Rate My Professor Xiang Gao

Dr. Xiang Gao serves as the Discipline Convenor of Political and International Studies in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education at the University of New England. She earned her PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Auckland and a Master of Arts in International Relations, with a minor in American Studies, jointly from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and Nanjing University. Her academic career spans teaching positions in New Zealand and Australia. Previously, she held roles as Research Associate at the Centre for Indigenous Rights and Law, Auckland University of Technology since 2017, Adjunct Professor in Law at Curtin University Law School from 2016 to 2018, and Honorary Academic in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland in 2016. Xiang's research centers on politics and international relations in the Asia Pacific, examining how ideas and norms shape individual states' public policies, foreign policies, and laws in the region. Her specific interests include China’s international relations, international norms, and Asia Pacific politics.

Xiang teaches courses on Chinese politics and foreign relations, Australian foreign policy, politics in the developing world, and international relations in the Asia Pacific. Her scholarly contributions include several refereed journal articles, such as 'The Law Relating to Hunting and Gathering Rights in the Traditional Territories of Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples' co-authored with Dr. Guy Charlton and Associate Professor Daya Kuan (Asia Pacific Law Review, 2017), 'International Norms, Human Rights, and Indigenous Rights: The Legal Recognition of Indigenous Interests in Japan and Taiwan' with Dr. Guy Charlton and Associate Professor Mitsuhiko Takahashi (Asia Pacific Law Review, 2016), 'Norm Localisation in Domestic Practices: An Analysis on Implementing Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Japan' with Associate Professor Satomi Kohyama (Frontier for North East Asian Studies, 2015), and 'China as a ‘Responsible Power’: Altruistic, Ambitious or Ambiguous?' (International Journal of China Studies, 2013). She has presented numerous conference papers on topics including norm incorporation in Chinese environmental governance and China's socialization into international norms. In 2015-2016, she co-authored a successful grant application for 1,900,000 JPY (approximately 24,000 AUD) from the Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Environment Fund, Japan, for the project 'Norm Localisation in Domestic Practices: A Comparative Study of Implementing Convention on Biological Diversity in Japan and China.' Additionally, she has contributed expert commentaries to the Asia Media Centre on topics such as PRC constitution changes, the 19th China CPC Congress, and China’s Double 11 Day. Xiang is currently working on a book manuscript titled China in International Society: The Making of ‘Responsible Power’ Diplomacy.