Professor Wei SHEN is the Director of Confucius Institute and Professor of International Business at Lancaster University and holds the Jean Monnet Chair in EU - China relations awarded by the European Commission. 

Prof Shen is also the founding Co-Chair of Alliance of Chinese and European Business Schools (ACE), and Vice-President of EU-Asia Centre. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Society of Arts, and has been a visiting professor at Sciences Po de Paris, Institut des Hautes Etudes Européennes (Strasbourg), Antwerp Management School and a number of leading Chinese universities. 

Prof Shen received his PhD in Human Geography from Loughborough University, LLM from Stockholms Universitet, European Master in Law and Economics and MA in Urban Management from Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, His academic pursuit also led him to CERI/CNRS Sciences Po Paris, Bocconi (Milan), Linkoping, Hamburg and Warwick universities. 

Prior to joining Lancaster University, Wei Shen worked as Associate Dean and Professor of International Affairs at ESSCA School of Management in Angers (France), research fellow at Centre Asie of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), and for a number of international organizations including Council of Europe (Strasbourg), Asia-Europe Foundation (Singapore), International Organisation for Migration (Geneva), UNESCO (Hamburg) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (Rome), as well as a foreign-owned enterprise in Shanghai.

Prof Shen has published widely on the topics of China/Asia-Europe relations, urbanisation and migration, China’s economy and business, internationalisation of Higher Education,  and his articles and interviews have appeared on Environment and Practices, International Journal of Educational Development, Environment and Planning A, Le Monde L'Atlas des civilisations, Asia-Europe Journal, Le Monde, Le Tribune, International Herald Tribune/New York Times, China Daily, Science Career, World Economic Forum, UK House of Commons and Xinhua News Agency etc.

Prof Shen is an independent academic expert for the European Commission and has been evaluating numerous research and academic programmes such as H2020 and FP7 Marie Curie Actions, Erasmus+ and Erasmus Mundus. He is also part of the peer review college for the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funding programmes and European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) accreditations.

Wei Shen serves on the editorial board for Journal of Contemporary China, Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies and has reviewed for the Academyof Management, Journal of Common Market Studies and Cambridge Journal of International Affairs among others.

Co-Investigator & Principal Scientist (France) for a Sino-Europ joint research project on Immigrant China, with Leiden, Oxford, Manchester, Cologne, Beijing, Renmin and Fudan Universities, funded by Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR France), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG Germany), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC UK), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC China) and Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO Netherlands), 2015-1018

European Commission Jean Monnet Chair in EU-China Relations, 2013

European Science Foundation (ESF) Early Exploratory Workshop Grant, 2012

University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) Collaborative Research Network on EU-China Relations, 2012

European Commission LLP Leonardo da Vinci Grant on Project Management, 2011

Our Common Future Fellowship, Volkswagen and Mercator Foundations, Germany, 2010

Sir Robert Martin University Medal, Loughborough University, UK, 2008

Joint Scholarship from the European Commission and Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) for co-supervision of PhD by Sciences Po de Paris, 2007

Royal Society Postgraduate Award - Dudley Stamp Memorial Fund, London, UK, 2006

Foundation for Urban and Regional Studies Studentship, UK, 2006

Universities’ China Committee London PhD Grant, UK, 2005

Loughborough University Development Fund Studentship, UK, 2004-2007