Associate Professor Yujie Zhu
Recipient, Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in HDR Supervision
College of Arts and Social Sciences
Synopsis
Associate Professor Yujie Zhu’s HDR supervision is built on the belief that a PhD is not only a thesis, but a formation of independent, ethical and imaginative researchers who can ask better questions in a changing world.
As an anthropologist in heritage and museum studies, he supervises candidates working with difficult histories, cultural difference, memory, identity, Indigenous knowledge, museums, slavery heritage and questions of justice. These are not only academic topics; they are public questions about how societies remember, repair and imagine their futures.
His supervision helps candidates develop the confidence to sit with complexity, think critically about evidence and values, and understand why their research matters beyond the university. He combines close individual guidance with a wider research culture: HDR colloquia, PhD Life workshops, Indigenous and ethical research training, publication mentoring, international exchange, and partnerships with museums, communities and policy institutions.
Through this approach, students move from isolation to belonging, and from being supervised to becoming part of a wider intellectual and professional community. His candidates have completed theses, published research, won awards and fellowships, presented internationally, and moved into academic, museum, government and policy careers. Recognised through the CASS Award for Excellence in HDR Supervision and ANU HDR Supervisor of the Month, his supervision builds not only stronger theses, but more connected, courageous and publicly engaged researchers.
(Photo by Tangyao Zhang/Teaching Communities and Recognition team).