D experience on the efficient conversion and utilization of fossil fuels/biomass and the development of novel materials for environmental applications. His research programmes cover a wide range from blue-sky research to proof of concept and patent development leading to commercialisation. To date, Professor Wu has completed over 40 research projects funded by various funding bodies and has developed technologies that benefit the society through commercialisation.

As an active researcher, Professor Wu also serves as a committee member on a number of national and regional professional bodies. He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, is currently leading the Municipal Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Conversion Technologies at UNNC and holds the Director position of University’s New Materials Institute (NMI).

Professor Gary Rawnsley

Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS)

Professor Gary Rawnsley is Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University Nottingham Ningbo China. After graduating from University of Leeds with a PhD in International Relations/International Communications, Gary taught for 12 years in the School of Politics at the University of Nottingham before coming to the University of Nottingham Ningbo China as the founding Dean and Head of International Studies in 2005. He joined the University of Leeds in 2007 and then Aberystwyth University in 2013 as Professor of Public Diplomacy in the Department of International Politics where he taught modules on communications and politics in Asia, and on journalism in war and conflict. He was also the University’s Director of International Strategy and as a result travelled regularly back to China.

Gary’s research is located at the intersection of international relations and international communications, and has written extensively on ‘soft power’ public and cultural diplomacy, propaganda, and international broadcasting, as well as the media and democracy, and political cinema.

Gary has held visiting positions in Asia and Australia, and he serves as the book reviews editor of the Journal of International Communication and the International Journal of Taiwan Studies. He’s also a member of the Advisory Boards for Media and Communication, Journal of Media and Information Warfare, and the Asian Journal of Communication, and a member of the editorial board for the Routledge Curzon series, Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia.

Professor Alain Chong

Dean of Graduate School and Global Engagement

Professor Alain Chong is the Dean of Graduate School and Professor of Information Systems at Nottingham University Business School China (NUBS).  Prior to joining NUBS, Alain has worked in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Hong Kong as a software engineer, postdoctoral fellow and Associate Professor in Computer Science.  Alain’s research interests are in the areas of e-business, technology acceptance and healthcare information systems.  Alain was a recipient of the 2012 Ten Outstanding Young Malaysian Award conferred by Junior Chamber International.  He was also named as one of the Most Cited Chinese Researchers in 2015, 2016 and 2017 by Elsevier Scopus database and is a recipient of the Ningbo 3315 Individual Talent Scheme. To date, he has received more than RMB 2 million funding for various research projects (E.g. HK General Research Fund, Royal Society, National Natural Fund of China, Malaysia Fundamental Research Grant Scheme etc.).

He is currently the co-editor of Industrial Management & Data Systems, Senior Editor of Decision Support Systems and Associate Editor of Information & Management.  He serves or has served as an editorial board member (or equivalent) of International Journal of Mobile Communications, Online Information Review and Journal of Computer Information Systems.  He has held visiting research positions at Nanyang Technological University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Greenwich University.