As part of the Master Distinguished Lecture 10th anniversary celebrations, Shanghai Jiao Tong University International Graduate Student Academic Forum was held online on May 18th. Prof. Xu Xuemin, Vice President of SJTU, attended the event and delivered a speech. More than 200 postgraduates attended through online live broadcast. Nine outstanding international graduate students chosen from different schools of SJTU gave keynote speeches. Say Wah Lee, a PhD student at the School of Media and Communication was one of the presenters. 

In the forum, SMC’s Malaysian student Say Wah Lee gave a presentation titled “Examining the Sustainable City Image of Shanghai from the Tourists’ and Residents’ Perspectives”. In her report, she evaluates Shanghai's sustainable city image from the perspective of tourists and residents, and introduces new methods for sustainable city assessment, development and dissemination. 

Her research has shown that city image or destination image is measurable in terms of the sustainable development dimensions, i.e. economic, social, environmental, and cultural, with attributes that align with the dimensions. Overall, the report has shown that sustainable city image is an important factor that could affect the success of cities that needs to be taken seriously by urban authorities in order to meet the needs of the people and to ensure urban sustainability.

As a Shanghai Government Scholarship holder, Say Wah Lee has published 3 SSCI and SCI papers as the first author during her doctoral study, one of which has become among the most cited in the particular journal. She has also participated in grade A international conferences. She has reviewed over 40 manuscripts for journals and conferences, and received the ICA Conference’s Top Reviewers Award. She has been nominated for Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Excellent International Postgraduate Students Award.

In her final year of PhD study, there’s a lot she wants to share in regard to her experience in SMC. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor, Professor Ke Xue, for her relentless support and guidance throughout my PhD study. I would also like to thank the professors and lecturers in SMC for the knowledge they have passed on to me. Thanks also to all the admin officers who have taken care of my academic affairs. Because of them, my experience in SMC has been a fruitful one. Even though my time in Shanghai was cut short due to the pandemic, I was still able to proceed with my research writing, pass my final defense, and go through with the graduation process from home. I also managed to receive the SJTU Excellent International Postgraduate Student Award 2022. My PhD journey has been bitter sweet; there were certainly times when I felt things were not going to work out. But I reminded myself to not give up and to keep going. The reward in the end is all worth it. I hope that SMC continues to soar in national and international rankings. If fate allows, we may meet again.”