SHURAN ZHAO 赵姝然
PhD Candidate/Digital Humanities Researcher/Cultural Strategist/Ethnographic Storyteller 





PROFILE (SAMPLE)
shuran.zhao@kcl.ac.uk

Shuran is a digital humanities researcher and cultural strategist exploring how digital technologies shape visibility, memory, and cross-cultural storytelling and communication. As a Manchu (ethic minority in China) scholar working between the UK and China, I specialise in digital communication, transnational cultural exchange, and field-based visual research.

My research explores Digital China, Algorithmic Politics, and Digital Methods

My work also supports underrepresented voices—particularly ethnic minority women—through collaborative projects. I’ve helped bring the work of minority artists from Southwest China to global audiences through exhibitions and branding strategies.

CONTACT
CV (SAMPLE)




Education
King’s College London 
Chinese Studies Research PhD
2022-present

King’s College London
MA Digital Culture and Society
2019-2021

University of Nottingham
BA (Hons.)International Communications Studies 
2015-2019



Professional ExperienceTsinghua University, Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies (清华大学社会科学学院当代中国研究中心)
Research Assistant
2021

University of Nottingham (Ningbo Campus)
Research Assistant
2019

Uber China (Ningbo/Shanghai)
Digital Media Operation Intern
2017

Nottingham City Council
Volunteer Recruitment Project Leader (Internship)
2017

Beijing TV
Social News Director Assistant
2016
Teaching Experience
King’s College London, Department of Digital Humanities
4AAVC100 Introduction to Digital Media and Culture
2024-present



Publications
               
  1. Zhao, S., 2021, Facial Recognition in Educational Context: The Complicated Relationship Between Facial Recognition Technology and Schools, in W Striełkowski (eds.), Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Public Relations and Social Sciences (ICPRSS 2021), Atlantis Press, China, pp.10–17.
  2. Zhao, S., 2021. In Light of Contemporary Social Media, Can We Still Speak of a Digital Public Today? In: Academic Exchange Information Center (AEIC), 3rd International Conference on Literature, Art and Human Development. China, 29-31 October 2021. Atlantis Press.



Presentaions

• "Chinese diaspora and China’s foreign policy in the digital age", Invited Lecture, delivered as part of the Chinese International Relations module at King’s College London, December 2024.

• "What Bot-like Accounts Did in the Case of China’s Handling of Covid-19 on Twitter(X): A Quali- Quanti Analysis of Bot Functions and Effects", Doctoral Colloquium Presentation, AOIR2024 (Association of Internet Researchers), University of Sheffield, October 2024.





Last Updated 24.10.31
Selected Project






1. Calligraphy Work
《漂泊》
Exile 2025

你的路穿过大海，你的脚步划过汹涌的水面，只是没有留下痕迹。

Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty water, through yout footprints were not seen.

Psalm 77:19


我常常梦见自己行走在一条看不见尽头的路上，耳边是潮水的回音，脚下是浮动不定的土地。无人告别，也无人迎接。漂泊不是逃离，而是一种不得不继续前行的状态——像海风推着一只船，连它自己都不知道要驶向哪里。

我开始学会不问终点，也不再执着于归途。因为我知道，有些人的一生注定写在路上。每一个城市都是驿站，每一个目光都是短暂停留。只有夜晚才是忠实的同伴，它悄悄把我藏在黑暗里，不问来处，不问去处。

漂泊让人沉默。可在沉默中，我学会了聆听水的低语、风的叹息，学会了从无人之境中看见自己的影子。即使脚印被浪冲刷殆尽，那段走过的路，依然真实地存在于记忆的褶皱里。


I often dream of walking a road with no end in sight—echoes of waves in my ears, unsteady ground beneath my feet. No one bids farewell, and no one awaits my arrival.
Drifting is not escape; it is the state of having no choice but to keep moving—like a boat urged forward by the wind, unaware of its destination.

I've learned not to ask where this road leads, nor to cling to the idea of return. Some lives are written on the road itself. Every city is a passing station, every glance a fleeting pause. Only the night remains faithful, quietly wrapping me in darkness, asking neither where I come from nor where I’m going.

Drifting teaches silence. And in that silence, I’ve learned to hear the whisper of water, the sigh of wind, to see my reflection in the vastness of nowhere.
Even if my footprints are washed away by the tide, the path I walked still lives—folded gently in the creases of memory.


2. Field & Frame Project
 Observer
Digital Art, March 2025

As a sociologist, I often retreat into the familiar act of observation — interpreting the world through others. I sit behind windows, not only those of university offices or temporary hotel rooms, but the invisible ones I’ve built over time. Windows shaped by habit and comfort. 

Edward Said (1978) once wrote, “There is no such thing as a delivered presence, but a re-presence, or a representation.” This makes me question: am I seeing people, or only re-producing them through my own frame? James Clifford (1986) reminds us that ethnography is “a fiction that tells the truth” — but what truths can we claim, if we never leave 'the window'?









3.  Investigative journalism projects 
 Why China’s “Plastic Restriction Order” Exists in Name Only
Television Commentary, 2016
with Guo Peiyuan, Liu Qi, Yang Yuzhuo, Wu Yi


This investigative project examines why China’s “Plastic Restriction Order,” introduced with high expectations, failed to achieve its environmental goals nine years after implementation. Field research in supermarkets, wet markets, and residential communities revealed that plastic bags are still widely used. While wet markets continue to offer them for free, supermarkets profit substantially from their sale—turning an environmental measure into a revenue stream.

The investigation highlights several challenges: weak policy enforcement, unregulated production, lack of oversight, and the high cost and inconvenience of eco-friendly alternatives. These factors have undermined the policy’s intended impact on consumer behavior.

Drawing on interviews and real-world observations, the project proposes stronger regulatory control, better public awareness campaigns, and more effective use of pricing to promote sustainable practices. It concludes by calling for improved implementation strategies in public policy to ensure future initiatives move beyond symbolic gestures and generate real environmental impact.

Awards:

  • First Prize for Quarterly Commentary Program, 2016, Beijing Television News Center

  • First Prize for Semi-Annual Commentary Program, 2016, Beijing Television News Center






4. Fieldwork-based Artistic Project
Anjing Observation Program
K11 Art Mall, 2015
AnJing,Shen Qianshi,Shuran Zhao,Ye Zhicong,Biljana Ciric,Yan Ji

Launched in the summer of 2015 by artist An Jing in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Anjing Observation Program (AJOP) is an ongoing, independent fieldwork-based art initiative that explores the shifting contours of contemporary art ecology in Central China. Drawing on ethnographic sensibilities and studio visits, AJOP maps the development of a post-1990s generation of artists through the lens of place, identity, and socio-cultural transformation.

AJOP is more than an archive—it is a slow, situated inquiry into the entanglement of artistic labor, personal history, and the layered geography of inland China. Through studio interviews, image and video documentation, and timeline mapping, AJOP captures how young artists reflect, resist, and reimagine identity under changing cultural policies and infrastructural transformations.






© ShuranZhao 2027