“Have a sense of story—recognize when someone is telling you a story, absorb the story, receive it whole, including the unsaid hints and guesses about what might be left unsaid. Absorb, interpret, and honor these elements, and then be moved by them to action” (Rita Charon).
Mia Chen Ma’s research bridges the fields of literature, environmental, and medical humanities. A literature enthusiast since childhood, she believes in the transformative power of narratives, as our understanding of the world is profoundly shaped by the stories we believe, are exposed to, and create. Her broader intellectual project seeks to explore how literary narratives pose new questions about the reconciliation between humans and the more-than-human world beyond the constraints of existing socio-political structures and spatial and temporal barriers, fostering new forms of resistance.
Having completed her PhD in Chinese and Inner Asian Studies at SOAS, University of London, in October 2022, she was awarded the Wellcome Trust-funded Medical Humanities China-UK (MHCUK) Early Career Fellowship and is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Social History of Health & Healthcare, University of Strathclyde, Scotland.
Her first book, Ecocriticism in Chinese Science Fiction: Risk, Failure, and Solastalgia (forthcoming in 2025 with Brill in Open Access Model, supported by Wellcome Trust), is derived from her PhD thesis (funded by UCCL) and explores contemporary Chinese science fiction and its strong ecological themes. In addition to the monograph, her research has resulted in several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters that explore care ethics, empathetic technology, international surrogacy, and Daoist futurity. Her ongoing research is particularly interested in addressing the research gap on Asian narratives in expanding the trajectory of medical-environmental humanities and developing new methodologies, conceptual frameworks, and teaching materials for the field.
She has a passion for teaching and has had the honor of teaching a diverse group of students across continents and cultures (Wuhan, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Champaign, Dublin, London, Glasgow), while simultaneously being inspired by them. Absorbing cultures from around the world, she feels motivated to encourage not only herself but also others to create their own tales, exploring their fascination with and connection to the rest of the world.
She is committed to promoting diversity, inclusion, and equity through various public outreach initiatives that engage diverse audiences and partake in knowledge translation activities. She has collaborated with various institutions and community organisations to host and participate in a range of academic and cultural events. Her overarching objective has always been to establish connections—whether connecting individuals from different cultural heritages, linking various academic disciplines, or bridging the gap between students with diverse backgrounds.
