About
Research Interests
Research Supervision Interests
I am interested in supervising MA and PhD students working in the areas of professional learning, immigrant education, immigration and transnationalism, gender and work, prior learning assessment and recognition, and other areas related to adult education and globalization.
Individual research Interests
Professional learning, emotional work, workplace learning, social construction of skill, prior learning assessment and recognition; immigration and globalization, participatory action research; institutional ethnographic study; organizational learning; diversity work
Bio
Dr. Shan was born and raised in Mainland China and immigrated to Canada in her adult years. Her academic work focuses on the changing work and learning practices in the context of migration, globalization, and transnationalism. She has conducted research and published in the areas of work and learning, knowledge “transfer” and translation, lifelong learning, organizational learning, diversity work, and migration, integration, and transnationalism. For her research, she has utilized community-based participatory research, institutional ethnography, life history research, situational analysis, critical discourse analysis, and mixed methods.
Research and Education
Education
Awards
Killiam Faculty Research Award
Research Projects
Adult Learning and Education in Immigrant Settlement and Integration (ALEin-ISI) Partnership
2023-2026
SSHRC Partnership Development Project
Principal investigator: Dr. Hongxia Shan
This partnership development project aims to develop a comparative understanding of Canada and Germany’s adult learning and education (ALE) systems for immigrants and refugees. It also endeavours to build a dialogue network for ALE researchers and practitioners to facilitate knowledge exchange and mutual learning. For more information on the team and project, please visit ale-in-isi.ubc.ca
Doing “diversity” in practice: Immigrants and knowledge “transfer” in engineering and healthcare in Canada Completed
2019 – 2023
SSHRC Insight
Principal investigator: Dr. Hongxia Shan
Co-investigators: Dr. Michelle Stack; Dr. Peter Wong and Dr. Thomas Tannert
Project consultants: Dr. Chris Campbell from Fraser Valley and Dr. Agnes d’Entremont, UBC
Focusing on engineering and healthcare, both knowledge intensive fields where immigration is a major source of workforce growth in Canada, the project is designed to explore, from multiple perspectives, immigrants’ KT practices, i.e., how immigrants bring forth their prior learning, or their ways of knowing, doing and being as they participate in shaping professional practices.
Expanding organizational capacity to afford professional learning: A study with immigrant services providers in the context of diversity work Completed
2019 – 2020
SSHRC Engage Grant
Principal Investigator: Dr. Hongxia Shan
Co-investigator: Amy Cheng (Director, Strategic Initiatives and Integration)
The overall goal of the project is to expand the organizational capacity of a community-based organization to foster professional learning among its staff members in the context of diversity work, i.e., work that involves engagement with social and cultural differences.
The Hard Working Student: A Canadian Study Current June, 2018 – May, 2021
SSHRC Insight Grant
Principle investigator: Dr. A. Taylor (UBC)
Co-investigator: Wolfgang Lehmann (U Western Ontario); Kiran Mirchandani (UofT); Milosh Raykov (U Malta); H Shan (UBC); Robert Sweet (Lakehead);
Knowledge transfer as an unfolding practice: A case study of a global health education partnership program Completed June, 2016 – May, 2017
UBC Faculty of Education HSS Seed Grant
Principle investigator: H. Shan
Co-investigator: T. Sork
Learning as boundary crossing practice: an exploratory study of immigrants in the engineering profession in Canada Completed June, 2014 – May, 2016
SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Principle Investigator: H. Shan,
Collaborators: Dr. John Jenness (Engineering) and Karen Sheehan (Nursing) from BCIT; Dr. Tannert Thomas (Civil Engineering) and Dr. Nashon Samson and Chris Campbell (Education) at UBC.
