My Life
2017 - Present
Researcher
Bioethics and Law
Digital Society Initiative (DSI)
Institute of Biomedical Ethics (IBME)
University of Zurich, Switzerland
After a year tangoing away in Argentina, I followed my heart and returned to academia. I have a broad research interest in the ethics assessment and responsible governance of emerging and future technologies, such as robotics, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence. Through evidence-based research into these transformative technologies of both enabling and disruptive nature, I aim to address the ethical, social, legal, and regulatory challenges they pose to society, explore responsive analytical approaches in the understanding and evaluation of them, and propose practical governance tools for the design, development, and use of them. Conceptually, I am interested in exploring philosophical notions such as identity, agency, autonomy, responsibility, justice, and the good life. Methodologically, I seek to draw an empirical perspective into ethics, and a normative perspective into science and technology studies.
2010 - 2015
Project Manager
Ethics
International Organisations
Geneva, Switzerland
Prior to returning to academia, I lived in Geneva for five years. During this time, I first worked as a project manager in different roles around ethics for a number of UN organisations. Three years later, I joined the private sector working for a Fortune 500 company on Business Ethics. I then joined the NGO sector working for a humanitarian organisation as the Ethics Policy Advisor. As a driven junior professional, these experiences helped me establish a career path that I was eager to pursue. Along the journey, they also made me aware of my own values, principles and commitments – which was one of the most precious revelations in my life, and which led me to my next adventure.
2007 - 2011
Graduate Studies
Applied Ethics
Political Science
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
Linköping University (LiU), Sweden
Having gone through an accident and lived on crutches for months, I promised myself to travel the world upon recovery. This brought me to Europe, where I lived in Scandinavia for three years and completed two Master’s studies in Sweden and Norway. My academic search was purely driven by curiosity – I wished to understand where China stood on the global stage, what made China so controversial, how the world was organized, and why people suffered from wars, conflicts, poverty and injustice. I initially looked for answers in politics, and soon realised that philosophy was more illuminating – which paved a research path that I eventually pursued years later.
2003 - 2007
Entrepreneur
Beijing, China
After graduating from university, I set up my own startup where I provided training courses in Chinese language and culture to foreign expats and diplomats. I was young and free, life was full of adventures and inspiration, and the future meant that sky was the limit. We live only once in our 20s, and mine was a true bliss.
1998 - 2003
Under-graduate Study
International Affairs
Beijing International Studies University (BISU), China
My university life in Beijing became an eternal nostalgia the moment it all ended. I was always curious, never tired of learning, and eager to explore and experiment. What I remember most about school life was the time I spent with my friends, strolling around the city, escaping lectures for cinemas, taking part-time jobs to make pocket money, or just laying on campus lawns daydreaming. My Beijing in its most authentic spirit has long gone, so has our youthful bond of simple but fearless joy.
Pre -1998
Slowly Growing Up
Beijing, China
My upbringing was quite different from that of my friends. I was extremely lucky that my childhood was not filled with endless math exercises or extracurricular activities, but with fun playing and free reading. Having a natural aptitude to articulate, to engage, and to connect, I became a sought-after storyteller, touring around the city giving “talk shows” with high popularity. Years later, when I accidentally got into improv theater, I instantly rejoiced in my young self – or perhaps – at my unleashed talents in their most fresh and intuitive forms.