Yuanyuan Chen is a lecturer in animation history and theory at Ulster University. She received her PhD in Film Studies from University College Cork (UCC) in 2015, with a thesis titled “Reframing Chinese Animation: From Classicism to Postmodernism in Post-1949 Non-commercial Chinese Animated Films”.

Dr. Chen’s work has been published in reputable peer-reviewed journals including Modernism/Modernity (John Hopkins University, H-INDEX 22), Journal of Chinese Cinemas, Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, and scholarly edited books such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: New Perspectives on Production, Reception, Legacy (Bloomsbury Academic), World Cinema on Demand: Global Film Cultures in the Era of Online Distribution(Bloomsbury Academic), The Frozen Phenomenon (Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming 2024), etc. She has also been invited as a guest lecturer at Waseda University in Japan, where she presented a series of lectures on East Asian cinema.

Currently, she is working on her monograph, Shanghai Animation Film Studio: History, Transformation and Aesthetics of Chinese Animation, 1950s – 1990s, which is under contract with Edinburgh University Press.

Dr. Chen’s primary research area focuses on contemporary Chinese animation, with a particular emphasis on the animation industry in China, Shanghai Animation Film Studio, as well as the exploration of modernism and postmodernism within Chinese animated films. Her comprehensive research interests span a range of topics, including animation history and theory, Asian animation, the intersection of animation with VR and AR technologies, Irish animation, experimental animation, non-fiction animation, and the broader scope of East Asian cinema.

Dr. Chen has served as a peer reviewer for numerous esteemed academic publishers and a diverse array of scholarly journals. These include CRC Press, Brill Academic Publishers, Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Animation Studies, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies (JCMS), Chinese Journal of Communication, The East Asian Journal of Popular Culture (EAJPC), Global Media and China, and Landscapes: The Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language, among others. 

Dr. Chen is a member & co-founder of BAFTSS Animation SIG, a member of the Editorial Board of Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen, and a member of the Society for Animation Studies (SAS).

PhD Supervision Completion

• Dr Rebecca Crawford, “Children’s Perceptions of Visual Novels: Comparing British and Japanese Illustrative Styles” (funded by DfE, conferred: 2021).

Current PhD Supervision

• Ms Yinan Wu, “Children’s Creative Products and Content Design Based on Chinese Traditional Aesthetics” (Commenced: 2019).
• Mr Dara Flanagan, “Recording and Representing Collective Memory and Cultural Identity through Animation and Character Design” (funded by DfE, commenced: 2022).

Dr. Chen coordinates/teaches the following modules:

• The World of Animation (BDes, L4)
• Animation Discourse (BDes, L5)
• Animation Dissertation & Industry Report (BDes, L6)
• Major Project (BDes, L6)
• Design Research and Development (MA, L7)
• Acting for Animation (MA, L7)