Research Fellow

Persons with academic, literary, or artistic qualifications may apply for the non-stipendiary status of Research Fellow for the purposes of a specific research project within the area of Asian studies. Academic qualifications include a completed PhD from a reputable institution and an ongoing research agenda. Equivalent qualifications in literature, art, or music will be considered. Research Fellows require a SFU faculty mentor in the relevant area. To find an SFU faculty member please consult the Directory of Asia-Related Research at SFU.

Research Associates are provided with University affiliation and shared office space. They are required to contribute to the University research community by attending lectures, workshops, and colloquia, publishing, and reporting on their research projects. Positions are for a maximum of one year, renewable on application. Applicants should submit a letter of application, a current CV, a research proposal, and a letter of support from a potential SFU faculty mentor to dlcadmin@sfu.ca by February 1 or October 1.

Current Research Fellows

Scott Harrison

Scott Harrison (Ph.D., History) is Senior Program Manager, Engaging Asia at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a not-for-profit organization focused on Canada-Asia relations. His research examines global indigeneity and indigenism, focusing on the Asia Pacific; Canada-Asia business, policy and strategies; paradiplomacy; building Asia-related competencies for Canadians; Japan history, diplomacy and politics; and Asia Cold War history. He is (slowly) working on a book project on Indigenous peoples and the Cold War and two co-authored journal articles related to Ainu delegations to China during the 1970s and 1980s. Publications include “Canadian Provinces and Foreign Policy in Asia,” International Journal (with C.L. Labrecque) (2018); “The Cold War, the San Francisco System and Indigenous Peoples,” in The San Francisco System and Its Legacies, (2015); and “The Indigenous Ainu of Japan at the Time of the Åland Settlement,” in Northern Territories, Asia-Pacific Regional Conflicts and the Aland Experience (2009). He has also written over a dozen policy pieces for APF Canada, many of which look at Indigenous engagement and business between Canada and the Asia Pacific. He is also a contributor to AinuToday.com, the first English knowledge-sharing platform for an international audience to learn about contemporary Ainu voices, issues, arts, and rights.

Primary SFU faculty contact: Michael Hathaway, Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology

Past research fellows

Zheng Shengtian (鄭勝天)

Zheng is an artist, scholar, and curator based in Vancouver. Before 1990, he worked at the China Academy of Art as Professor and Chair of the Oil Painting Department. He was a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota and San Diego State University, Secretary of the Annie Wong Art Foundation, and Founding Board Director of Vancouver International Centre for contemporary Asian Art. Currently, he is the Managing Editor of Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Adjunct Director of the Institute of Asian Art at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and a trustee of Asia Art Archive in America. Zheng has organized and curated numerous exhibitions and events, and has frequently contributed to periodicals and catalogues. In 2013, Zheng Shengtian: Selected Writing on Art  was published in four volumes by China Academy Press. In 2011, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for curatorial work by the Vancouver Biennale. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2013.

Primary SFU faculty contact: Shuyu Kong, Professor, Department of Humanities

Jerry C. Zee (徐莊驊)

Jerry Zee is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research focuses on environmental politics in China especially in relation to dust storms, particulate aerosols, and land degradation. At SFU David Lam Centre, he is working on a manuscript based on ethnographic research in China, South Korea, and the United States, titled Continent in Dust: China in Aerosol Phases.

Primary SFU faculty contact: Michael Hathaway, Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology

Past research associate

David W. Choi

National Chair NCCC

David Choi is active in the local community, and is a founding Council member of the Simon Fraser University Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, and a member of SFU’s President’s Club. He is a senior associate of the University of British Columbia Liu Institute for Global Issues, an International Advisor to the UBC Institute of Asian Research, a member of UBC’s President’s Circle, and an advisor to the UBC Dean of Commerce and the Dean of Education.

David serves on the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, is an Honorary Advisor to Vancouver’s Chinese Cultural Centre (CCC), and chairs the CK Choi Foundation. He has chaired the Vancouver Economic Development Commission and was vice-chair of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. He is the recipient of many awards including the Business in Vancouver “40 under 40,” for outstanding business achievers, the Georgie Award for Marketing, the CCC’s S. Wah Leung Award for the promotion of Canadian Heritage, Cultural Understanding and Harmony, and the SFU Chancellor’s Distinguished Award for outstanding contribution to British Columbia.

David has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree urban land economics from the University of BC.