Meeting with Kangping Du
Tell us about your time at Sciences Po?
My time at Sciences Po was actually both challenging and fruitful. Because of the requirement of high quality in the doctoral dissertations, doing a PhD at Sciences Po Law School has never been an easy task. However, as well as the firm academic and moral support, my supervisor Professor Diego P. Fernández Arroyo gave me full freedom to explore and to try out ideas. This had been very important for me. During my first three years of the doctoral studies, I had forced myself to attend as many lectures and seminars held in the law school as possible. Through these activities, I had got to know what world-class legal research should look like. This had influenced my research a lot. Also, I had very happy interactions with the people in Sciences Po, including professors, administrative staff and doctoral colleagues.
Tell us about your current professional pursuits?
Currently, I am working as a lecturer at the law school of Shanghai International Studies University. This is a university specializing in foreign language studies and diplomatic studies.
What are some of the challenges that you face daily?
My work in the law school includes teaching, doing research and guiding the moot court competition team. As a newcomer to the academia, teaching has been challenging for me. Knowing something is one thing, passing it clearly to students is another thing. Another challenge is to balance the time distributions among research, teaching and other miscellaneous work.
What advice would you give students and PhD candidates at Sciences Po Law School?
During my doctoral studies, I gave up my chance to study abroad for one year. I have regretted it deeply. Hearing more voice has always been beneficial to doing research. Also, I wish to say that doing a PhD has been more that finishing the dissertation. Doctoral students should also be active in publishing, attending academic activities in the destination markets and so on. Cultivating a mature scholar has been a systematic project.