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Staff Profile

Dr Andrew Law

Newcastle Director of the Confucius Institute; Senior Lecturer in Town Planning.

  • Email: andrew.law@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address: School of Architecture Planning and Landscape
    Room 8.24
    8th Floor Henry Daysh Building (formerly known as the Claremont Tower)
    Newcastle University
    Newcastle
    NE1 7RU
Background
Current roles and responsibilities
September, 2022: Director of the Confucius Institute at Newcastle University.
Past roles and responsibilities
April, 2022-January, 2023: Deputy then Acting Director of Internationalisation and Reputation in APL.
September 2021-March, 2022: Acting Director of the Confucius Institute at Newcastle University.
December, 2020-January, 2025: Chair of the School's library committee.
September 2013-August, 2018: Degree Program Director of the BA (Hons) Architecture and Urban Planning in APL.

Academic Biography 

My research examines the way in which societies and individuals understand, process, interpret and/or narrate their pasts; I have conducted research on social theory, the history of ideas, historical imaginaries, collective memory, national myths and narratives, nostalgia, the politics of history and the uses and abuses of history and/or the past more broadly. In my career, I have often examined these themes in relation to architecture, townscapes, urban conservation, built heritage, intangible heritage and urban place branding. While my early research explored British/English cases, since 2010 I have investigated Chinese case studies. In this respect, I have become an enthusiastic student of Chinese studies (Sinology).

Broadly speaking my research interests relate to:

Social theory

Sociological theory

the history of ideas

historical imaginaries

Collective memory

nostalgia

the politics of history

the politics of the past

the uses of the past

the use and abuse of history/the past

heritage

Historical place branding

Nostalgic place branding

Faux history

Historical simulacra

nationalism

national myths

national narratives

race and ethnicity

Chinese studies


Subject areas

Very specifically, my work might be placed within the following subject areas: the sociology or anthropology of the past; the politics of the past; collective memory studies; public history and heritage studies. But beyond these specific areas, hopefully my research speaks to the disciplines of sociology, history, human geography, architecture, planning and Chinese studies more broadly.

Visiting academic positions

I have been a visiting scholar, visiting researcher and/or a visiting lecturer at the following institutions:

Citic Design and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) (August, 2023); Xi'an Jiaotong University (March-April, 2019); Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (July, 2017); Xiamen University (July, 2017); Xi'an University of Architectural Technology (May-July, 2013); Wuhan University (March-May, 2013); Peking University (February, 2013; August, 2013).

Recent Work: Chinese cultural history and urban studies

In recent years, I have become a very enthusiastic student of Chinese studies (Sinology). I say student because my Mandarin needs to improve and because I am still finding my feet, I often work in teams with other Chinese researchers. Specifically, my research has mainly been concerned with Chinese culture, nostalgia, politics, heritage and urban development.

On my travels to China I have visited the following very interesting places: Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Jining, Macau, Qingdao, Qufu, Shanghai, Suzhou, Tai'an, Wuhan, Xiamen and Xi'an. In the near future, I hope to visit more places in the PRC.

Applications for Doctoral Work

I welcome applications for doctoral study; I welcome students, who want to develop projects on urban development, time, memory, nostalgia, identity and heritage; And of course, reflecting my recent work, I am very interested in project students that are keen to study issues in and around Chinese culture, nostalgia, politics, heritage and urban development. 

Languages: Mandarin

Above tourist level Mandarin (but a long way to go yet): On the 6th of January, 2016 I learnt that I passed the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) level 2 Mandarin Chinese Proficiency test. In the future I shall study for the HSK Level 3 Mandarin Chinese Proficiency test.

Outside of Work

Outside of work I am a keen walker and Chess player. I love reading novels, listening to music and watching movies. When I was younger I enjoyed Skateboarding. While I skate less these days, (injuries take a longer time to heal) I still take an interest in Skateboarding culture broadly.

Creative Writing

Alongside my academic writing, I have also tried to produce some creative writing. Recently, I have had a piece published on Cullercoats, North Shields (with Illustrator Michael Duckett) in an Anthology on the Sea produced by Paper Jam Comics Collective. You can find it here: https://paperjamcomics.bigcartel.com/product/the-sea-and-that


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Research

Research websites: 

My ORCID ID number is: 0000-0002-8403-3971 

my research can be accessed at the following websites:

https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=Gu9A6DYAAAAJ&hl=en

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew-Law-5

https://newcastle.academia.edu/AndrewLaw

https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0002-8403-3971

Law, Andrew - Author details - Scopus

Andrew Law Journals | Exalt

Editorial Boards

I am currently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architectural/Planning Research and Studies (JARS) (as a consultant).

