South East Asia and East Asia hold immense global importance due to their economic, geopolitical, cultural, and strategic significance. Economically, the region is a powerhouse, home to some of the world’s largest economies such as China, Japan, and South Korea, as well as rapidly growing nations like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. These countries are central to global trade, innovation, and manufacturing, contributing significantly to supply chains and technological advancements. Geopolitically, the region is vital as it hosts major shipping routes, including the South China Sea, which is crucial for international trade. Additionally, its strategic location connects key global markets, making it a focal point for diplomacy and regional cooperation, such as through ASEAN. Culturally, the region is rich in diversity, boasting centuries-old traditions, religions, and practices that influence the arts, cuisine, and global perspectives. With its dynamic economies, strategic positioning, and vibrant cultures, South East Asia and East Asia are pivotal in shaping the modern world order.
People
DR NAUMAN REAYAT
NAUMAN IS THE COORDINATOR OF THIS GROUP.
He is the Convener/Founder, GSN and Convener, Constitutionalism in Developing Democracies, Socio-Legal Studies Association. He secured the Certificate of Qualification from Federal Law Society Canada (FLSC) in 2021.
For inquiries on this group activities, Nauman can be reached at leicgsn@gmail.com.
PROF FLORA HUANG
Professor Flora Huang currently holds the position of Professor of Law and Business at Derby Law School, University of Derby in the UK. She also serves as the EU Chairperson for Arbitrations and as a member of the Trade-and-Sustainable-Development Expert Panel Proceedings at the European Commission. Additionally, she is an arbitrator for the China Guangzhou Arbitration Commission and was honored with the ‘Central Asian Legal Research Fellowship’ by Tashkent State University of Law, Uzbekistan in 2022.
DR JING WANG
Dr Jing Wang is Associate Professor in Law at the University of Leicester, Member of Global South Network, and Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Internet Law & Policy (SCILP – the University of Strathclyde), specialises in Antitrust / Competition Law teaching and research. Her research is published in leading international journals Oxford Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, World Competition, Fordham International Law Journal, amongst others.
XIN WANG
Xin Wang is a PhD candidate and a teaching assistant at the Leicester Law School, University of Leicester. Her main research area is finance and commercial law. Her PhD thesis is about the bank insolvency issue. Her article, ‘The Commencement of Bank Insolvencies in China: Problems and Prospects’, was published in Tsinghua China Law Review in 2022, which is the top English-based law journal in China. She has been a teaching assistant at the Law School for two years and she teaches undergraduate contract law. She obtained her LLB and LLM from the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in China, in addition to a further LLM degree (international banking and finance law) from the University of Leeds in the UK.
Prof Takayuki Tanaka
I’m an Associate Professor at Takushoku University. My research focuses on the role of corporations in society. I am a visiting researcher at the Business Ethics and Compliance Research Centre at Reitaku University in Japan. My research interests include corporate social responsibility, business ethics, and business and society. In recent years, I have been studying the changing concept of CSR as a result of the SDGs, and I am also researching AI and ethics.
Yvonne Zhao
Yvonne Zhao is a PhD Candidate, School of History of Arts and Film, School of Art, University of Leicester and an instructor/course creator at Xi’an Bang Sheng Yikao Art Education Co., Ltd. (09/2020 – Present). She previously worked as Senior Customer Manager at Daiweide (Beijing) Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. (01/2020 – 09/2020) and Beijing Qizhi Tianjie International Cultural Dissemination Co., Ltd. (03/2019 – 09/2019). She also acted as a Judge during China PYIFF International Film Festival (10/2018 – 11/2018) and was the Producer/Vice Director of the film Circumvallation Xi’an, ChinaXi’an Chenxi Chulu Film and Television Co., Ltd. (06/2014 – 06/2015)
DR MOOHYUNG CHO
Dr Moohyung is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Ewha Womans University, South Korea. His research interests include comparative political institutions, judicial politics, autocracy and democracy, and political economy of institutions. Moohyung received his Ph.D. in Political Science at Duke University in 2020 and worked as a visiting researcher at the Humboldt University of Berlin and Seoul National University.
Saru Arifin
Saru Arifin has been a tenured position as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia since 2009. His doctoral research focuses on Public International Law, Human Rights Law, Constitutional Law, and Legislation studies. He has authored multiple articles in these fields in prestigious international journals published by Routledge, Brill, and SAGE and indexed by Scopus. Furthermore, he currently holds the position of Director of Programs at the Institute for Migrant Rights in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, starting in 2016. He also served as the Head of Law and Human Rights Advocacy Clinics from 2018 to 2020 and as the Chief Editor of the Pandecta Research Law Journal from 2011 to 2020.
Rashidah Abdul Hamid
Rashidah Abdul Hamid is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, UK. Her PhD project looks at the role of constitutional identity as a basis for limits on constitutional amendments, specifically in the development of the basic structure doctrine in Malaysia. Rashidah is also a Managing Editor of the Cambridge Law Review (2023-2024) and a student fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, Malaysia. Her research interests are in constitutional theory, comparative constitutional law, public law, legal pluralism and the Malaysian legal system. Before undertaking her doctoral research, Rashidah worked as an in-house legal associate at an investment management firm for over 10 years, specializing in corporate law and corporate due diligence. She obtained her BA (Law Tripos) from the University of Cambridge in 2012 and the LLM from the University of Malaya in 2021.
DR LIN FENG
Dr Lin Feng is Associate Professor of Film Studies and the Director of Studies of History of Art and Film at the University of Leicester. She has broad research interests in Chinese-language cinema(s) and film history, Chinese migration and diasporic cinema, and cinematic cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong. Before she joined Leicester, she was the founding director of Chinese Studies at the University of Hull, where she worked with many international partners to create exchange opportunities for British and Chinese students. She is the Honorary Secretary of British Association of Chinese Studies and co-convenor of East Asian Screen Cultures SIG at the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies.
Ying Zheng
Ying has been studying for PhD in the Law School, University of Leicester since September 2021. Her PhD research topic is Corporate Governance in China: Political Determinants, Challenges and Solutions. Before joining Leicester Law School, she obtained her Master’s degree with Merit from the University of Sheffield and a bachelor’s degree from the China University of Labor Relations. Her Master’s dissertation was focused on ‘Promotion of CSR through Company Law and Corporate Governance: A Comparison of English Law and Chinese Law’.
Xiyuan Gao
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Film Studies; School of Arts, Media, and Communication, University of Leicester.
Xiyuan (Samantha) Gao is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Film Studies at the University of Leicester. Her research interests are fandom studies, science-fiction film studies, cultural studies in the Star Wars franchise, and feminist film studies. Her PhD project, “The Re-creation of Female Star Wars Spectators: Fanfiction and Fandom Community”, is collaborative research to the combined discipline of film and media studies. She received her master’s degree in media and communication with Merit from Xi’an-Jiaotong Liverpool University (Suzhou, China) and a bachelor’s degree in art management and cultural communication from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts (Beijing, China). She is also a member of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies and the Disney, Culture & Society Research Network.
GLOBAL SOUTH NETWORK (GSN) 