The study challenges the deficit construct of immigrants through a strength-based study of immigrants’ learning within professions. It explores how immigrants advance professionally, with particular attention paid to the roles that they play in the transfer, translation and transformation of knowledge and practices in the engineering profession in Canada. The objectives of the study are: 1) to understand the contributions that immigrants make to professional knowledge and practices and the conditioning of their knowledge and learning practices, 2) to inform workforce professionals with measures to better harness immigrants’ knowledge and skills for the social and economic development of Canada.
http://blogs.ubc.ca/professionallearning/
Constitution of transnational social space: Migrant women managing careers in sciences and engineering between China and Canada Completed April, 2014 – April, 2014
Hampton Grant
Principal investigator: Dr. H. Shan
Co-investigators: Dr. John Jenness (Engineering) and Karen Sheehan (Nursing) from BCIT; Dr. Yueya Ding (Education) from National Academy of Education Administration, Beijing, PRC; Dr. Zhiwen Liu from South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PRC; and Dr. Tannert Thomas (Civil Engineering) and Dr. Nashon Samson (Education) at UBC.
The study asks three research questions: 1) how has transnational movement become a desirable option for women engineers and scientists? 2) how have the women managed their careers in the context of transnationalism? and 3) what social and institutional policies and practices have shaped the migration and settlement experiences and career trajectories of the women across places?
Cross-cultural learning for mentors: The unaccounted impacts of an immigrant workplace connection program Completed March, 2013 – March, 2014
Principal investigator: Dr. H. Shan
Co-investigator: Dr. S. Butterwick
This study looks at the cross-cultural learning experiences of 18 mentors on an immigrant mentoring program in Vancouver.
Community Gardens as Third Space: Informal Learning and the Performance of Everyday Practices in Multicultural Spaces Completed March, 2013 – March, 2014
HSS Grant
Principal investigator: Dr. P. Walter
Co-investigator: Dr. H. Shan
This study examines how transient migrants of diverse backgrounds learn to grow things and hybrid knowledge and practices in community gardens in Vancouver.
Selected Publications
Refereed journal articles
| Shan, H. (2024). Professional learning and knowledge ‘transfer’ in practice: Immigrant engineers reticulating the epistemic culture of the profession, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 10.1080/00131857.2024.2395339 |
| Mirchandani, K., & Shan, H. (2024). The social reproductive labour of university students with hostile Jobs. Journal of Youth Studies, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2024.2321157 |
| Shan, H. (2023). Expanding engineering practices: Immigrant accounts of innovation from a practice-based perspective, Studies in Continuing Education, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2023.2234829 |
| Shan, H., Ren, Z[1]., Ma, YH. (2022) Academic association through overseas visits: A multiple-case study of Chinese doctoral students from the perspectives of A(N35)T, Higher Education Research and Development https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2022.2130185 |
| Shan, H., Zhang, T., Sork, T., & Wong, P. (2021) Learning and knowledge ‘transfer’ as translation: A case study of a health partnership programme between Canada and China from the perspective of ANT. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2021.1987193 |
| Shan, H., Cheng, A., Peikazadi, N., & Kim., Y.(2021). Fostering diversity work as a process of lifelong learning: A partnership case study with an immigrant services organization, International Review of Education, 67, 771–790. |
| Zhang, T.J., Shan, H.， Lin, R.R. (2021). 促对话，重探究： UBC研讨式课程的教学设计与策略分析, 复旦教育论坛 19卷[第2期] 56-62. Dialogue-based and Inquiry-centred: The teaching design and strategies of a seminar-style curriculum at the University of British Columbia, Fudan Education Forum, 19(2), 56-62. [Published in Chinese only] |
