Tag Archives: research

Participants wanted

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Calling international students and Chinese students at Queen’s

Below are two pieces of ‘Wanted’ messages looking for participants. If you think you are the right person to get involved and make a contribution, feel free to contact them to express your interest.

1 Participants for AI and Second Language Acquisition Research

My name is Zhuofei, and you can call me Sophie.

I’m a PhD student in psychology at Queen’s. My first study focuses on the impact of AI on Second Language Acquisition. I’m currently looking for international students who are Non-English Speaker from any countries.

As an international student, have you ever used AI in your language use?

My answer is: I have — and quite a lot, to be honest!

As non-native English speakers, it’s perfectly normal for us to experience a bit of language anxiety when using English in UK classrooms. Imagine that moment when you want to speak up, but your brain decides to play hide-and-seek with vocabulary. Yep, been there.

Now here are the big questions:

  • Does using AI to help with language actually reduce that anxiety?
  • Does it make you more motivated to learn? Or more confident to speak up in class? Or… does it sometimes make things worse?

That’s what I’d love to find out — with your help! Let’s explore together how AI is really shaping our language learning journeys as international students. Who knows — you might discover you’re not the only one secretly best friends with ChatGPT!

If you are interested in taking part, please scan the QR code in the poster😊

There will also be a Focus Group on the same topic later. if you wish to participate, please send me an email. Thank you very much and looking forward to having a chat with you in what promises to be a very interesting discussion 👍

2 《中国之桥》项目

贝尔法斯特女王大学、 北爱国家博物馆（NMNI）和我们华人福利会合作共同运营的「中国之桥」 项目已经开启。

项目背景：北爱尔兰国家博物馆（NMNI）现藏有70件中国文物，但相关历史资料匮乏，且公众接触机会有限。本合作项目由女王大学研究人员（历史学、博物馆人类学）、NMNI及华人福利协会共同发起，旨在重塑公众对这些文物的认知。在项目团队支持下，当地华人社群将参与研究、分享专业见解，并通过创意形式回应这些文物，最终生成新的文献记录和社区反馈，汇集成一份公开发表的数字成果。项目还将促进社区合作，进一步探索北爱尔兰与中国之间的历史联系。

这个项目非常有意义，请有意参加这个项目的朋友填写以下意向书。

谢谢大家的支持。

意向表

Memorable experience in MA Arts Management Showcase

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How exciting when you were selected for a panel discussion on your research work and experience as part of your postgraduate degree study at Queen’s?

Today we invite Ruinan PENG (彭瑞楠), MA in Arts Management 2022-2023, from School of Arts, English and Languages, to share her wonderful experience of being invited for the Arts Management Showcase event on 7th November 2023.

What’s it about the Arts Management Showcase event?

The MA Arts Management Showcase is actually part of the annual Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science, which provides a great opportunity to display outstanding Queen’s MA Arts Management students’ research to the professional circles and the public for a wider social impact.

Click here to view the whole programme of ESRC Festival of Social Science 2023

At the event, the convention is that a senior guest speaker would be invited to share his or her research on the culture and arts field, followed by a presentation of selected outstanding postgraduate research work and a round-table discussion with the guest speaker. Therefore, this showcase event is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate Arts Management teaching and research outcomes at Queen’s and communicate with professional researchers in arts management from outside Queen’s.

What was your experience on the day?

As one of the four student speakers, I presented my dissertation (学位论文 xuéwèi lùnwén) which was about curating (策展 cèzhǎn) and audience engagement (观众参与 guānzhòng cānyù) in contemporary art exhibitions (当代艺术展 dāngdài yìshùzhǎn), exploring how curating constructs audiences’ experiences and facilitates audience engagement in contemporary art exhibitions. Alongside me, Dr. Christina Ballico, and my classmates, Holly and Stephanie, presented their research in terms of ‘music city’, ‘arts engagement of the working class (工人阶级 gōngrén jiējí)’, and ‘music education development in Northern Ireland’. Their presentations were interesting and insightful, illustrating a bigger picture and sketching out the details about how to develop an inclusive, equal cultural engagement for cities, artists, and the public. Also, their research methods and case studies expanded my knowledge of conducting arts management both in the academic and professional domains.

There was a Q&A panel and a networking (会后交流 huìhòu jiāoliú) session following the end of the presentation.

Ruinan at the panel discussion | Photo provided by Ruinan PENG

What was your feeling about such an experience?

It was not only a rewarding moment to ‘show off’ my efforts in my independent research but also a lovely reunion with my supervisors, classmates, and friends. Reviewing my  experience of studying at Queen’s, I had a strong sense of achievement (成就感 chéngjiùgǎn) and gained many opportunities to improve my language and intercultural skills, and develop my research abilities, thanks to the small-scale class, diverse classmate backgrounds, high-standard course programme, and professional and dedicated teachers. I treated this event as my reward for my study at Queen’s and hope that more Chinese students at Queen’s step onto this showcase stage in the future.

Ruinan at the panel discussion | Photo provided by Ruinan PENG

Author: Ruinan PENG
Editors: Lauren McShane and Liang WANG

Call for participation

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Please note that The Language Centre is not involved in this research project. Any queries regarding this project shall be sent to the organiser directly.

Paid Research Opportunity on Chinese and Malaysian Students

My name is Philip Howlett or simply Pip, as my friends call me. I am a PhD student in psychology at Queen’s. My research focuses on friendship, culture, and emotion recognition. I am currently conducting a study looking at the similarities and differences in friendship styles between international students from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Malaysia, and home students from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Friendship is an important part of our everyday lives and yet, we all have different preferences and experiences when it comes to our friends. This is especially true and makes great importance when we consider the difference in friendship styles across cultures so that we be aware of potential misunderstandings and therefore bring more people together from all over the world.

International students at Queen's
International students at Queen’s | Photo © QUB

Invitation to participate in my research

I am looking to recruit 60 international students to come into the David Keir Building for a 40-minute session where participants will answer some questionnaires and take part in an eye-tracking task. This is a great opportunity for students to contribute to funded research at Queen’s. All participants will receive £5 immediately after the session. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to enter a prize draw for a £20 Amazon voucher.

Requirements

To participate, you must meet ALL of the following criteria:

  • Aged 18 – 35
  • Originally from one of the following areas: mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Malaysia
  • Have lived in Northern Ireland for at least 6 months
  • Have not previously taken part in this study in February-May 2022.

Check for slots

If you are interested in taking part, please click here sign up to the study. If there are no slots available that suit you, please email me (phowlett01[at]qub.ac.uk) to express interest as there may be a chance for me to add more.

Looking forward to your participation!