Haolin Zhang

Email: h.zhang.8@research.gla.ac.uk

Room 578, Level 5, St Andrews Building, G3 6NH

Research title: Consciousness Awakening: understanding Chinese female students' renegotiated self-identity in intimate relationships after receiving higher education in Scotland

Research Summary

Current Research
My PhD research lies at the intersection of Psychology and Sociology within the context of Higher Education. My thesis explores the identity (re)negotiation of Chinese female students before, during, and after their higher education journey in the UK.

Before joining the University of Glasgow for my PhD, I completed an MSc in TESOL at the University of Edinburgh. During my MSc studies, I specialized in applied linguistics, including critical discourse analysis (CDA), second language acquisition, and critical pedagogy.

In addition to my primary research focus, I am deeply interested in intersectional and transnational feminism, gender studies, and the sociology of education. I am an active member of the ELINET community (Education, Languages, and Internationalisation Network) under the social justice branch. I am also a member of GLACIER (Glasgow Comparative and International Education Research). Additionally, I collaborate with an international research group on Queer Migrants of Colour, working alongside colleagues from the University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh, and University of Strathclyde.

Research Interests

  • Sociology of Higher Education

  • Feminism

  • Anti-colonialism

  • Art-based Methodology

  • Identity Negotiation/Construction

  • Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

 

Supervisors

External supervisors

 

 

Conferences

  • Unexpected Thrivingness: radical feminist consciousness among Chinese wome

European Sociological Association RN15 Midterm conference. Sep 18, 2025

  • Gender as a new nationality: ‘I’m a woman, first. Then I am a Chinese’

European Sociological Association RN15 Midterm conference. Sep 19, 2025

  • Migration, Identity and Belonging: LGBT+ Migrants of Colour in Scottish Higher Education
Centre for Migration, Diaspora, Citizenship and Identity Conference, University of the West of Scotland · Sep 12, 2025
 
  • Can we cross the border or are we blocked by invisible boundaries?: Impact of new UK immigrant policies on international students in higher education sectors

University College London, IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society · Mar 25, 2024

Teaching

University of Glasgow
  • Teaching Assistant (School of Education, College of Social Sciences)
  •  Teaching Asistant (College of Arts and Humanities): Chinese/Mandarin
  •  Teaching Assistant (Psychology): Identities, Relationships and Behaviours