Prof Meng Bingchun is formally appointed a Senior Lingnan Scholar at LUIAS.
From left: Prof Richard M. Walker, Director of LUIAS and Lee Shau Kee Foundation Chair Professor of Public Administration at Lingnan University; Prof Meng Bingchun, Senior Lingnan Scholar at the Lingnan University Institute for Advanced Study; and Prof John N. Erni, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Chair Professor of Cultural Research at Lingnan University.
The conferment ceremony was officiated by Prof Richard M. Walker, Director of LUIAS and Lee Shau Kee Foundation Chair Professor of Public Administration at Lingnan University, and Prof John N. Erni, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Chair Professor of Cultural Research.
In his speech, Prof Walker welcomed Prof Meng to LUIAS, saying “AI technology and algorithms are developing rapidly, which has revolutionised the way the public receives information and brought new challenges to the global media ecosystem and communication governance. Prof Meng has worked steadily in media research for many years, and her interdisciplinary vision provides a forward-looking reference for relevant policymaking worldwide, and injects innovative thinking into Lingnan’s humanities research. Lingnan also hopes to take this opportunity to further strengthen academic cooperation and exchanges with the LSE and to promote cutting-edge research with international impact.”
Following the conferment ceremony, Prof Meng delivered a distinguished lecture titled “The politics and poetics of AI: From great power competition to imaginaries of good life”. Drawing on anthropologist Brian Larkin’s perspective, she pointed out that AI is by no means a purely technological evolution, but a major state-led infrastructure with both political and economic considerations. On the one hand, governments seek to leverage big data and computing power to drive economic growth and consolidate national strength, and on the other, AI infrastructure carries society’s hopes for a better future in AI development.
Prof Meng compared the different AI policies and development models of China and the US, analysing how both nations reflect their respective imaginaries and pursuits of the “good life” through technological development. She emphasised that when discussing the evolution of AI, people need to understand whom the AI wave will ultimately benefit.
Prof Meng is a leading media and communications scholar, who was a Senior Fellow of Global Governance Futures 2035 organised by the Global Public Policy Institute, from 2020 to 2021, and is currently a Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE, and Co-Director of the LSE-Fudan Global Public Policy Research Centre. She is also the Director of the LSE PhD Academy, and her research interests include the political economy of media industries, communication governance, gender and the media, and comparative media studies. Her publications include The Politics of Chinese Media: Consensus and Contestation in 2018 and the co-edited volume Pandemic Crossings: Digital Technology, Everyday Experience, and Governance in the Covid-19 Crisis in 2024. Her research articles are widely published in leading international academic journals such as Social Media + Society.
In recent years, Lingnan has continued to drive interdisciplinary research, accelerate knowledge transfer, and recruit top global talent across diverse fields. These efforts have significantly enhanced its international academic influence, resulting in substantial advancements across major global university rankings. Notably, it came 84th in its debut appearance in the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings, placing it directly in Asia’s top 100. In the QS World University Rankings 2027, the University climbed sharply by over 120 places to 581st, its largest upward leap in recent years.
