Zhang Xuemei

Area of interest: Global Health and Epidemiology

I am really grateful to FASIC for funding my study and research. FASIC provides me a great opportunity to further pursue my academic interests in public health in Australia and China. I will wisely use the scholarship to polish my research skills and contribute to the Australia-China relationship.

How to improve the health of people and the community is the issue that attracts my attention all the time. In my undergraduate program, I participated in a research project on medical service in community. This is the first time I realized the importance of public health. My study at the University of Queensland has given me the opportunity to understand issues of public health from a global perspective. I worked for two years in the medical industry and developed an intense interest in public health. We're going through COVID-19, and I've seen a lot of people lose their jobs, person they love, and even their own lives. I also see many girls get an accidentally pregnant as they are lack of health knowledge and safety awareness. I am a woman and I feel very sympathetic to their situation. How to prevent, mitigate, and control such a situation is a matter of great concern to me. I understand the determinants of those situations are complex. As a public health professional, I wish to explore more through further study and to provide counsel on the policy-making and process improvements in the domain of public health.

Thank you again for providing me this great opportunity to make my dreams come true. I will sharpen my academic skills to contribute more to public health. At the same time, I wish my experience can also inspire other women to pursue their own dreams.

 

Zhuang Zhepin

Area of interest: Sociology – Ethnicity and Education

I am extremely appreciative for this scholarship opportunity that FASIC has provided. I regard the FASIC Scholarship as a reward- an affirmation to my research. With this opportunity, it not only gives me a certain financial support, but also is a boost in self-confidence that I feel my research has been recognized. 

I studied at Monash University for my bachelor and RMIT for my master. Now I am enrolling at La Trobe University as a PhD student. My PhD research topic is a case study that aims to critically re-assess the education preferential policy in China’s ethnic minority governance. I am keen to explore the knowledge of the implementation of ethnic preferential policy under the context of ethnically integrated campus in higher education institution. Since my research will be conducted in China, it requires a lot air travel. The cost will be one of the challenges. FASIC scholarship provides financial support that helps to relieve the money worries and allows me to continue to strive for the academic achievement. Furthermore, this topic is a cross-cutting field that involves in politics, ethnology and education, which I think is currently understudied. I am so passionate about it and I believe this research is worth to explore more in depth.

Once again, I am very grateful to FASIC for choosing me to be a recipient for this scholarship as I know there were multiple applicants. I express my deep appreciation to FASIC and am privileged to be offered this scholarship.

 

Li Hui

Area of interest: Journalism and Communication

I would like to take this opportunity to thank FASIC for its financial support. I am feeling gratitude beyond measure.

I have received the 2020 BHP Australia China Scholarship for my PhD study (major in finance) at La Trobe University. My research topic is the analysis of asset pricing via machine learning techniques. I am focusing on the Australian stock market and aiming to utilise machine learning methods to forecast Australian stock returns. The important research questions that I am exploring are " which machine learning method holds predict power and to what extent? "

The financial support offered by the Foundation for Australian Studies in China (FASIC) is vital to me and my research study. Without financial support from FASIC, it would be difficult for me to continue the research study. Thanks to FASIC's generosity, I can study for the PhD in Australia and explore an exciting and widely discussed research topic in finance.

FASIC is not just providing financial support to students. The most incredible work they are doing is to help students prove their values to society. After FASIC perceived my proposed research study's potential contributions, they offered support to help me realise my potential contributions to the Australian stock market. I think FASIC did an excellent and fantastic job. I appreciate the support provided by FASIC.


           
Zhao Shunin 

Area of Interest: Artificial Intelligence

I am extremely honoured and grateful to be receiving the BHP Australia-China scholarship.

As a PhD candidate in computer science at Tsinghua University. My main research areas are Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Statistical Learning in the speech and audio domain. 

Before the PhD program, I have worked for over six years in Australia in data science and AI-related consulting for clients across banking, insurance, government, FMCG, and superannuation sectors. I was involved in many China-Australia collaboration and exchange projects and events. As a second-generation Chinese immigrant living in Australia and a data science professional, I am interested in promoting more collaboration between China and Australia in the fields of science and technology.

I am incredibly grateful to FASIC and BHP for the Australia-China Scholarship. The BHP Australia-China Scholarship has granted me the opportunity to further develop my understanding of data science and machine learning so that I can be better prepared for the new world powered by data and AI, as well as pursue my dream of becoming an expert in this domain and promote more collaboration and exchanges between China and Australia in the field of science and technology.