On the morning of September 15, the College of Humanities and Law held its ninth Faculty Development Workshop in Room 114 of the Arts and Science Building on BUCT’s Changping Campus. Under the theme “Exploring Academic Publishing and Sharing Ideas”, the workshop focused on publishing English-language monographs and sharing scholarship with international audiences. Joe Ng (Wu Zhihong), who works on law and business publishing for Hart Publishing in the Asia-Pacific region, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, was the guest speaker. College Party Secretary Zheng Xiuying and Vice Dean Xu Jun attended. Professor Zhao Huimiao, head of the Department of Law, hosted the workshop.

Joe Ng has extensive experience in academic publishing in the Asia-Pacific region. His work focuses on topics at the intersection of Chinese and Asian law, law and technology, climate change, and corporate governance. The workshop focused on how to write a compelling book proposal. He explained the key elements of a proposal and emphasized the importance of a clear research question, a comparative law perspective, and interdisciplinary methods. He also described Hart Publishing’s editorial review and peer review processes, four common review outcomes, the book production process and timeline, and the publisher’s policy on authors’ use of AI.

Faculty members discussed their research topics, submission strategies, and cross-cultural communication with the speaker. The workshop gave faculty a clearer understanding of the process of publishing a book internationally, from developing a proposal and writing a manuscript to publication. It also offered practical guidance on publishing English-language monographs. The College will continue to use its Faculty Development Workshop to help faculty increase the international reach of their scholarship and support the development of legal studies and the education of outstanding legal professionals.