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In August last year, Dr Xiaolan Fu, the first Chinese professor with tenure in Oxford University in the field of social sciences, was selected as one of ten winners of Berlin’s Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year in the category — Science and Innovation Management.
The recognition was for her work on the Valuation of Early Stage Technology (VEST) project, which developed a model to estimate the value of new technologies in the information and communication industry based on large firm-level data. Like all leading academics, Dr Fu has a long string of impressive titles and achievements.
But her own story and her belief in the power of women to get ahead truly inspires.
A late start at PhD
When Fu Xiaolan found herself sitting in an Oxford lecture for her PhD degree, she was already a mother and 32 years old, 10 years senior than the young minds around her. She had not published any English papers and was treated like a beginner. Before going to the prestigious university, Xiaolan had been working for eight years in China.
The reason that prompted her to pursue an academic career actually came from her son. As a full-time office worker, she found it difficult to balance between work and life, especially between work and the demanding job of taking care of a toddler. A female professor from Xiaolan’s university time encouraged her to get a PhD. “But my son is only three,” Xiaolan hesitated. “Three is big enough,” her professor told her. Going back to campus had always been her dream; and it meant flexible hours which a young mother badly needed. So she decided to give it a go. But flexible hours proved no less challenging than a nine-to-five schedule. Everyday She would work the morning and look after her son after he got back from the nursery in the afternoon until he went to bed at 10 pm. Then she would put on the academics’ hat again till midnight and even 2 am.
A good mixture of fighting and compromising
Xiaolan has always been determined to pursue her greatest potential, but not at the cost of a good family life. To make both work, she has learned to mix the right amount of fighting with compromising. She and her husband found each other in university.
Upon finishing undergraduate studies, Her husband wanted to go to the big coastal cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen to work in a multinational; Xiaolan wanted to continue her postgraduate studies in Beijing. But to be together, they agreed on a third city where one could work in a big company and the other could continue the campus life.
Arriving in the UK, they met each other half way again by choosing the Lancaster University as the starting point. This may not have been the most ideal choice for either of them in terms of their research; but it was the one that offered scholarships for both of them and thus could keep the family together. Xiaolan said in an interview, “True, there will be fewer fights in a marriage if the woman chooses to subdue herself; when she wants more opportunities and time for herself, there will be more tension.
“But this healthy tension allows the husband and wife to clearly define their respective boundaries and articulate the life they want. The fights and negotiations that may result do not weaken but strengthen relationships. When a couple support each other to be better individuals, their family becomes stronger and more resilient.”
Women must have faith in themselves
In Xiaolan’s field of work, which focuses on development opportunities for the vulnerable, underprivileged, and women, there are quite a number of female researchers. But she has observed that women academics usually need more encouragement.
It is common for an outstanding female researcher, having completed years of rigorous training, suddenly stops going forward for family reasons.
Xiaolan still feels sorry for a student who turned down tenure in a leading European university because she was pregnant and wanted to follow her husband to another country to build their family. Xiaolan knows how many tough choices women have to make; she hopes women can be more determined and emboldened.
Circumstances in life may require women to put their dreams on hold. But Xiaolan says women should prevent that from happening as much as possible; and even when it has to happen, women must try harder to come back to the tracks as early as possible.
“After burying my academic dream for eight years, I dug it out, dusted it off and have never stopped pursuing it for a day ever since then.”
Online Reporter