| Project 1 | Professional development plan for teaching and professional services staff |
| Date | 01/2021 |
| Organisation | New Higher Education Group, China |
| Principal Investigator | Prof. Xiaojun Zhang |
| Revenue | 2.8 million RMB |
| Role | Coordinator & researcher |
| Experience gained | Strategic planning: Developed a comprehensive development plan for the Group, including two research projects, one shadow project and staff professional development programmes. Designed clear objectives, milestones and action plans, ensuring meeting the expectations of the stakeholders. |
| Project 2 | How to be the happy parents of university students |
| Date | 01/2020 |
| Organisation | Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China |
| Principal Investigator | Prof. Xiaojun Zhang |
| Role | Project Director, coordinator & researcher |
| Experience gained | Recruitment of participants: Successfully surveyed 2,000 parents of first year students. Survey analysis: Analysed survey data using SPSS and identified 14 key themes. These themes were used to design both online and face-to-face courses to improve communication between parents and their children during the transition from school to university. Focus group: Conducted focus group discussions to gain insight into the 14 key themes. Comments were used to improve the course design to ensure its relevance and effectiveness. |
| Project 3 | The Validity of Grades by Examining the Policies, Practices, Values, and Consequences of Teacher-Constructed Grades in Canada & China |
| Date | 05/2019 |
| Organisation | Faculty of Education, Queen’s University, Canada |
| Principal Investigator | Prof. Liying Cheng |
| Role | Coordinator |
| Experience gained | Survey coordination and collaboration: Collaborated with the Queen’s research team to refine, send, and collect questionnaires in Chinese schools. Successfully recruited Chinese K-12 school leaders and facilitated their participation in the research project. |
| Project 4 | School Leadership in International Environments |
| Date | 10/2018 |
| Organisation | UCL Centre for Educational Leadership, University College London, UK |
| Principal Investigator | Prof. Xiaojun Zhang |
| Role | Project director, coordinator & researcher |
| Experience gained | Survey design and data analysis: Developed online questionnaires aligned with research objectives. Used SPSS to analyse questionnaire data and identify key themes. Used this data to design a tailored five-day professional development programme for newly recruited vice-principals in Suzhou. Collaboration and evaluation: Collaborated effectively with a team of three academics from UCL to design a professional development programme based on research findings. Maintained the effectiveness of the professional development programme through regular feedback and evaluation. |
| Project 5 | Leadership Assessment for School Principals in Chaoyang District, Beijing |
| Date | 10/2017 |
| Organisation | The Education Committee & the Working Committee of Chaoyang, China |
| Principal Investigator | Prof. Xiaojun Zhang |
| Revenue | 200,000 RMB |
| Role | Project director & researcher |
| Experience gained | Model creation: A five-dimension leadership assessment model was designed to structure online questionnaires to assess Chinese school principals’ leadership behaviours. Data analysis: Questionnaire data collected from 95 participants were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) with Amos. Report writing: Wrote a full report including analysis of leadership behaviours, recommendations and professional development programmes for principals. |