Shirley Chan

Dr Shirley Chan is Associate Professor in Global Cultures and Languages at Macquarie University. Trained in Sinology and International Studies, with undergraduate formation under Pierre Ryckmans (Simon Leys) and doctoral supervision under Derek Herforth, she works at the intersection of Chinese political philosophy, intellectual history, and cultural thought. Her current research examines crisis and leadership from a Chinese cultural perspective, with particular attention to how China’s philosophical traditions conceptualise governance, responsibility, and social order.

Her work has received national and international recognition through both scholarly research and public engagement. She has contributed to media and educational platforms including the BBC (UK), ABC, SBS, MOOCs, and Coursera, and has delivered invited lectures at museums, cultural institutions, and universities in Australia and internationally.

Dr Chan has held competitive international fellowships and visiting appointments at Columbia University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Bern, Tsinghua University, National Taiwan University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has served as President of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia and has held editorial roles with leading journals including the Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, Bamboo and Silk, and the Journal of Chinese Philosophy.

Through her research, teaching, and public engagement, she contributes to a deeper understanding of Chinese culture in global contexts and to dialogue across cultures, traditions, and communities. She welcomes enquiries from prospective HDR students and researchers working in related areas.

- Chinese political philosophy; Chinese culture and philosophy; intellectual history and the transmission of ideas; leadership, crisis management, and strategic thought in Chinese political traditions.

• FAMES and the Needham Research Institute, the University of Cambridge. "Chaos and Crisis in Chinese Myths and Manuscripts." 2025.
• The Honourable Dr Helen Sham-Ho Research Funding for Project "Crisis Management in Chinese Mythology." 2023-2024
• Mr Kenny Li Research Funding for Project on Excavated Ancient Chinese Texts. 2017-2022.
• Mr and Mrs Albert Li /Kenny Li Research Funding for Ancient Chinese Culture and Chinese Texts 2016-2022 (CI)
• Faculty of Arts Themed Research Workshop Grant, 2014. (CI)
• Faculty of Arts Publication Subsidy Scheme, 2013. (CI)
• Macquarie Research Development Grant, 2010-2012. (CI)
• Research Grant, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, 2009-2011. (CI)
• Departmental Teaching Index Grant Funding, 2011. (CI)
• Macquarie University New Staff Grant，2005-2006. (CI)  

PhD and HDR Supervisions

• Shuo Liu (PhD): The Pulse of Power: Etiology, Diagnosis, and Governance in Early Chinese Medical Thought: Reading the Excavated Tianhui Manuscript (Principal Supervisor) (2025-)
• Yitong Wu (Master by Research): Visualizing Harmony: Yi Tuan He Qi, the Unity of the Three Teachings, and Social Imagination in Ming China (1368-1644) (Principal Supervisor) (2025-2026)(Completed with HD)
• Ziyao Zhang (PhD) Integrating Visual Representation with Translanguaging Pedagogy in Chinese Reading Instruction (Associate Supervisor)(2025-)
• Lili Cai (PhD): Globalisation in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century: Knowledge, Power, and the Entangled Worlds of Sir John Francis Davis (1795-1890) (Principal Supervisor, cotutelle with the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) (2024-2026) (Completed)
• Xiansong Chen (Visiting PhD student): The Chu Writing Scripts and Ancient Chu Culture (Principal Supervisor) (2023-2024) 
• Wang Xia (MRes): The Politics of Translation: Paratext Narratives in the Service of the Hundred-Day Reform in China (1849) (Principal Supervisor) (2022-2023) (Completed)
• Tyler, Dehn (MRes): “Nature” (性), “Mind” (心), and “Sentience” (有情) in Zhanran’s Jingangpi (金剛錍)”: An investigation of “nature” and moral cultivation in Jingxi Zhanran’s “Diamond Scalpel” (Principal Supervisor) (2021-2023) (Completed with HD)
• Lam Wai Hung: Interpreting and Understanding Traditional Chinese Medical Texts: Chinese Philosophy in Zhang Xichun’s 張錫純 Yixue zhong zhong can xi lu 醫學衷中參西錄 (On Medicine: Chinese at Heart and Western as Reference) (Part-time) (Principal Supervisor) (2015-2021) (PhD, completed)
• Sabrina Yuan: Robert van Gulik: Life and Work (Associate Supervisor) (2012-2016) (PhD, completed)
• Esther Li: The Effect of Australian Culture on Compliment Responses of Mainland Chinese Speakers of English (Associate Supervisor) (2011-2015) (PhD, completed)
• Daniel Lee: The Sensual and the Moral: "Confucian Poetics" and the Book of Odes (2010-2013) (Principal Supervisor) (PhD, completed)
• Iain Clark: Legitimacy from Antiquity: Qing Imperial Ceramic Ritual Vessels for State Occasions (2010-2014) (Principal Supervisor) (PhD, completed)
• Jonathan Goodall: An Examination of the Syncretic Nature of Han Fei's Philosophy and His Utilization of the Concept of Wuwei in the Han Fei Zi (2011) (Principal Supervisor) (Honours, completed)
• Daniel Lee: Eileen Chang on Hong Kong: a Cultural Delineation of a Colonial Discourse (2009) (Principal Supervisor) (Honours, completed)