People

• Prof. Nathan Hill Director of the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies, Professor of Chinese Studies. 
  Professor Hill, based in the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, researches Tibeto-Burman/Sino-Tibetan historical linguistics. He publishes in descriptive linguistics, corpus linguistics, comparative linguistics, and the history of Chinese.
• Prof. Tim Bodt Deputy Director, Associate Professor in Asian Studies at the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences and Principal Investigator of the ERC project Lo-Rig. While Dr. Bodt‘s research career centres on the documentation, description, and revitalisation of endangered languages of the Himalayan region, he also has a keen interest in their historical development.
• Lijing Peng Teaching fellow. Dr Peng‘s research interests lie in linguistic anthropology and semiotic anthropology. Her published work includes studies in literature, mythology, semiotic landscapes, language ideologies and epic performances. She has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in minority ethnic autonomous prefectures within the West Hunan, Sichuan and Gansu provinces in the PRC.
• Fan Jiang Fan Jiang began his career at Goldman Sachs in 1992, later serving as Chief Investment Officer for Asia Pacific at both Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, managing a US$9 billion portfolio. After leading market development for Citibank, he retired in 2023 and now resides in Ireland. Fan is an avid runner and climber, having completed marathons and summited Mt. Everest.
• Prof. Isabella Jackson Assistant Professor in Chinese History, Associate Director of the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies. 
  Dr. Jackson, based in the Department of History, researches modern Chinese history, especially the history of Chinese childhood and China’s experience of foreign colonialism.
• Dr INOUE Keiko Research Fellow/Japanese Studies Coordinator
  Dr Inoue coordinates and delivers the Trinity Electives in Japanese language and culture as well as the Japanese extramural programme. She is the former Chairperson of the Japanese Language Teachers of Ireland.
• Prof. DO Eunjee Adjunct Assistant Professor in Korean Studies
  Ms Do coordinates and delivers the Korean Studies programme at the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies, including the Korean language modules and the Korean extramural programme.
• Dr Hongfei Wang Teaching Fellow/Mandarin Language Instructor. Dr Wang is a Mandarin Language Instructor at the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies and programme coordinator for Trinity Language and Culture Elective modules. Her Ph.D. focused on the implementation of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in post-primary education in Ireland. Her research interests include TCFOL, Teaching Methodology, Language Pedagogy, Language Evaluation and Assessment, CALL and ICALL.
• Joanna Bialek Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Dr Bialek’s research interests include Old Literary Tibetan and non-Buddhist religious cultures of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. In her current project entitled ‘Tibetan Obsolete Mortuary practices and afterlife Beliefs’ (TOMB), she is investigating the archaic linguistic traits of the Old Tibetan funerary literature, intending to contribute to the reconstruction of Proto-Bodish, the presumed ancestral language of Tibetan, East-Bodish, and Tamangic languages.

Visiting Academics & Affiliated Researchers

• Prof. Jiwon Baik Assistant Professor in Political Science. Prof. Baik researches the politics of development, political and economic institutions, and state-business relations, with a regional focus on China and East Asia. Her current book project examines how China is reinventing key market institutions amidst structural contradictions in its land-based developmental model.
• Prof. Rowland Imperial Assistant Professor in Applied Linguistics (TESOL). Prof. Imperial is based in the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. His current research focuses on issues of material, epistemic, and affective injustices in East and Southeast Asia’s commercial English language teaching (ELT) industry.
• Dr Motoko Akashi Dr Motoko Akashi is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Research Fellow. She holds a PhD in Literary Translation Studies from University of East Anglia. Her research interests centre on commercial aspects of literary translation and translator status. Her research topics have included Haruki Murakami, celebrity translators, publishing tradition and the modern history of Japanese translation. Her current project IMPACTRANS investigates the relationship between the translators in Meiji Japan (1868-1912), their social status, and their approaches to producing indirect translations (translations of translations).
• Dr Shigeki Nakagome Shigeki Nakagome did his Ph.D. in Human Genetics at the University of Tokyo in 2010. He joined Trinity in 2016, after stints at The Institute of Statistical Mathematics (2011-13) and University of Chicago (2013-16). He is an expert in paleogenomics, population genetics, statistical modelling, and functional genomics. He has also discovered a novel model of the origins of modern Japanese populations.
• Prof. Seema K. Chauhan Seema K. Chauhan is the Assistant Professor of Asian Religions in the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies. She holds an MPhil in Classical Indian Religions from Oxford (2015) and a PhD in South Asian Religions from the University of Chicago (2021). Prof. Chauhan conducts teaching and research on the history of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism in South Asia. Her expertise lies in premodern Hinduism and Jainism through Sanskrit and Prakrit sources.
• Prof. James Hadley is Ussher Assistant Professor in Literary Translation who is affiliated with TCAS. Based in the Trinity Centre for Literary Translation, his work includes research on historical cases of translation in under-researched cultural contexts, particularly in East Asia, including Japanese Rakugo, translation from Chinese during Japan’s period of isolationism, and the patronage of translators in Japan.
• Prof. Louis Brennan is a Professor within the Trinity Business School and a Fellow of Trinity College. His research focuses on the Business environment in East Asia with a particular emphasis on outward foreign direct investment from China. Dr Brennan is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations.
• Prof. Jude Lal Fernando is Assistant Professor in Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies at the Irish School of Ecumenics in TCD. He is the Director of the Trinity Centre for Post-Conflict Justice and brings praxis-based experience to the academic context in the fields of interreligious studies and international peace studies. His research has a specific focus on the role of interreligious dialogue in peace-building, and ethno-nationalisms and geopolitics, focusing on Sri Lanka in particular, and Asia more generally.
• Dr Dong Jin Kim is a Research Fellow at TCD’s Irish School of Ecumenics. Dong-Jin obtained his PhD from the University of North Korean Studies in Korea. His research interests are in the area of peacebuilding, reconciliation, humanitarian and development cooperation in the Korean peninsula and East Asia, and comparative studies of peace processes, including Korea and Ireland.