I am currently on the Editorial Board of the journal Built Heritage (part of Tongji University Press). 

I am currently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism (JCAU)

Academic networks

April 2021: I am a member of the GU design (genealogy of urban design) network. https://gudesign.org/members/andrew-law/

September 2019: I am a member of the Hong Kong Studies Association (HKSA)

December 2017: China ports network – https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/china-ports/china-ports-network-members.aspx

July 2014: I am a member of the British Association of Chinese Studies (BACS).

I am an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK.

Specific research areas:

In recent years, I have become a student of Chinese studies (Sinology); at present I am exploring 6 specific lines of research in China; these investigations include:

1) the history of ideas in China especially traditional ideas and the role of these concepts in the present.

2) research into the role of humiliation and rejuvenation discourses

3) research into historic place-branding and the use of historical themes and imaginaries in the marketing of Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Wuhan and Xi'an; recently, I made a 3-minute video outlining this research for Newcastle University’s Cities NUCORE: https://flipgrid.com/6ac60c6d

4) specific research into the historic urban branding and industrial heritage of the Guibei area in Hanyang, Wuhan.

5) research into Occidental consumption in China;

6) research into a nostalgic social movement in China known as the Hanfu movement (a movement of young people who wear pre-Qing Dynasty clothing) (with Qianqian Qin). Specifically, on this topic, we have been involved with a project regarding infrastructures of memory. https://www.cassis.uni-bonn.de/en/ueber-cassis/prof.-maximilian-mayer-en/infrastructures/infrastructures-of-memory

Funded Research projects:

In 2023 I was involved in another large EU project called Consider. Like PUMAH, the project was tied up with a series of academic exchanges between Universities in the EU and one University in China - HUST - Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The projected aimed to look at the sustainable management and conservation of industrial heritage globally.

In 2014, I was awarded a Sino-British Fellowship Trust and British Academy Award - (BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants SRG 2014 Round) £9,863.75. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/heritage/research/reconstructing-han-identities/

In 2012 I was an active participant in a very large EU F7 grant known as PUMAH - Planning, urban management and heritage; this grant saw staff exchanges between European and Chinese institutions. Overall the project was a complete success and these exchanges have now served as key spaces in the formation of new joint research projects and teaching opportunities.

Invites to be a Panel Chair and discussant:

9th of April 2025: invited by Professor Jianfei Zhu (Professor of Architecture, Newcastle University) to chair a panel session on Labour for the Newcastle Conference “History as knowledge”. The session took place on Tuesday the 6th of May 2025.

31st of October 2023: invited by Professor Adam Sharr (Professor of Architecture, Newcastle University) to chair a panel session for the Newcastle Conference Architecture 101. The session took place on Saturday the 11th of November 2023.

4th of August 2023: invited by Professor Yonca Erkan (Professor of Built Heritage; University of Antwerp) to chair a talk by Dr Ning Lu (Lecturer at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Qingdao University of Technology) and a panel on industrial heritage in China which followed the talk (The talk and the panel took place in the New World Building, Wuhan).

18th of February 2023: invited by Dr Philipp Demgenski (of Zhejiang University) to chair a panel session and be a discussant at the Association of Asian Studies, 2023 Annual Conference. The panel was entitled “The Heritage Question in Contemporary Chinese Cities” (Session Title: 1744) and was organised by Zheng Guan (Princeton University).

7th of September 2018: invited by Dr Yiwen Wang (of XJTLU) to chair a panel session entitled ‘Branding/sanitizing the past’ at Suzhou University of Science and Technology, (SUST) Suzhou, China. The 2nd International Conference on Heritage of China 2018, Suzhou, China.

Recent academic Presentations:

2024

6th of July 2024: ‘China’s link to Newcastle upon Tyne, UK’, talk given to the 21st International Conference on Teaching and Learning Chinese in Higher Education. This is the 2024 Annual International Conference of the British Chinese Language Teaching Society (BCLTS). Title of the conference: Critical Perspectives on International Chinese Education: Synergising Language, Culture, and Technology in the Era of Digital Intelligence.