| Shan, H. (2020). Knowledge ‘transfer’ as sociocultural and sociomaterial practice: Immigrants expanding engineering practices in Canada, European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults. 11(3), 383-397. |
| Shan, H., Peikazadi, N., Rahemtulla, Z., Wilber, A., Sawkins, T. & Gossen, R.(2019). Entry to hospitality career for women and beyond: Immigrant training and feminist pedagogies and practices, Studies in the Education of Adults. https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2019.1595340 |
| Shan, H. (2019). Towards a postcolonial politics of appearance: Unsettling lifelong learning as a racial contract, International Journal of Lifelong Education. 38(1), 34-47, 10.1080/02601370.2018.1518348 |
| Morrice, L., Shan, H. & Sprung, A. (2018). Migration, adult education and learning, Studies in the Education of Adults, 49(2): 129-135. |
| Soong, H., Stahl, G., & Shan, H. (2018). Transnational mobility through education: a Bourdieusian insight on life as middle transnationals in Australia and Canada, Globalisation, Soceities, and Education, 16(2), 241-253. 10.1080/14767724.2017.1396886 |
| Shan, H. (2018). Elitist in façade: Chinese transnationalism reticulated within global capitalism between Canada and China, International Journal of Chinese Education 6, 133-157, DOI 10.1163/22125868-12340078 |
| Shan, H. (2017). Lifelong education and lifelong learning with Chinese characteristics: A critical policy discourse analysis, Asia Pacific Education Review, 18 (2), 189-201. |
| Shan, H., & Butterwick, S. (2016). Transformative learning of mentors from an immigrant workplace connection program. Studies in Continuing Education, 39(1), 1–15. DOI 10.1080/0158037X.2016.1167032 |
| Shan, H., Pullman, A., & Zhao, Q. (2016). The making of transnational social space: Chinese women managing careers and life between China and Canada, Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 25(2), 105-129. DOI: 10.1177/0117196816639056 |
| Shan, H. (2015). Distributed pedagogy of difference: Reimagining immigrant training and education, Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 27(3), 1-16. |
| Shan, H. (2015). Women, gender, and immigrant studies in Canadian adult education: An ethnographic content analysis. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 27(2), 46-63. |
| Shan, H. (2015). Towards a participatory model of governance: Settlement services in the training and education of immigrants. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education (NDACE), 146 (summer), 19-28. |
| Shan, H. & Fejes, A. (2015). Editorial: Skill regime in the context of globalization and migration. Studies in Continuing Education, 37(3), 227-235. |
| Shan, H. (2014). Continuous learning and its social organisation for engineers: An exploratory study in China, Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 54 (3), 320-342. |
| Shan, H., Liu, Z., & Li, L. (2015). Development by design: Vocational training for Liushou women in Rural China. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 67(1), 11-25. |
| Shan, H. (2014). Complicating the entrepreneurial self: Professional Chinese immigrant women negotiating occupations in Canada. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 13(2), 177-193. DOI:10.1080/14767724.2014.934069 |
| Shan, H. & Walter, P. (2014). Growing everyday multiculturalism: Practice-based learning of Chinese immigrants through community gardens in Canada. Adult Education Quarterly, 65(1), 19-34. |
| Shan, H., Muhajarine, N., Loptson, K., & Jeffrey, B. (2014). Building social capital as a pathway to success: Community development practices of an early childhood intervention program in Canada. Health Promotion International, 29(2), 244-255. DOI:10.1093/heapro/das063. |
| Shan, H. (2013). Skill as a relational construct: Hiring practices in the engineering profession in Canada. Work, Employment and Society, 27(6), 915-931. |
| Shan, H. (2013). The disjuncture of learning and recognition: Credential assessment from the standpoint of Chinese immigrant engineers in Canada. European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, 4(2), 189-204. |
| Guo, S. & Shan, H. (2013). The politics of recognition: Critical analysis of the foreign qualification recognition discourse in Canada. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 32(4), 464-480. |
