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Staff Profile

Dr Meng Ren

Leverhulme Early Career Fellow

  • Email: meng.ren@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address: International Centre for Music Studies,
    School of Arts and Cultures,
    Armstrong Building
    Newcastle University,
    Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU
Background

As a multilingual ethnomusicologist and cultural anthropologist (Chinese, German, English, and Spanish), Dr Ren received his PhD degree in Music (2019) from the University of Pittsburgh where he studied with Akin Euba (African music), Adriana Helbig (East European music), Deane L. Root (American popular music), Andrew Weintraub (Southeast Asian music) and Bell Yung (East Asian music). He also holds a master’s degree in international higher education from New York University.


Meng read German and Music for his BA Arts degree and studied musicology for his MA degree at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (Maynooth University). He also obtained a Professional Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education while teaching Mandarin at the University Language Centre.


Meng joined the International Centre for Music Studies as an Early Career Fellowship in September 2023, having previously worked as a part-time lecturer and an academic advisor/student mentor at the University of Pittsburgh, New York University, Long Island University, and the University of Glasgow.


Selected Fellowships:

Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship

Chancellor’s Fellowships in China and Chinese Studies


Qualifications:

BA Arts (Double Honours) in German and Music, National University of Ireland, Maynooth

MA Arts in Musicology, National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Professional Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, National University of Ireland, Maynooth

MA Arts in Ethnomusicology, University of Pittsburgh

Graduate Certificate in Advanced Asian Studies, University of Pittsburgh

Graduate Certificate in Advanced Global Studies, University of Pittsburgh

Graduate Certificate in Advanced West European Studies, University of Pittsburgh

PhD Certificate in Cultural Studies, University of Pittsburgh

PhD in Music (Ethnomusicology), University of Pittsburgh

MA in International Education (Higher Education), New York University

Research

I am currently working on a project about the Chinese political culture during the early days of the People’s Republic of China, outlining how the performing arts supported nation-building and societal reform in the early 1950s. I have conducted research fieldwork in China, Taiwan, the United States, and Colombia. I also worked as a research assistant for Art History and Archeology projects on Eurasian metal culture. My other research interests include orientalism, politics of the intangible cultural heritage, cosmopolitism, sound and human emotion, music education, music and memory, as well as performance and conflict.


Selected Publications:

Ren, Meng. “Report: Henan Operatic Sound Museum,” ACMR Newsletter 26, no. 1 (2021): 5-9.

Ren, Meng. “Uniting Chinese Ethnic Minorities with Folk-songs: Hua’er as a National Heritage in China,” Irish Journal of Asian Studies 6 (2020): 75-93.

Ren, Meng. “Conference Report: CHINOPERL Annual Meeting and AAS Annual Conference,” ACMR Newsletter 22, no. 1 (2016): 9-10.

Ren, Meng. “Mahler’s Concept of Chinese Art in His Das Lied von der Erde,” Maynooth Musicology Postgraduate Journal 1 (2008): 154-178.

Teaching

MUS1011: Introduction to Ethnomusicology

Publications