Staff profile

Education

Durham University, Department of Archaeology  PhD in Archaeology, 2024–present

University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, School of History, Department of Archaeology  MA in Archaeology, 2021–2024

Xinjiang University, School of History, Department of Archaeology  BA in Archaeology, 2017–2021

Current research

I am working on Bronze Age pastoralist communities in the Bortala River Basin, Xinjiang, China. My thesis combines agent-based modelling with GIS to study mobility in this region.

I am also interested in AI-assisted archaeological methods, particularly the use of reinforcement learning and agentic AI in agent-based models, and the application of AI techniques to Buddhist and grotto temple archaeology.

Publications and Research Projects

Co-author (with He Liqun), 'Major Advances in Chinese Cave-Temple Archaeology in the New Era', in Research Reviews of Archaeological Subfields in China. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press (forthcoming) [in Chinese].

Contributor, Collected Archaeological Materials on Religion in Xinjiang: Archaeological Reports (forthcoming) [in Chinese].

Research Team Member, 'Medieval State Monasteries in China and Their Influence on East Asia', National Social Science Fund of China, Special Program for Rare and Endangered Disciplines (冷门绝学专项). September 2021 – March 2023.

Research Interests

• Computational archaeology, especially agent-based modelling, GIS
• Pastoral archaeology and the social complexity of pastoralist societies
• Religious archaeology

Honours and Awards

• Outstanding Graduate of Beijing Municipality, 2024
• National Scholarship for Master's Students, Ministry of Education of China, 2022
• Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis, Xinjiang University, 2021
• National Scholarship for Undergraduate Students, Ministry of Education of China, 2020
• National Encouragement Scholarship, Ministry of Education of China, 2019
• National Encouragement Scholarship, Ministry of Education of China, 2018