| Shan, H., & Guo, S. (2013). Learning as sociocultural practices: Chinese immigrant professionals negotiating differences in the Canadian labour market. Comparative Education, 49(1), 28-41. |
| Shan, H. (2012). Learning to “fit in”: The emotional work of Chinese immigrant engineers in Canada. Journal of Workplace Learning, 24(5), 351-364. |
| Sangha J., Slade, B., Mirchandani, K., Maitra, S., & Shan, H. (2012). Skilled Invulnerability: An ethnodrama on learning in the racialized culture of contingency. Qualitative Inquiry, 18(3), 286-296. |
| Ng, R. & Shan, H. (2010). Lifelong learning as ideological practice: An analysis from the perspective of professional immigrant women. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 29(2), 169-184. |
| Shan, H. (2009). Shaping the re-training and re-education experiences of immigrant women: The credential and certificate regime in Canada. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 28(3), 353-369. |
| Shan, H. (2009). Practices on the periphery: Chinese immigrant women negotiating occupational niches in Canada. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 21(2), 1-18. |
| Maitra, S. & Shan, H. (2007). Transgressive vs. conformative: Immigrant women learning at contingent work. Journal of Workplace Learning, 19(5), 286-295. |
Refereed book chapters
| Shan, H. & Ren, Z. (2023). Lifelong learning as a globally diffused policy discourse in Asia in D. Malone, D. Kapur, & L. Kong, (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific Region, (pp. 534-552), Oxford Press. |
| Shan, H., Que, H., & Yao, X. (2022). Work and learning: Power, politics and approaches, in R. Tierney, F. Rizvi, and K. Ercikan (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education 4th (ed), (pp. 236-243), Elsevier Science. |
| Shan, H. (2022). Immigrant parenting. In A. C. Michalos (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life Research (pp. 3095-3098), New York: Springer Reference. |
| Shan, H. (2021). Work and Learning: Perspectives in Canada, In Brigham, S. Jubas, K., McGray, R. (Eds.), Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Canada – Advancing a Critical Legacy (pp. 315-325 ), Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing. |
| Shan, H. (2020). Towards a postcolonial politics of appearance: Unsettling lifelong learning as a racialcontract in S. Guo & S. Maitra (Eds.), Decolonising Lifelong Learning in the Age of Transnational Migration (pp.34-47), Routledge. [Reprint] |
| Shan, H. & Guo, S. (2020). Migrant Education, Rocco, T., Smith, M. C. Mizzi, R., Merriweather, L. R. Hawley, J.D. (Eds.), 2020 Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education (pp. 436-444), Sterling, VA: Stylus. |
| Shan, H., Muhajarine, N., Loptson, K., & Jeffrey, B. (2019). Building social capital as a pathway to success: Community development practices of an early childhood intervention program in Canada. In J. Hayden (ed.), Health Behavior Theory, (pp. 260-275), Johnes & Bartlett Learning, LLC. [Reprint]. |
| Shan, H. (2018). Reconfiguring the Learning Space: Skilled Immigrants in Canada, In J. Holford, P. Jarvis, M. Milana, R. Waller & S. Webb (Eds.), Handbook of Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning (pp. 687-706), London: Palgrave McMillan. |
| Guo, S. & Shan, H. (2016). The politics of recognition: Critical discourse analysis of recent PLAR policies for immigrant professionals in Canada. In P. Andersson, A. Fejes & F. Sandberg (Eds.), Recognition of Prior Learning: Research from Around the Globe (pp.60-76). London: Routledge. [Reprint] |
| Shan, H. (2016). Complicating the entrepreneurial self: Professional Chinese immigrant women negotiating occupations in Canada. In S. Guo (Ed.), Work, Learning and Transnational Migration: Opportunities, Challenges, and Debates (pp. 7-31). London: Routledge. [Reprint] |
| Shan, H. (2016). Changing practices and shifting perceptions: Chinese immigrants “integrating” into theengineering profession in Canada. In H. Cao & J. Paltiel (Eds.), Facing China as a New Global Superpower (pp. 147-162), Singapore: Springer Science+Business Media Singapore. |
| Shan, H. & Guo, S. (2016). Massification of Chinese higher education: Opportunities and challenges in aglobalizing context. In S. Guo & Y. Guo (Eds.), Spotlight on China: Chinese Education in the Globalized World (pp. 215-230), Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Sense Publishers. [Reprint] |
