About Professor
Daria Berg,
DPhil Oxford

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

PRESENT POSITIONS

since 2011    Chair Professor (Ordinaria) of Chinese Culture and Society, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of St.Gallen

since 2017    Head, Centre for Intercultural Competence, St.Gallen Institute for Management in Asia Pte. Ltd., Singapore, SGI-HSG

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

2014-2015    Co-Director, Asia Research Centre, ARC-HSG, University of St.Gallen, Switzerland

2007-2011    Associate Professor of Contemporary Chinese Studies (with professorial School leadership tasks and full tenure), and Research Director (2011), School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham, UK

2005-2006     University Lecturer (full tenure) of Contemporary Chinese Studies, Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham, UK

1998-2005    University Lecturer (full tenure) of Chinese Studies, Dept. of East Asian Studies, University of Durham, Durham, UK

1995-1998    University Lecturer of Chinese Studies, Dept. of East Asian Studies, University of Durham, Durham

1995            Part-time Lecturer in Classical Chinese, Oxford University, Institute for Chinese Studies

1994/1995    Randall-McIver Junior Research Fellow, Chinese Studies, Oxford University, St. Anne's College, Oxford

1994-98       Research Fellow (part-time), Project on Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples with Professor David Faure Oxford University, and Taiwan National University, Taipei, ROC

1994/95        Tutor (part-time) in modern Chinese literature, Sarah Lawrence College (US) at Oxford University, Oxford

1992-95       Tutor (part-time) in Classical Chinese and Early Modern Vernacular (Ming/Qing) Literature: Chinese Studies Honours School, for Wadham, Brasenose, Hertford, New, St. Anne's, St. Hilda's, St. John's, and Somerville Colleges, and the Institute for Chinese Studies, Oxford University

VISITING APPOINTMENTS

2011-2012    Visiting Professor of Chinese Culture and Society, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of St.Gallen, Switzerland.

1997             Visiting Professor, Zhongshan University, Canton, China (delivered lectures on Chinese literature in Mandarin Chinese)

EDUCATION AND ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

1995            D. Phil. (Doctor of Philosophy) Oxford University, UK (Chinese Studies)

                  Thesis: “The Xingshi yinyuan zhuan: A Study of Utopia and the Perception of the World in Seventeenth-Century China”

                  Supervisor: Professor Glen Dudbridge, Oxford University

1992            Certificate, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (Postgraduate Research in Chinese Literature & History, Institute for Research in Humanities)

1991            Diploma, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan, (Advanced Japanese Language Programme) obtained Grade A

1990            Diploma, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan (Intermediate Japanese Language Intensive Course) obtained Grade A

1988            M. Litt. (Master of Letters) Transfer Examination, Oxford University, UK (Chinese Studies).

Dissertation: “Political Thought in Seventeenth-Century China”

1987            Diploma, Fu Jen University, Taipei, ROC (Modern and Classical Chinese Literature & Philosophy), obtained Grade A

1987            Certificate, Mandarin Daily News Language Centre, Taipei, ROC (Modern and Classical Chinese Language & Literature)   

1986            Diploma, Fudan University, Shanghai, China (Modern and Classical Chinese Language & Literature)

1985            Intermediate Examination (equivalent to Bachelor degree in UK), Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany: M.A. scheme in Sinology (Major) and English Literature: obtained Grade 1 (First Class Honours) in Sinology; Grade 1 (First Class Honours) in English Literature.

1983            Baccalaureate (Abitur), Gymnasium (High School) Pullach, Munich, Germany, obtained Grade 1.5

AWARDS, GRANTS, AND HONORS

2019            Swiss Asia Society (Schweizer Asiangesellschaft, SAG) grant for an international workshop on ‘China’s New Media and Cultural Entrepreneurs’. The workshop provides an international interdisciplinary platform for academic collaboration and dissemination of this project. University of St. Gallen, 5 December 2019.

2016            Swiss Asia Society (SAG) grant for an international workshop on, “The Art of Transculturality: New Frontiers in Postsocialist China’s Avant-garde”, University of St. Gallen, 28/29 July 2016. In collaboration with international scholars from Switzerland, Europe, UK, China, Hong Kong and USA.

2016            University of St. Gallen, Research Committee grant for an international workshop on, “The Art of Transculturality: New Frontiers in Postsocialist China’s Avant-garde”, University of St. Gallen, 28/29 July 2016. In collaboration with international scholars from Switzerland, Europe, UK, China, Hong Kong and USA.

2015/2016     Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Lecture Series, “Interdisciplinary Explorations of China’s Changing Gender Dynamics, 1900-2015”: A series of eight public lectures bringing together international top researchers at the Universities of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Leiden, Netherlands, 2015/2016.

