On April 15, the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS) of Tsinghua University held the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Postdoctoral Affairs Committee. Professor Bai Chong-en from the School of Economics and Management, Professor Peng Zongchao from the School of Public Policy and Management, Professor Zhong Weimin and Professor Zhang Xushan from the Department of History, School of Humanities, Professor Zhang Xiaojin and Professor Su Yu-Sung from the Department of Politics, School of Social Sciences, and Professor Zhou Qing’an from the School of Journalism and Communication attended the meeting. Members had practical discussions on the future development planning and working mechanism of postdoctoral mobile stations of the IIAS. The meeting was presided over by Zhang Jing, Associate Director of IIAS and Director of Postdoctoral Affairs Committee.
Associate Director Zhang Jing firstly thanked all the members for their contributions to the construction of postdoctoral mobile stations, and then, together with Associate Director Zhao Jinsong, reported to the participating members the achievements of the institute in talent cultivation, faculty construction and academic publishing in recent years, with emphasis on the institute’s development ideas and work plan of postdoctoral mobile stations under the background of building “area studies” into a first-class discipline. Madam Zhang said that postdoctoral mobile stations will try to establish an open and innovative joint supervisor system to attract outstanding young scholars from developing countries to pursue postdoctoral research in Tsinghua University and further expand their research horizons.
The participating members discussed the institute’s construction of first-class discipline and the development direction of postdoctoral mobile stations, and put forward feasible suggestions. During the meeting, it was agreed that the institute should highlight “Tsinghua characteristics” in the construction of first-class discipline, and continue to focus on the successful training experience of fieldwork investigation. It was suggested that “comparative perspective” should be emphasized in topic setting for the postdoctoral mobile station, and the objectives for postdoctoral talent training should be further clarified. Meanwhile, relevant mechanisms should be improved to facilitate the construction of postdoctoral mobile station going in line with the development of the IIAS.
The candidate application and evaluation proposal of post-doctoral mobile stations were reviewed during the meeting. Professor Zhong Weimin wrapped it up on behalf of the participating members and expressed full expectations towards the future development of postdoctoral work at the institute.
