Congratulations to Ms Ziying LIANG for being awarded the HKU Foundation First Year Excellent PhD Award 2023/24. The Award gives due recognition to PhD students who have excellent performance during the probationary period.
Ziying is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Law. Her research interests are in procedure law and public interest litigation and her doctoral research currently focuses on the public interest litigation against wildlife crimes in Mainland China.
Prior to her doctoral research at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), she obtained her Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from South China Normal University (SCNU, 2013-17). Afterwards, she obtained a MPhil degree in Procedure Law from the Graduate School of China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL, 2017-20) and graduated as an Outstanding Graduate Student from the School of Criminal Justice.
During her PhD studies at HKU, Ziying also works as a research assistant at the Faculty of Law, assisting in editing books and participating in research projects of the Faculty. She is a student fellow of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies at HKU. Ziying has published articles on public interest litigation in both English and Chinese Journals and delivered speeches at relevant conferences in Asia. Her articles have received several awards for their contributions. Additionally, she has been appointed as one of the student representatives of the RPg students of the Faculty of Law for the academic year of 2023-25.
1. What is the topic of your study?
I started my doctoral career with research and exploration of public interest litigation in China, which was also the topic of my MPhil thesis. At present, my research interests lie in the areas of public interest litigation and criminal litigation, with a particular focus on public interest litigation against wildlife crimes.
2. What have been your main achievements?
This summer, I am honoured to have been selected as a recipient of the HKU Foundation First Year Excellent PhD Award 2023/24. I think two achievements during my probation period greatly helped me to achieve this honour. Firstly, my research interest drove me to participate in the paper call for the Symposium on Strictly Preventing and Controlling Environmental Risks and Safeguarding National Ecological Security in Accordance with the Law, which was the Annual Conference of the China Ecological Civilization Research and Promotion Association and the Ad Hoc Committee on Multiple Settlement Mechanisms for Environmental Disputes of the Chinese Society of Environmental and Resources Law in 2022. Among the 123 submitted articles, my conference article ‘An Empirical Study on Wild Animal Conservation under the Threshold of the Criminal Incidental Civil Public Interest Litigation in the PRC – Based on 496 Judgments’, was selected as the second-prize winner (the first of seven second-prize articles) following expert review. Secondly, during my probationary period, I submitted an article to the Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy, an internationally renowned peer-reviewed journal of high standing, and was successful in having it published in 2023.
In addition, my new article ‘Restorative Compensation Mechanism for Criminal Incidental Civil Public Interest Litigation Relating to Marine Ecology in the Greater Bay Area of Mainland China – A Sample of First-instance Judgements on Marine Ecological Offences’ (the first of nine third-prize articles), has been successfully awarded the Third Prize of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Legal Forum (GBA Legal Forum 2024). I am honoured and delighted to be invited to participate in this forum on behalf of the third-prize winners. This article has been presented in the conference proceedings on 30 August 2024, and will be published in the Chinese peer-reviewed journal – Nomocracy Forum (a Chinese academic journal indexed by the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI)) in April 2025.
3. How do you feel about receiving this award?
I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to the University of Hong Kong Foundation for recognising my excellent academic performance during the probationary period. I have to say that pursuing a doctoral career is undoubtedly a challenging mission, and it does require great determination and perseverance. I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to my supervisor, Professor Amanda Whitfort, for her continuous support and warm encouragement throughout my journey of self-surpassing. Additionally, I wish to express my thanks to my co-supervisor, Professor Richard Cullen, who contributed many insightful ideas to our discussions, as well as Professor Simon Young, who generously provided me with advice and encouragement in my academic life. I am also profoundly grateful to my family and close friends for their companionship and understanding along the path I have chosen. I always believe that the pursuit of continuous self-surpassing is a lifelong journey that enriches our lives in countless ways. Failure is not fatal; rather, it is the courage to persist that truly matters. I wish all those who have chosen doctoral studies the happiness and success that belong to them in their journey.
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