Starting China Disability Research Network

In recent years, there seems to be more and more postgraduate students and academics in the UK and elsewhere becoming interested in exploring disability-related issues in China. For people who are new to conducting disability research in this particular context, it can be extremely helpful to have a platform or a hub, through which they can quickly identify key contacts and potential collaborators, and access useful information such as seminars, workshops and funding opportunities. Also, as what I have written before in this blog, local organisations in China are keen to develop better connections with overseas researchers, to gain intellectual support for many exciting new initiatives and projects.

After completing the CECI project, I started to feel strongly that there needs to be a more formalised network that can bring together those who share the same passion and long-term goal to transform lives of disabled people in China. The network, not restricted to the focus of inclusive education, should be interdisciplinary and embracing a whole range of topics and work informed by different theoretical perspectives.

Following an online meeting with another three postgraduate researchers, we have decided to go ahead with developing this network, first by setting up a mailing list. Network members can easily use the mailing list to circulate information and join in discussions. Meanwhile, we are also looking to organise events and activities, that can add to the intellectual output of the network. For example, we are organising an online roundtable discussion, which will invite researchers to discuss the challenges of conducting fieldwork in China when researching disability issues. I plan to draw up a 'theory of change' on promoting disbaled people's participation and welfare in China and seek inputs from network members. We will seek opportunities for people to meet and give seminar presentations at different universities, to facilitate networking with the broader disability research community.

This is still the early stage and we have started to add subscribers to the list. Most of our members are based in the UK. If you are interested in joining us, please drop an email at yuchen.wang@ed.ac.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.