The British Association for Chinese Studies (BACS) invites early career researchers to submit an original research paper for consideration for the 2026 BACS Early Career Researcher Prize.
The research paper can be on any arts, humanities or social sciences topic on traditional or modern China, broadly conceived. All submissions must involve original research on China or Chinese language sources, and engage with relevant academic literature in Chinese studies.
Founded in 1976, BACS is a non-political organisation which aims to encourage and promote Chinese studies in the United Kingdom, in particular, by organising conferences, lectures, seminars and other appropriate activities, by disseminating information, and by encouraging co-operation among persons and organisations concerned with the study of China.
The British Association for Chinese Studies Early Career Researcher Prize was established in 2016 to:
- stimulate new research in arts, humanities and social sciences on traditional and modern China;
- recognise excellence in the field of Chinese studies;
- promote early career researchers in the field.
Previous prize winners include Dr Matthew Hurst (University of York), Dr Zhifeng Chen (University of Oxford), Dr Angela Becher (University of Liverpool), Dr Denise Kwan (UWE Bristol), Dr Kailing Xie (University of Warwick), Dr Pamela Hunt (University of Oxford), and Dr Coraline Jortay (University of Oxford).
The prize
The winner will receive:
- a cash prize of £500;
- reimbursement of travel costs to the 2026 BACS conference ( 2-4 Sept at Lancaster University);
- the opportunity to deliver a twenty-minute keynote address on their winning contribution at the 2026 BACS conference;
- additional guidance in editing the essay for submission to a peer-reviewed academic journal in the form of written feedback from our judges;
- mention on the BACS website, on BACS social media, and in the BACS Bulletin.
How to enter
Entries of between 7,000-10,000 words should be submitted to bacsuk@outlook.com The paper title and the email subject heading should be formatted as follows: ECR Prize – Applicant Name. Along with the paper, a letter from the entrant’s home institution confirming their status and/or a certificate confirming the PhD award date, as well as evidence of current BACS membership need to be submitted.
BACS takes academic integrity and the ethical use of AI seriously. At the end of your submitted paper, please state whether and, if so, how specifically you used AI in completing the manuscript.
All entries will undergo a rigorous anonymous peer review process. The winner will be selected from all entries based on the outcomes of the peer review process. In the event of a tie, judges from BACS Council will determine the winning paper.
The submission deadline is midnight 02 June 2026.
Entrants should read the Competition Rules for full details of the terms and conditions of the prize.
Any queries should be directed to bacsuk@outlook.com
Previous winners
2025: Matthew Hurst. “Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park.”
2024: Zhifeng Chen. “Challenges Beyond the Curriculum: Rural Education’s Uphill Battle in China.”
2023: Aixia Huang. ‘Trans-gender things: Objects and the materiality of trans-femininity in Ming-Qing China.’ Gender & History, 34:1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12766
2022: Fei Huang. ‘Stay-at-home Fathers in Contemporary Chinese TV Drama.’ British Journal of Chinese Studies, 13.1 (2023), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.51661/bjocs.v13i1.209
2021: Coraline Jortay. ‘Reclaiming Rubbish: Feiwu at the Intersection of Gender, Class, and Disability in Xiao Hong’s Market Street and Field of Life and Death.’ British Journal of Chinese Studies, 12.1 (2022), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.51661/bjocs.v12i1.153
2020: Angela Becher. ‘The Digital Illusion: New Media Artists Exploring the Phenomenology of Space.’ British Journal of Chinese Studies, 11 (2021), 114-134. https://doi.org/10.51661/bjocs.v11i0.72
2018: Kwan, Denise. ‘Dressing Up, Dressing Down! Situating Identities and Negotiating Otherness Through the Bodies of British Chinese Women.’ British Journal of Chinese Studies, 9.1 (2019), 117-159. https://doi.org/10.51661/bjocs.v9i1.28.
2017: Kailing Xie. ‘Premarital Abortion, What is the Harm? The Responsibilisation of Women’s Pregnancy among China’s “Privileged” Daughters’. British Journal of Chinese Studies, 8:1 (2018): 1-31. https://doi.org/10.51661/bjocs.v8i1.17
2016: Pamela Hunt. ‘Drifting Through the Capital: “Floating” Migrants and Masculinity in Xu Zechen’s Fiction’. Journal of the British Association for Chinese Studies 6 (2016): 1-34.
Competition rules
The entry requirements and rules are as follows:
- The Prize is open to all PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, or other early career researchers, defined for the 2026 Prize as a scholar who received their PhD in or after 2021. Entrants must be based at an institution in the United Kingdom. Evidence of status is required, e.g. a letter from the entrant’s home institution confirming status there and/or a certificate confirming PhD award date. You must also include evidence of your current, up-to-date BACS membership (for example, a confirmatory email from the BACS Treasurer) with your application.
- Research papers are to be between 7,000 – 10,000 words, inclusive of all footnotes and references and should conform to the Chicago Manual of Style 17th
- BACS takes academic integrity and the ethical use of AI seriously. At the end of your submitted paper, please state whether and, if so, how specifically you used AI in completing the manuscript.
- Permission must be obtained for the reproduction of illustrations.
- The competition is free to enter and only one entry per person is permitted.
- All entries must be submitted to bacsuk@outlook.com. The paper title and the email subject heading should be formatted as follows: ECR Prize – Applicant Name.
- Papers submitted for the British Association for Chinese Studies Early Career Researcher Prize must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
- The closing date for entries will be 02 June 2026 at midnight. Competition entries will go through double-blind peer review, and be scored by peer reviewers based on an additional question about the suitability of the paper for a prize. Where there is a tie, the final winner will be determined by a panel made of BACS Council members. The name of the winner will be announced on the British Association for Chinese Studies website and all submissions will receive feedback from the review process.
- The decision of the judges will be final and binding, and no correspondence will be entered into about it.
- The prize for the winner is non-exchangeable, non-transferable and no alternative is offered.
- There is no runner-up prize.
- In the unlikely event that, in the judges’ opinion, none of the essays submitted are of the required standard for the award of the prize, it will be offered for new entries the following year.
- The winner will be notified by email (using the email address provided at entry) in the second week of August. If the winner does not respond to the British Association for Chinese Studies within 7 days of being notified, then the winner’s prize will be forfeited and the British Association for Chinese Studies will be entitled to select another winner.
- Participants are deemed to have accepted and agreed to be bound by these terms and conditions upon entry. A copy of the terms and conditions can be viewed at http://bacsuk.org.uk. The British Association for Chinese Studies reserves the right to refuse entry, or refuse to award the prize to anyone in breach of the terms and conditions.
- The British Association for Chinese Studies does not accept any responsibility for entries not successfully completed due to a technical fault (including, but not limited to technical malfunction, computer hardware or software failure, satellite, network or server failure) of any kind.
- The British Association for Chinese Studies reserves the right to hold void, cancel, suspend, or amend the competition if it becomes necessary to do so.