Huddersfield Research Fellow is named Vice-President of CSSA-UK

A SENIOR Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield has been appointed the Vice-President of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA-UK), which is the largest community for Chinese students and scholars in the UK. 

Dr Zhen Tong is a researcher at the University’s award-winning Centre for Precision Technologies and will be using his own experience of how he came to study in the UK to inspire high-calibre students from China to come and study in the country. 

The CSSA-UK has a national following with over 150,000 registered members with approximately 50,000 fresh students arriving in the UK from China each year. 

The appointment will last twelve months and Dr Tong will be carrying out his duties as Vice-President of the CSSA-UK alongside his usual day-to-day research activities where he currently leads the Ultra-Precision Manufacturing Group and supervises a research team consisting of three PhD students and two research fellows.  

In the lead up to his national role as Vice-President, Dr Tong spent three years as President of CSSA-Huddersfield and prior to that he was himself a student member so is well-versed on what is expected of him during the next twelve months.

He already has big plans for the Association and says he aims to build links with more Chinese universities to encourage a greater number of high-achieving students to come to study in the UK.  

“Future students will be able to see from my own personal experience,” said Dr Tong, “that the importance of an active social agenda is paramount when helping you to settle in and make friends, and this is what I will be raising awareness of.” 

He also wants to make Chinese students more aware of the CSSA-UK as soon as they arrive in the country because if they don’t know about the Association they miss out on joining the group when initially starting their studies.  

“When I first joined as a student,” said Dr Tong, “I was given the opportunity to attend and then, further down the line, organise a variety of social events which gave me a wealth of experience that I just wouldn’t have had otherwise.  Furthermore, that experience continues to benefit me even now because it has taught me how to organise and manage my own current research group more effectively.  

“Ultimately, I aim to raise the profile of the CSSA-UK by telling future prospective students about the long-lasting benefits to be had, that will continue not only throughout their studies but also into their professional careers,” he said.