Marina Svensson

Marina studied Chinese, Asian studies, history and other topics at Lund University, where she also received her Ph.D. in Chinese in 1996. She got her docentur in 2003, and is since 2014 Professor of Modern China Studies. She came to the Centre in 2004 and is since October 2016 the director of the Centre.

Marina has spent extensive periods in China, first as an undergraduate student at Fudan University, Shanghai, then as a Ph.D. candidate, and later as a visiting scholar at different institutions, including Beijing University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Fudan University. Marina has also spent time at other academic institutions, including as a post doctoral fellow at the East Asia Institute, Columbia University, 1997-1998, and as a visiting scholar at SCASSS, Uppsala University, in the fall of 2004.

Marina's research focuses on a range of different topics related to contemporary Chinese society. She has received research grants from the major national research bodies such as the Swedish Research Council, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, and Sida (the Swedish International Development Agency). She has been project leader for a number of different interdisciplinary research projects, for example on Chinese law, investigative journalism in China, and China’s digital society. She has organised many international conferences and has also arranged a number of documentary film festivals. Marina has served as an external reviewer of articles to academic journals such as China Quarterly, China Information, China Journal, China Review, Journal of International Communication, Asian Journal of Communication, Journalism: Theory, practice and criticism, Postcolonial Studies, Governance, Law and Society Review, and Journal of Comparative Politics among others. She is a member of the editorial advisory board to the Chinese Journal of Communication and to Media, Culture and Society. She has served on the board of the European Association of Chinese Studies and was the initiator to and board member of the European China Law Studies Association.