Dr. Min Jiang is Professor of Communication Studies, an affiliate faculty member of International Studies and the Ph.D. program in Public Policy at UNC Charlotte. She is also CyberBRICS Visiting Professor at FGV Law School (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and a Planetary Politics Non-resident Scholar at New America’s Digital Futures program. She serves as a Secretariat member of the annual international Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC) as well as an Executive Steering Committee member and China director (Co-PI) of the Global Media & Internet Concentration Project (GMCIP), a $2.5 million CAD grant to investigate media ownership and concentration issues in 30+ countries. Previously, she served as Associate Editor of Sage journal Communication & the Public, and an Advisory Board Member of Project Mosaic, a university social science research initiative. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in new media technology, global media, communication theory and digital research methods. She serves on the editorial boards of several flagship journals in Communication Studies including International Journal of Communication, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Global Perspectives and Communication & the Public. In 2024, she’s elected as incoming Vice Chair of the Communication Law & Policy Division of International Communication Association (ICA), which turns into Chair in two years.
Dr. Jiang is an internationally recognized Chinese Internet and Internet governance scholar. Her work lies at the intersections of digital technologies, geopolitics and policy with a focus on China and increasingly the Global South (especially BRICS countries). Highly interdisciplinary, her work blends media and technology studies, political communication, international communication, law, policy studies, and information science. Previously, she’s published on Chinese digital technologies (search engine, social media, big data, social credit system), politics (digital activism, online political satire, diplomacy), business (Chinese Internet giants, business ethics, media and digital industries), and policies (real name registration, privacy, cybersecurity, digital sovereignty). Her work has appeared in leading communication journals including Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Policy & Internet, Information, Communication & Society, International Journal of Communication, Social Science Computer Review, and International Communication Gazette.
Currently, she pursues three research streams. One area focuses on Chinese digital policies and Global South linkages. A book she co-edited with Dr. Luca Belli (FGV Law School, Rio), Digital Sovereignty in the BRICS Countries, was published in 2025 in both print and open access formats by Cambridge University Press’s “Communication, Society and Politics” series. A future project plans to examine AI sovereignty. A second area attends to the digital political economy in China and the Global South. This is developed mainly through the funded Global Media & Internet Concentration Project (GMICP). In addition to providing publicly available data and advancing public interest research, special journal issues based on GMICP and a book project dedicated to media ownership and concentration in the Global South are also in planning. A third related research stream addresses US-China power relations, which can shape the previous two research areas in important ways. She’s co-editing a book under contract with Michigan State University Press’s “US‒China Relations in the Age of Globalization” series.
Dr. Jiang maintains an active profile of public and policy engagement. She participates in New America Foundation’s Digital Futures Task Force that examines data governance as well as sovereign AI since 2023. She also participated in 2024 as a member of the High-Level Executive Committee (HLEC) of NETmundial+10, a global forum debating global challenges for the governance of the digital world and setting the agenda from a multistakeholder perspective. In May 2024, she briefed congressional staffers through the “Global Perspectives on Technology Policy” panel organized by the U.S. Library of Congress. More of her previous public and policy engagements can be found below. She has been interviewed by national and international media outlets including Reuters, Foreign Policy, Financial Times, New Scientist, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Al Jazeera English, Deutsche Welle, Der Tagesspiegel, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) among others.
A recipient of over two dozen research/travel grants, Dr. Jiang was the first Research Fellow at UNC Charlotte’s Center for Humanities, Technology, and Science and an inaugural CyberBRICS Fellow with the FGV Law School (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) in 2019. Various research institutions, non-profit organizations and governmental organizations have invited her to present her work or funded her research including:
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) (2021-2028). Advisory board member, Co-PI and China team lead on a 40-country, 7-year grant for “Global Internet and Media Concentration Project” [Total funds: $2.5 million CAD]
- CyberBRICS Fellow, FGV Law School, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [Total funds: $15,000]
- Social Science Research Council (SSRC) (2013-2014), Media, Activism, and the New Political: InterAsian Perspectives. InterAsia Initiative. [Total funds: $25,000 for China team, led by Dr. Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania]
- National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR)
- New America Foundation, Digital Futures Task Force
- Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br)
- U.S. Library of Congress, Kluge Center
- International Reporting Project (IRP)
- National Humanities Center
- Fulbright Program
- Center for the Study of Contemporary China, University of Pennsylvania
- Stanford Law School, Center for Internet & Society
- Fairbank Center, Harvard University
- SAIS, Johns Hopkins University
- Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam Polytechnic, The Netherland
- Programme in Comparative Media Law & Policy, University of Oxford
- Institute of Chinese Studies, Free University of Berlin
- BRICS Study Group (GEBRICS), Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Hertie School of Government, Berlin, Germany
- French Institute of International Relations (Ifri)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Lund University (Sweden)
Dr. Jiang received her Ph.D. in Communication from Purdue University in 2007. Prior to pursuing her doctor’s degree in the U.S., she worked as an international news editor for Beijing Television (BTV) and China Central Television (CCTV) as well as assistant to director for Kill Bill I in China. Active in the local community, she previously served on the board of the Charlotte chapter of The National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP Charlotte) and is a member of the World Affairs Council of Charlotte.