Doctoral Research Students at TCAS

Josiah Medin A Descriptive Grammar of the Old Meitei Language as Attested in the Numit Kappa and the Cheitharol KumpapaSupervisor: Prof Nathan Hill (funded by a Trinity Research Doctorate Award) .

Afsana Ferdous The documentation of Rengmitca: A critically endangered language in Bangladesh Supervisor: Prof Nathan Hill. Jinqi Ying Reconstructing the initials of Old Chinese through the Philology of Excavated Documents Supervisor: Prof Nathan Hill. Muhammad Ilyas Morpho-Phonological Analysis of Verbal System in Balti Language Supervisor: Prof Nathan Hill. Li Shihua Finding Tujia’s Place in Tibeto-Burman.Supervisor: Prof. Nathan Hill. Li Ruiyao Synchronic and diachronic analysis of a Southern Situ variety (Gyalrongic). Supervisor: Dr Yunfan Lai. Ha Minyeong Comparing Asian and Western Chinese learner perspectives: The New HSK level 3 Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language. Supervisor: Prof Lorna Carson. Zhu Honghui Multilingualism in Sino-foreign educational programs in China. Funded by TCD-China Scholarship Council Award. Supervisor: Prof Lorna Carson. Chan Pak Hei Multilingualism in Hong Kong. Supervisor: Dr Lorna Carson. Provost’s Ph.D. Project Award. Ms Yuxuan Lang Floating Sight: Visual Rhetoric in Chinese Urban Photography, 1843-1937. Funded by a China Scholarship Council (CSC) -Trinity College Dublin Joint Scholarship recipient. Supervisor: Dr Isabella Jackson. Mr Dexter Ho Nam TSE Maritime Piracy and British Shipping in Hong Kong, 1900-1945. Supervisor: Dr Isabella Jackson.

 

Meet our Ph.D. Graduates

Du Siyi Changing Representations of the Republic of China, 1912-1915 and 1940-1945: An Analysis of Chinese Public History Practice. Funded by a Provost’s PhD Project Award. Supervisor: Dr Isabella Jackson. Clare Morrison Identity and Irishmen in the Chinese Customs Service. Recipient of a North/South Postgraduate Scholarship. Supervisor: Dr Isabella Jackson. Yau Ka Lo Negotiating Modern Childhood: A Social History of Children in Republican China (1912-1949). Funded by Irish Research Council Laureate Award CHINACHILD. Supervisor: Dr Isabella Jackson. Wang Hongfei Teaching Fellow, School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, TCD. PhD Thesis title: The Design and Evaluation of Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning Tools for Beginner Learners of Mandarin Chinese". Supervisor: Dr Neasa Ní Chiaráin. Zhang Meishan Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Postdoctoral Fellow. Maynooth University. TCD. PhD Thesis title: Media and Medical Equipment in the Republican Shanghai, 1912-1949.Supervisor: Dr Isabella Jackson. Kwok, Chung Kam School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, TCD. PhD Thesis title: Self and Identity in Additional Language Learning Motivation: A Case Study of Learners of Chinese. Zhang Chang Education Officer, Post-Primary Languages Ireland. PhD Thesis title: Demotivation in Learning Chinese. Jiang Ning Assistant Professor in Chinese Studies, TCD. Ph.D Thesis title: Chinese Character Learning Strategies in Foreign Language Education. Jiang Renfeng Assistant Professor, Shandong University. Ph.D. Thesis title: The Language Learning Motivation of Chinese Postgraduate Students in Ireland from the Perspectives of Confucian Learning Philosophy. Shao Lijie Chinese Language Instructor, Dublin City University. Ph.D. Thesis title: Three Case Studies in English Medium Instruction in Higher Education Business Programmes in in Expanding Circle Countries: Japan China, and the Netherlands.