Postgraduate Training Workshop by Dr. Gillian Chu

On Monday 14 April 2025, CRPL Visiting Fellow Dr. Gillian Chu (Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University) visited the University of Leeds to conduct a training workshop for postgraduates.

Gillian grew up in Hong Kong and has had a fascinating and international career-path. She is a graduate of Edinburgh University, where she studied English, and then worked as a chartered accountant, before embarking on a Master of Divinity at Regent College, in Canada. From there, Gillian returned to Scotland, completing her PhD at St Andrews University.

CRPL postgraduates - Yannis, Rachel, Andrea and Manoj.

For her PhD, Gillian conducted fieldwork in Christian communities in Hong Kong. She spoke much about the tenacity required to receive ethical approval for fieldwork and then, later, in the job-market.

Gillian has lived on three continents and is fluent in three languages – English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

We learned from Gillian about how to use a range of social media responsibly, purposefully, and effectively, about conferences and networking, and about life and life-work balance as an early career academic.

CRPL training event. Participating CRPL postgraduates - Sophia, Emmanuel, Gloria, Yannis, Andrea, Rachel and Lama - with Gillian (fifth from left).

It was a terrific learning experience. Gillian’s  slides and worksheets are available and Gillian is open to more online training (e.g. on using LinkedIn) or mentoring. She is easy to find on a range of social media!