| Shan, H. & Guo, S. (2014). Massification of Chinese higher education: Opportunities and challenges in aglobalizing context, in M. Kariwo, T. Gounko, & M. Nungu (Eds.), A Comparative Analysis of Higher Education Systems: Issues, Challenges and Dilemmas (pp. 9-24), Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. |
| Ng, R., & Shan, H. (2013). Lifelong learning as an ideological practice: An analysis from the perspective of immigrant women in Canada. In S. Guo (Ed.), Transnational Migration and Lifelong Learning: Global issues and perspectives (pp. 7-21). Oxon: Routledge. [Reprint]. |
| Shan, H. (2014). Immigrant parenting. In A. C. Michalos (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life Research (pp. 3095-3098). New York: Springer Reference. |
| Shan, H., Muhajarine, N., & Loptson, K. (2014). Tripartite collaboration and challenges: Reflecting on the research process of a participatory program evaluation. In B. Jeffery, I. M. Findlay, D. Martz, & L. Clarke (Eds.), Journeys in Community-based Research (pp. 122-136). Regina: University of Regina Press. |
| Guo, S. & Shan, H., (2013). Canada. In A. Schuster, M. V. Desiderio, & G. Urso (Eds.), Recognition of Qualifications and Competencies of Migrants (pp. 229-254). Brussels: International Organization forMigration. |
| Shan, H. (2012). Articulating the self to the engineering market: Chinese immigrants’ experiences from a critical transformative learning perspective. In H. Bauder (Ed.), Immigration and Settlement: Challenges, Experiences and Opportunities in Global and Local Contexts (pp. 95-108). Toronto: Canadian Scholars’Press. |
| Macqueen, F., Muhajarine, N., Shan, H., & Nickel, D. (2011). Early childhood intervention in the community… makes sense, but does it really work? Findings from our three-year collaborative study. In Population health intervention research casebook, (pp. 41-44). Ottawa: Canadian Institute of Health Research – Institute of Population and Public Health. Retrieved from http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/43472.html |
| Mirchandani, K., Ng, R., Coloma-Moya, N., Maitra, S., Rawlings, T., Shan, H., Siddiqui, K., & Slade, B. (2011). The entrenchment of racial categories in precarious employment. In N. Pupo, D. Glenday, & A. Duffy (Eds.) The shifting landscape of work (pp.119-138). Toronto: Nelson Educational. |
| Mirchandani, K., Ng, R., Coloma-Moya, N., Maitra, S., Rawlings, T., Shan, H., et al. (2010). Transitioning into precarious work: Immigrants’ learning and resistance. In A. Taylor & P. Sawchuk (Eds.), Challenging transitions in learning and work: Reflections on policy and practice (pp. 231-242). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. |
| Mirchandani, K., Ng, R., Colomo- Moya, N., Maitra, S., Rawlings, T., Shan, H., et al. (2008). The paradox of training and learning in a culture of contingency. In D. W. Livingstone, K. Mirchandani, & P. Sawchuk (Eds.), The Future of Lifelong Learning and Work (pp. 171-184). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. |
Underlined names are students and community collaborators.
EDST Activity
Students Supervised
Jiin Yoo (Ph.D.) Transnationalism and migrant youth.
Marc de Asis (Ed.D.). Robotics education (Co-supervisor: Dr. Tom Sork)
Mehran Jamshidi (Ed.D.) Impacts of the project management program for immigrant engineers (Co-supervisor: Dr. Tom Sork)
Christy Frost (M.A). Multimodal Possibilities for Intercultural Engagement: An Analysis of a Popular Chinese as Second Language Textbook.
Anthony B Roberts (M.A). Aspiration Realized? The ‘Underprepared’ and Degree Completion in BC Universities (Co-supervisor: Dr. Fei Wang)
Yeonjoo Kim (Ph.D.) Exploring the relationships of work, learning, and life: A multiple-case study of five Korean millennials who have voluntarily left decent jobs
Pamela Yuan (M.A) in “diversity leadership in the school system (Co-supervisor: Dr. Michelle Stack)
Nasim Peikazadi (Ph.D.) Understanding integration: A critical examination of refugee employment integration services in Canada (Co-supervisor: Dr. Alison Taylor)
JiAi Cho (Ed.D.) Transformative Learning with postcolonial sensitivities: Collaboration among members of education beyond borders of Canada and Kenya.