Education
- Ph.D., Purdue University 2007
- M.A., Beijing Foreign Studies University, 2002
- B.A., Beijing Foreign Studies University, 1999
Appointments
Professor (2020 May – now) Department of Communication Studies, UNC Charlotte
Associate Editor (January 2019 – December 2021, Declined co-editorship in 2021) Sage journal Communication & the Public
Member of Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC) Secretariat (2015 May – now). CIRC is an annual international conference focused on the Chinese Internet. Started at USC, this conference has been hosted by various institutions including UC-Berkeley, MSU, NIT, Texas A&M, University of Hong Kong, University of Pennsylvania, Peking University, Georgetown, Oxford, Hong Kong Polytechnic, University of Alberta, Leiden University, RMIT University (Australia) in 2021, Hong Kong Baptist University in 2022, Chiang Mai (Thailand) in 2023, ADM+S Center (Australia) in 2024.
Chair of Faculty Advisory Council, Confucius Institute (August 2017 – May 2020) Provides faculty leadership in advising the Confucius Institute at UNC Charlotte
Confucius Institute Project Coordinator (May 2016 – May 2017) Led campus effort to establish a Confucius Institute at UNC Charlotte
College Diversity Coordinator (2013 July – May 2014 and July 2015 – 2016 July) Led college efforts in addressing diversity-related issues, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, UNC Charlotte
Associate Professor (2013 April – 2020 May) Department of Communication Studies, UNC Charlotte
Affiliate Researcher (2010 November – 2018) Center for Advanced Research in the Humanities, Complex Systems Institute, UNC Charlotte
Affiliate Researcher (2010 September – 2018) Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Affiliate Researcher (2009 January – 2010 September) Center for Humanities, Technology, and Science, UNC Charlotte
Affiliate Faculty (2008 August – now) International Studies, UNC Charlotte
Assistant Professor (2007 August – 2013 April) Department of Communication Studies, UNC Charlotte
Awards & Honors
NETmundial+10 High-Level Executive Committee (HLEC) (2024). At the invitation of Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, I joined the HLEC as a member and helped draft the final multistakerholder document Global Challenges in the Governance of the Digital World. São Paulo, Brazil. https://netmundial.br/
Top Faculty Paper Award (2022). Communication Law & Policy Division. International Communication Association (ICA).
CyberBRICS Visiting Professorship (Nov 2019 – current) FGV Law School, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Conducts policy research on data protection and cybersecurity in China and collaborate with other CyberBRICS fellows/professors to develop related policy frameworks.
CyberBRICS Fellow (May – November, 2019) FGV Law School, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Conducts policy research on data protection and cybersecurity in China and collaborate with other CyberBRICS fellows to develop related policy frameworks.
The Eduard B. Vermeer Prize for the Best Article from China Information in 2014 (2015). My co-author Jesper Schlaeger and I are given this award for our article Official Microblogging and Social Management by Local Governments in China, published in 2014 by Sage journal China Information.
Reassignment of Duties Leave (RDL) (2014 Spring). Granted competitive research leave for Fall 2014 by College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, UNC Charlotte.
Southern States Communication Association (SSCA) Top Paper Panel (2014). Richard W. Leeman, Min Jiang, and King-Wa Fu, “The Obamas Speak at the 2012 Democratic National Convention: The Sina Weibo Response.” Rhetoric and Public Address Division.
International Education Faculty Award Nomination (2013). Nominated by students to recognize faculty achievement in international education at UNC Charlotte.
International Women’s Day Celebration Nomination (2010). Nominated by students to recognize women on UNC Charlotte campus for the enrichment of a global community.
Annenberg-Oxford Summer Institute Lecturer (2009). Programme in Comparative Media Law & Policy, University of Oxford, UK.
Nominated for Outstanding Dissertation Award (2009). Political Communication Division of the National Communication Association (NCA).
UNC Charlotte Center for Humanities, Technology, and Science Summer Fellow (2008).
Editorial Boards
International Journal of Communication