Dr Nengzheng Shi

Inspired by the work of Daisaku Ikeda, the late president of the Soka Gakkai International, Nengzheng received his doctorate in 2025 for his thesis entitled ‘Dialogue and nonviolent discipline in nonviolent resistance movements: The case of Hong Kong’s Anti-ELAB movement.’ His PhD thesis explores the use of dialogue among individuals and between communities through the lens of nonviolent resistance. Through this thesis, he is interested on how interpersonal dialogue functions to resist power and operates in the uptake of nonviolent discipline within nonviolent resistance movements.

Nengzheng graduated from the Master program in July 2020 and proceeded to his PhD in October 2020. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science (honours) from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, where he completed a thesis which investigated the fluid identities that impede attempts of smoking cessation for smokers. Prior to embarking on further studies at the University of Queensland, he also engaged in research work at a private healthcare company and then the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, where he was involved in a multi-site wellbeing project spearheaded by Stanford University. He is hugely passionate about teaching and has served as a teaching assistant in 7 different courses within the undergraduate and postgraduate programs at UQ since 2022.