Yanling Liang

Professor Yanling Liang is a distinguished educator and researcher specializing in public
education with a regional focus on Western China. She currently holds the position of
Academic Director at the Northwestern Branch of the National Center for Teacher
Education Research at Beijing Normal University. In addition, she serves as an Evaluator
for the National Evaluation of Teacher Education Programs at Chinese Higher Education
Institutions, a role appointed by the Center for Education Evaluation of the Ministry of
Education of the People’s Republic of China.

Her research encompasses a wide range of topics in public education, particularly the
literacy and well-being of rural left-behind children, the self-driven improvement of small
rural schools, and the professional development of teachers in these contexts. Her work
is grounded in a historical, comparative, and critical perspective, drawing on history,
psychology, philosophy, and life sciences. By integrating phenomenological writing with
both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, Professor Liang’s research underscores
the cultural mechanisms that drive educational innovation in diverse settings.

Professor Liang’s contributions to research and teaching in underdeveloped regions of
China have been recognized with numerous awards at the institutional, provincial, and
national levels, including grants from the National Education Science Fund of China and
the High-Level Fund awarded by Shaanxi Province.