2023

30th of August 2023: 'Industrial historical imaginaries and heritage in Hanyang, Wuhan'. Talk given to staff from Citic Design (an urban design company located within Wuhan) and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, (HUST) in the New World Building, Wuhan.

28th of August 2023: 'Different theoretical interpretations of cultural heritage in the west'. Talk given to staff and students at the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China.

2nd of August 2023: ‘China’s link to Newcastle upon Tyne, UK’ as part of the "Preserving the Maritime Cultural Heritage", UCMSR Summer Program. Xiamen University. Recorded Zoom lecture sent to Dr Han Jie of the School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Xiamen University.

7th of July 2023: ‘Hegemonic Han identities and alternative subjectivities: the contemporary Hanfu movement and broader national narratives of decline and rejuvenation’ – which is part of the panel ‘Building Narratives and Deconstructing Hegemony in Northeast Asian Memorymaking’ – which is part of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Memory Studies Association (MSA) “Communities and Change” Newcastle University, 3-7th of July 2023.

22nd of June 2023: ‘Chinese Migration to Newcastle’ The Politics of Remembrance: The Commemoration and Heritagization of Colonial Occupation in Contemporary China – a workshop organised by Professor John Pendlebury and Dr Yiwen Wang. School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. Newcastle University.

21st of June 2023 – “Representing humiliation and collective remembering in China: colonial architecture on Gulangyu and the construction of an ‘exotic space’ for Chinese tourists” – The Politics of Remembrance: The Commemoration and Heritagization of Colonial Occupation in Contemporary China – a workshop organised by Professor John Pendlebury and Dr Yiwen Wang. School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. Newcastle University.

11th of April 2023: “Narratives of Han Ethnic, Moral, and Behavioural Decline: The Contemporary Hanfu Movement in the cities of Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Wuhan and Xi’an”; invited by Dr Valerie Pellatt to give a talk to the Scotland Chinese Association (SCA) in Edinburgh.

17th of February 2023:‘The uses of the past in Chang’an: selective remembering and the discourse of rejuvenation’; invited by Dr Marichela Sepe, to give a talk to the GU Design Network. https://gudesign.org/seminars/#seminars –

2022

20th of July, 2022: ‘The uses of the past in Chang’an: selective remembering and the discourse of rejuvenation’; Conference title: InterAsian networks and the making(s) of the first cities; Department of Asian Studies, Institute of Sinology; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Munich); 20th to the 21st of July 2022

24th of June 2022: ‘Narratives of Han ethnic, moral, and behavioural decline: the contemporary Hanfu movement and discourses of authenticity’; Conference title: Understanding Authenticity in Cultural Heritage: China and Beyond, St Hugh's College; University of Oxford. 

Research led teaching

Stage 3: Chinese Cultural history and urban development: With Ms Qianqian Qin and Prof Rose Gilroy, I now run a stage 3 AUP course which explores the cultural history of Chinese city making and planning. As well as examining ancient city planning, we also investigate in detail the contemporary status of the Chinese city and the social, cultural, economic and political processes that shape it.

Stage 2: Study visit: In 2019 with Ms Qianqian Qin, I ran an undergraduate fieldtrip to Beijing. During this fieldtrip we visited scholars, practitioners and town planners at Peking University, (Professor Bin Lu and Professor Pengjun Zhao), the Tsinghua Institute and the 798 art zone. We also visited the Forbidden City and the Yuanmingyuan Gardens along with other places.



Teaching

Teaching awards, nominations and prizes

9th of March 2022 – I was nominated for a Teaching Education Award (TEA).The category for which I was nominated was ‘Outstanding Contribution to HASS faculty’.

12th of March 2020 – I was nominated for a Teaching Education Award (TEA). The category for which I was nominated was ‘Outstanding Contribution to Student Employability’.

14th of May 2013 – I was nominated for a Teaching Excellence Award (TEA). The category for which I was nominated was “Innovative Teaching Method of the year”.

15th of May 2012 – I was awarded a prize for ‘Innovation in postgraduate supervision/teaching’ by the School of Architecture, planning and landscape

Current PhD/MPhil Supervision: 6 students

Shawn Qiao - Aesthetic Response: Mu Xin and Chinese Literature in the Post Mao Era (with Dr Joe Lawson and Professor Jianfei Zhu).

Zhan Zhang - The politics of public space in China (with Professor Ali Madanipour).

