Thank you to everyone who submitted their thesis to CSAA’s Prize for Best PhD Thesis competition. The selection committee were impressed with the breadth and depth of research that was showcased in submissions.
Congratulations to Qiuping Pan from the University of Melbourne for winning the first place cash prize of $1,000 in the Best PhD Thesis in Chinese Studies category!
Qiuping’s thesis on “Overseas Chinese Communities in Transition: Capable Agency, Translocal Positioning, and Community Re-organisation” explores the impact of the new arrivals to the Chinese Australian community and how recent events regarding China’s place in the world have affected the communities and the ways that they organise themselves in community activities and associations.
The sophistication of the writing and analysis, the extensive work undertaken, and the technical perfection of the thesis make it a standout in the theses submitted.
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Congratulations to Catriona Stevens from the University of Western Australia who has been awarded the second prize of $500 and honourable mention in the Best PhD Thesis in Chinese Studies category.
Catriona’s thesis “Unlikely settlers in exceptional times: The impact of social class and selective migration policies on recent migrations of trade skilled workers and their families from China to Perth, Western Australia” brings class, race, and migration into a conversation around an ethnographic analysis of a cohort of Chinese tradesmen who came to Australia during the mining boom between 2005-2015.
The thesis deals in a highly sophisticated way with questions of ‘strategic citizenship’, migration, and identity. Theoretical debates are woven throughout the thesis in a sophisticated and convincing fashion.