On November 24, 2019, Country and Regional Studies Base of the Ministry of Education, British Studies Centre, and Irish Studies Centre of Beijing Foreign Studies University held the Forum for European Studies as part of “Tradition, Integration and Innovation: Forums on English Language and Literature, and Translation Studies” at School of English and International Studies. Chaired by Professor Wang Zhanpeng, director of British Studies Centre and of Irish Studies Centre, this forum was divided into two parts: research reports by postgraduate students and academic lectures by experts.
In the first stage of this forum, PhD students Mu Jie, Zhang Xi, Zhou Jingyi, Liu Yinghe, Lv Dayong and MA students Wang Zhuo, Su Hui, Sun Tingwei and Lu Yaoyang from British Studies Centre and Irish Studies Centre delivered academic reports on UK-EU relations, UK-US relations, British political parties, Brexit and UK politics, economy, social development and other academic frontier issues. Prof. Wu Bikang, researcher from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zhao Huaipu, professor from China Foreign Affairs University, and Song Xiaomin, director and editor of Chinese Journal of European Studies were invited to give comments on the reports.
In the second stage of this forum, Dermot Keogh, professor of History at University College Cork in Ireland, gave an academic lecture on “Ireland: from statehood and independence to multilateralism and interdependence”. Professor Dermot also had in-depth interactive discussions with graduate students of British Studies Centre and Irish Studies Centre on the history of Northern Ireland.
This forum was funded by the high-level academic Forum for graduate students in foreign Languages and Literature of Beijing Foreign Studies University, under which English literature, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Country and Regional Studies, Translation Studies and Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) forums were set up to help graduate students to focus on major, frontier and topical issues in the exploration of disciplinary traditions and disciplinary boundaries in English and translation, and to improve graduate students' humanistic literacy, broaden their international vision and develop their excellent cross-cultural communication skills.