Gobi Guo - UNESCO Notions of peace within World Heritage interpretation and the way these ideas are understood in China and Gulangyu (Xiamen). (with Professor Areti Galani and Dr Bruce Davenport).

Minghe Ma - Collective memory and heritage in Jing De Zheng - China's porcelain city (with Dr Dariusz Gafijczuk)

Paul Zhou - Chinese migrants in the EU. Documentary film practice (with Dr Alastair Cole and Dr Caleb Johnston)

Tiancheng Ren - Urban identities, migration and Shenzhen (with Professor Ali Madanipour).

Completed PhD's:

I have successfully supervised 10 candidates (in conjunction with other staff in APL, SELL and the University's Culture Lab) to completion.

Lu Bao - Spatial contest across Scales: a study of transportation nodes at Dalian and Taipei and multi-scalar spatial politics in Japan's colonial project in East Asia (1895-1945) (with Professor Jianfei Zhu).

Dr Mohanad Alfelali - The history, sociology and heritage of Mecca (with Dr Josep-Maria Garcia Fuentes and Dr John Kamara)

Dr Amelia Joicey - The history and sociology of the Northern Stage Theatre - DTC AHRC awards - AHRC Funded - (with Dr Rosalind Haslett and Dr Helen Freshwater).

Dr Asmarani (Rani) Februandari - Power and discrimination in a space: The role of cultural built heritage in identity construction of Chinese Indonesians - Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education - (with Prof. Pendlebury).

Dr Ang Gao - Reading Jiaoxing Village - PhD by Creative Film Practice - (with Dr Ian McDonald).

Dr Lu Wang - Facilities for ageing middle class subjects in China (with Prof. Rose Gilroy). 

Dr Rorie Parsons - Social Practice theory and networks of cycling - ESRC Funded - (With Prof Vigar).

Dr Xi Chen - Colonial heritage on an island in Wenzhou - PhD by creative practice - (with Prof Chiles and Dr Beattie).

Dr Zhang Su - Feng Shui, urban design and planning (Self-funded). (with Prof Madanipour).

Dr Tom Brigden - The Richmond View: transatlantic landscapes (AHRC Funded) - 2014. (With Prof. Sharr). 

Completed PhD's (where I made a short term contribution to their supervision. i.e. 6 months)

Dr Pattamon Selanon

Total teaching contribution

I am a module leader for 3 modules and a contributor on another 9 modules - see below.

Masters teaching: MSc in Town Planning

TCP8911: Research design module – 1 x 2-hour workshop (Contributor)

TCP8099: Master’s Dissertation – supervise approximately 3-4 students a year plus marking. (Contributor)

TCP8902: Reflexive practitioner module: contributor: 1 x 2-hour lecture on Deontological ethics. (Contributor)

TCP7024: Conservation and the Historic City - 2 x Lectures (Contributor)

Undergraduate teaching/supervision

Level 3 Modules

TCP3099 - Planning undergraduate dissertation module - Have been a contributor to dissertation workshops (and sometimes supervision) (Contributor)

TCP3054 - Planning theory - Marxism, post-modernism, critical pragmatism etc - (contributor and sometimes module leader - was module leader for this course previously for many years) (Contributor)

APL3007 - Dissertation in Architecture and Urbanism - contributor to tutorials, crits and supervision (Contributor)

APL3004 - Chinese Cultural History and Urban Development - (Module leader).

Level 2 modules

TCP2028 - Understanding cities - Lecture on the Cultural City and seminar - (Contributor).

APL2001 - Theories of Alternative Practice module - Lectures on Marxism, anarchism, feminism, post-modernism, alternative professionalism(s) - (Module leader)

Level 1 modules 

APL1003 - Planning Contexts - (Contributor)

APL1002 - Histories of the City - (Module Leader) 

Past modules

HSC8007 - MSc Global Health in the Anthropocene - (Contributor)

TCP8942: Reflexive practitioner (Mplan) version. 1 x 2-hour lecture on Deontological ethics. (Contributor)

TCP2035 - Study Visit - Within this course I ran a fieldtrip to Beijing with Ms. Qianqian Qin; this field trip ran for the first time at the end of March, 2019 - (Contributor)

TCP 2027: Research skills – Contributor: 3 x 2-hour sessions (6 hours in total) (Contributor)

TCP1025 - Social Worlds - Lectures on identity, class, sexuality, gender, race and ethnicity - (Contributor)

APL2007 - Creative practice and visual research skills module - (Contributor).

 

Publications