On the afternoon of December 18, the 6th International Young Scholars Forum of the School of Foreign Languages (SFL), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) was held at Yang Yongman Building on the Minhang Campus. Outstanding young scholars from home and abroad participated in the forum through a combination of online and offline methods. Qian Wentao, Deputy Director of the Human Resources Office of SJTU; Shang Biwu, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages; Zhen Fengchao and Jiang Yan, Vice Deans of the school; as well as directors of various departments and professor representatives attended the forum. The opening ceremony was hosted by Ren Zhujing, Deputy Secretary of the SFL Party Committee.
Qian Wentao, in his speech, congratulated on the successful opening of the forum. He pointed out that Shanghai Jiao Tong University, as a comprehensive research university with solid foundations and a broad platform, has always placed the construction of a world-class faculty at the core of its development. It fosters a strong awareness of talent cultivation and a clear orientation toward the utilization of talent, deepened the reform of talent development systems and mechanisms, and strongly supports its schools and departments in attracting outstanding talents from home and abroad through global recruitment, academic forums and other initiatives, committed to bringing in the best talents of all ages. He highly affirmed the rapid development of the School of Foreign Languages in recent years, stating that the Human Resources Office will work together with the school to continue to create a spirit of eagerness for talent and an atmosphere of respecting and cherishing talent, and join hands with outstanding scholars worldwide to jointly create a new chapter of disciplinary development and personal growth.
Shang Biwu reviewed the SFL's history dating back to the Translation Institute of Nanyang Public School founded in 1898, noting that the SFL has always kept pace with the development of the nation and the university, standing at the forefront of the times. He comprehensively introduced the history and development of the school from aspects such as discipline characteristics, research project approvals, award-winning achievements, talent cultivation, social services, and faculty development. Looking to the future, he emphasized that the school will align itself with major national strategies such as building a culturally strong country, an educationally strong country, a talent-rich country, a Healthy China, and global governance. It will make forward-looking arrangements in key research areas including language acquisition and testing, translation and cross-cultural communication, language and health, regional and country studies, and language data science, contributing the wisdom and strength of SJTU’s foreign language discipline to building a Chinese-characteristic philosophy and social science system and the service of Chinese-style modernization.
Young scholars attending the forum respectively introduced their educational backgrounds and scientific research work. Jin Wenfeng, Director of the Japanese Department; Xue Yuan, Director of the German Department; Li Hongde, Director of the Postgraduate College English Division; and professor representatives including Ding Hongwei, He Weiwen, Jin Yan, Wang Shengyuan and Yuan Boping conducted in-depth academic exchanges with the young scholars. The scholars’ research areas were extensive and profound, covering both cutting-edge and traditional research directions such as digital humanities, language and health, language intelligence, second language acquisition, English literature, and corpus-based translation studies. The on-site communication was lively with frequent online interactions, fully demonstrating the broad academic horizons of young foreign language scholars.
The 6th International Young Scholars Forum of the School of Foreign Languages was hosted under the auspices of SJTU’s Zhiyuan International Young Scholars Forum. It was not only a grand academic exchange event, but also a key step for the school to pursue long-term development and promote the connotative development of its disciplines. Young scholars in attendance conducted in-depth discussions with faculty representatives of various academic directions in the school, further building consensus on development, expanding disciplinary boundaries, and injecting new vitality and wisdom into advancing the construction of a world-class foreign language discipline with distinctive SJTU characteristics. The forum was a complete success.