The CDU Confucius Institute is led by a CDU Director, with a Chinese Deputy Director on secondment from our Chinese partner universities, and an administrative officer appointed by CDU to facilitate daily administration. The team also includes full-time and part-time teaching staff in various roles.
The CDU Confucius Institute is guided by a Board, comprising members from the Australian and Chinese university partners, and a local Advisory Board, comprising Northern Territory business and government representatives.
Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty Science of Technology at CDU and the Director of CDU Confucius Institute.
Professor David Young previously was the Head of School, School of Science and Engineering at University of the Sunshine Coast and Head of the School of Science and Interim Head of the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia.
He is a chemist with an interest in new materials and has been awarded two national research medals by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Professor Young obtained his PhD from the University of Queensland before postdoctoral training at the University College of North Wales and at Oxford University. He joined University of Sydney as a Senior Tutor, from where he moved to the Queensland University of Technology and then to Griffith University. After 20 years at Griffith, he joined University Brunei Darussalam and was appointed Dean of their Graduate Studies and Research Office.
Professor Young holds the honorary post of Visiting Scientist at the A*STAR Institute for Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore, Visiting Professor at Soochow University, China and Adjunct Professor at Monash University. He is a Managing Editor of the Journal of Molecular and Engineering Materials.
Associate Professor Yaru Liu is the Acting Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at Charles Darwin University and an Associate Professor at the College of Foreign Languages of Hainan University, China.
He has had extensive experience teaching Chinese as a foreign language and used to work for the Confucius Institute at Victoria University of Wellington, and the Confucius Institute at the University of Melbourne.
The CDU Confucius Institute teaching team is composed of professional Chinese language teachers and volunteer Chinese teachers from our partner universities in China, and local teachers studying the CDU Master of Teaching.
Mr. Hua Tong graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of International Business and Economics in China, and a master's degree from Monash. He is studying for a Master of Teaching in Charles Darwin University, with the majors of Mathematics and Chinese.
He is the Secretary of The Chinese Language Teachers' Association of Northern Territory. And he is also coaching Chinese martial arts.
He has been teaching Chinese in local Darwin schools since early 2021, including Larrakeyah Primary School, Leanyer Primary School, The Essington School, Darwin Language Centre.
Ms Wei Shen (Sherry) is a responsible Chinese teacher with excellent communication and coordination skills. Demonstrating her teaching experience, she specialises in managing students and maximising learning opportunities in diverse classroom settings.
She graduated with a Master of Business at the University of Queensland, and has gained a Master of Teaching in secondary curriculum with specialisations in Business, Chinese and Math at Charles Darwin University, after finding her passion for education.
She has teaching experience from preschool students to year 12 students so far, and will continue her career as a Chinese teacher, making efforts to facilitate cross-cultural communication.
As someone who has a passion for languages, cultures and sharing camaraderie with colleagues from different demographics, Niki Chen has obtained her Master of Translation and Interpretation (MTI) degree in China.
She worked as a volunteer Mandarin teacher at Confucius Institute at CDU for one year (2017-2018), teaching classes in Leanyer Primary School, Nakara Primary School, Dripstone Middle School, and adult classes at CDU. She also served as a volunteer Mandarin teacher in Thailand for one year (2015-2016).
The journey of flying as a cabin crew at Singapore Airlines from 2019 to 2022 has instilled a customer service mindset in her. Currently, she works as a Mandarin teacher at Confucius Institute while studying for her Master of Teaching degree at CDU.
I am a father of two, a family-oriented person, an enthusiastic educator and a crazy soccer fan.
I am currently teaching senior level Chinese as a Second Language at Haileybury Rendall School, along with an adult Chinese beginner lesson at Darwin Language Centre.
Together with my teaching experience in both public and private school settings, I have developed pedagogical strategies to teach and develop exciting and innovative curriculum programs for Chinese as well as STEM subjects.