Siyi Chen (Ph.D.) International students and higher education in Canada (Co-supervisor: Dr. Jude Walker)
Anjum Kang (Ed.D.) (2022). “In search of ‘home’: Untold stories of people from Dadaab refugee camp studying at Canadian postsecondary institutions” (Co-supervisor: Dr. Samson Nashon)
Caroline Locher-Lo (Ph.D.) (2020). Mandarin bilingual program: An instrumental case study of heritage language and Chinese-Canadian identity (Co-supervisor: Dr. Handel Wright)
Rachel Goosen (M.A.) (2019). Understanding communities of support for resettled refugee children and their families: An appreciative inquiry in metro Vancouver.
Yanxian (Queenie) Mo (M.A.) (2016) “Top” overseas talent as a distinguished social group: A policy study using critical discourse analysis.
Courses taught
EDST 565D (081): Rethinking Skill and Competency: Theories, Policies, and Practices
EDST 565 D (085): Work and Learning in the Context of Globalization and Immigration
EDST 581 (971): Theories and Research on Adult Learning
EDST 508A: Review of Research in Educational Studies
EDST 571 : Introduction to Educational Research
ADHE 327: Teaching Adults
Additional
Memberships
2022- present: General Member, Executive Board of the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association;
2020- 2021: President, the executive board of the Canadian Association for the Studies of Adult Education;
2016 – present: Member, Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE);
2016 – present: Member, The Comparative and International Education Society of Canada (CIESC);
2013 – present: Member, The Canadian Association for the Studies of Adult Education.
Invited keynotes – selected
2022 (July): Knowledge Translation in Practice: Career Stories of Immigrant Engineers in Canada, Researching Work & Learning International Conference, Toronto, Canada;
2021 (Oct.): Diversity work as organizational learning: A partnership case study with an immigrant services organization in Canada, the 2nd International conference on Culture and Symbiosis Education & LEAD2 LEAD2 Workshop. Guangxi Normal University, Guangxi, China
2018 (Mar.): Ee/de-centring the self: continuous career development in the era of mobility and super-diversity, BC Career Development Conference, BC Career Development Association, Vancouver, BC. Canada.
2017 (Oct.): Learning as border practices: Rethinking learning society from a diasporic space, 18th International Conference on Education Research, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
Invited expert speaker – selected
Shan, H. (2022). Diversity work as organizational learning: Practices of SUCCESS – an Immigrant Services Organization, NIICP Northern Summit, Oct. 26-27. Hybrid event, Yukon: Multicultural Centre of the Yukon.
Shan, H. (2022). Educational Research: Trends, Components, and Process, The Higher Education Institution, Beijing: Beihang University.
Shan, H. (June 2021). Integration as a practice-based process: Professional immigrants navigating the labour market in Canada, Short-term Overseas Study Special Program – 2021 Spring, Kokkaido University, Japan.
Shan, H. (2019). Invited Panel Speaker, Becoming a researcher, Pre-Conference for Graduate Students and Post-doctoral Scholars, The Comparative and International Education Society of Canada (CIESC) of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE). June 4, Vancouver: University of British Columbia.
Shan, H. (2019). Invited Learning Circle Speaker, Minding the w/hole of society approach of integration: Invisible work by community organizations, Concordia University, March 28, Montreal, Canada.
Shan, H. (2019). Invited Panel Speaker, Towards ethical IHE: pluralization of discourses at a Canadian institution, international conference on the role of internationalization strategies, Building a World-Class University, Institute of Higher Education, May 12-13, Beihang University, Beijing China.
Shan, H. (2019). Invited Closing Panel Speaker, The Main Challenges for Socially Responsible Research into Work and Learning in Different Regions of the World, 11th International Conference on Researching Work and Learning, July 24-26, Giessen, Germany.
Shan, H. (2018). Invited Panelist, Conducting field research: strategies & perspectives, UBC Summer School in Migration Research Methods, Jun. 20, CK Choi Building, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Canada.
Shan, H. (2017). Invited Panel Speaker, Supervisory relationship, Pre-Conference for Graduate Students and Post-doctoral Scholars, Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, May 27, Toronto: Ryerson University.