2015            Awarded “International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) Book Prize 2015 - Specialist Publication Accolade”, for Daria Berg, Women and the Literary World in Early Modern China. London: Routledge, 2013.

2015            Awarded Winner of “China Information Best Article Prize 2015”: Giorgio Strafella & Daria Berg, The making of an online celebrity: A critical analysis of Han Han’s blog. China Information 29.3 (2015): 352-376.

2015            KIM (Kulturen, Institutionen, Märkte / Cultures, Institutions, Markets) Research Project on “The Art of Transculturality in China”, University of St.Gallen, School of Humanities and Social Sciences collaborative research project, 2015.

2014-2016     Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) Major Research Grant, for research project “Perceptions of New Urban Culture in China’s Mediasphere: The Dynamics of Transcultural Flows in Postsocialist China”, 2014-2016.

2012/2013    University of St. Gallen, Research Committee, Basic Research Fund “The New Culture of Consumption in a Globalizing China,” grant for the preparation of an SNF application, 2012-2013.

2010            University of Nottingham, Learning & Teaching Development Projects, “Packaging E-Learning: New Web 2.0-Based Learning Packages for Blended Learning at Nottingham and Distance Learning at Ningbo Campus”, 2010.

2005-11        University of Nottingham, Research Grants, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, for research on Chinese cultural studies, 2005-2011.

2008            Association for Asian Studies, US Panel Organizer Grant for Chinese scholar’s participation in panel “Cyberspace, Consumerism and Cultural Creativity in Twenty-First Century China” at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Association of Asian Studies, Atlanta, GA, 2008.

2006            University of Nottingham Research Grant for Chinese cultural studies, Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies, 2006.   

2006            Oxford University, Institute of Chinese Studies, Publication Grant for my edited volume Reading China: Fiction, History and the Dynamics of Discourse: Essays in Honour of Professor Glen Dudbridge (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2007), 2006.

2002-2003    The Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship for project “Gentility in China,” 2002-2003.

2002            British Academy Travel Grant to attend the 14th European Association for Chinese Studies Conference, Moscow, 2002.

2002            British Academy Grant (Principal Investigator) to organize the conference “Perceptions of Gentility in Chinese Literature and History,” 2002.

2002            Universities’ China Committee London Grant (Principal Investigator) to organize the conference “Perceptions of Gentility in Chinese Literature and History,” 2002.

2002            Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Grant (Principal Investigator) to organize the conference “Perceptions of Gentility in Chinese Literature and History,” 2002.

2002            University of Durham, Contemporary China Centre Grant (Principal Investigator) to organize the conference “Perceptions of Gentility in Chinese Literature and History,” 2002.

1997            Shung Ye Foundation Grant for research and fieldwork on Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples in collaboration with Taiwan National University, Taipei, 1997. 

1997            Universities’ China Committee London Grant for research and fieldwork in Canton and Shanghai on Chinese Urban Fiction project, 1997.

1997            University of Durham Special Staff Travel Fund for research and fieldwork in Canton and Shanghai on Chinese Urban Fiction project, 1997.

1996            Shung Ye Foundation Grant for research and fieldwork on Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan in collaboration with Taiwan National University, Taipei, 1996. 

1996            University of Durham Special Staff Travel Fund to organise a panel on Ming/Qing fiction and history at Association for Asian Studies conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1996.

1996            University of Durham Department of East Asian Studies Research Fund to attend Association for Asian Studies conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1996.

1994-1996    Shung Ye Foundation, Taiwan, Grant for research on Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples at Oxford University, 1994-1996.

1992-1994    German National Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) Graduate Scholarship, Oxford University, 1992-1994.

1990-1992    Rotary Foundation, Rotary International, Japan Programme Scholarship: International Christian University, Tokyo and Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, 1990-1992.

1990            St. Hugh's College Oxford University Award for Japanese language intensive course, Hamburg University, Germany, 1990.

1989/1990    British Academy Major State Studentship, Oxford University, UK, 1989/1990.

1989/1990    St. Hugh's College Oxford University Cannon Graduate Scholarship, 1989/1990.

1989            The Oxford Society Award, Oxford University, 1989.

1987-1990    German National Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes): Undergraduate Scholarship, Oxford University, 1987-1990.

1986            Sun Yat-sen Memorial Foundation Prize for Outstanding Performance at the 14th International Mandarin Chinese Speech Contest, Taipei, Taiwan, 1986.

1985/1986    German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 1985/1986.

1983            Baccalaureate (Abitur) Prize for Outstanding Results, Bavaria, Germany, 1983.