Dr Yanling Yang receives Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship
Dr Yanling Yang has been awarded a 3-year Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship to join the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London.
These highly prestigious awards are intended to provide development opportunities for researchers in the early stages of their academic career, who have a proven record of research impact and excellence.
The Leverhulme Trust was established by the Will of William Hesketh Lever, the founded of Lever Brothers. Since 1925 the Trust has provided grants and scholarships for research and education. Today, it is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK.
Yanling's project seeks to analyse the impetus of soft power collaboration in the context of the UK’s global post-Brexit role and the new era of UK-China relations. It specifically investigates films made under the UK-China Film Co-production Treaty 2014 to analyse these issues: what are the approaches to and critical thinking behind the practice of soft power from the UK and China? How do practitioners view their roles under the conditions of the Treaty? How do film co-productions jointly promote soft power for nations with distinctive political, economic and cultural systems such as the UK and China?
Yanling joined Loughborough University London as a Leverhulme Research Fellow in September 2018. Yanling is also involved in an AHRC-funded research network entitled “Soft Power, Cinema and the BRICS” and is part of the Soft Power and Public Diplomacy Research Group.
Yanling completed her PhD with the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds in 2017. Her thesis: ‘Film as an instrument of China’s soft power: practice, outcomes and dilemmas’ analysed the role of film as an instrument of soft power in China. The study combined a document analysis of China’s cultural policy since 1949, and included semi-structured interviews with key players in China’s film industry. Yangling also conducted a secondary data analysis to evaluate the potential of film as an instrument of China’s soft power. This research brought together Yanling’s main research interests, which include film industries, cultural policy, digital media, soft power and international communication.
Before embarking on a career in academia, Yanling worked as a journalist, editor and project manager in the media and creative industries, both in the United Kingdom and in China.
More information about Dr Yanling Yang and her research can be found by visiting her staff profile.