Aging and Social ChangeChao Fang’s Updates
Educational/occupational background
I obtained my Bachelor Degree in Japanese Language and Culture in China, which is followed by a Masters Degree in religious studies and thanatology in Hokkaido University in Japan. Currently, I am finishing my PhD degree in sociology in the Centre for Death and Society (CDAS), the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. In 2006, I conducted my fieldwork in mainland to collect qualitative data with closely working with social workers, local authority staff and self-help group members.
Apart from my academic engagements,I have also actively been involving a range of developments of international collaborations. In 2016, I helped CDAS open up a ground-breaking dialogue with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on death, dying and bereavement research between West and East.
Chao is finishing his PhD degree in sociology in the Centre for Death and Society (CDAS), the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. He has passed his viva and will be awarded a PhD degree in December 2018. Before starting his study in the UK, Chao obtained his Masters Degree in Philosophy and Cultural Studies with a particular focus on bereavement and identity transformation in Hokkaido University, Japan.
Chao's PhD thesis is developing a new approach to bereavement research by introducing a sociological concept of 'motivation' to explore individual bereavement experience, based on qualitative interviews collected from three distinctive countries: Britain, Japan and China. Meanwhile, the comparative method enables Chao's work to become one of the very first studies on bereavement across the three countries, as well as, to be a pioneer study on bereavement in mainland China. Furthermore, with a particular focus on a special group of bereaved parents following death of their only child in China, Chao's research is expected to shed light on everyday lives of these parents and various issues faced by them. By closely working with scholars and policy makers in China, Chao's research outputs will further help shape support systems for these bereaved parents.
Apart from his academic engagements, Chao has also actively been involving a range of developments of international collaborations. In 2016, Chao helped the Centre for Death (CDAS) and Society open up a ground-breaking dialogue with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) on death, dying and bereavement research between West and East. Currently, Chao is also involved in developing a transnational research platform on death related studies by integrating researchers from British (University of Bath), Chinese (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) and Australian (La Trobe University, Melbourne). In addition, he is also in touch with directors from a nationwide hospice foundation and researchers from Sun Yat Sen university in China to develop future collaborations on end of life care.