​Duke alumna Liangliang Zhang chosen as Gates-Cambridge scholar

Duke alumna Liangliang Zhang will receive the Gates-Cambridge scholarship, the University announced Tuesday.

Zhang is among 55 international recipients of the award, which will cover her tuition and living expenses while she pursues a graduate degree from the University of Cambridge. She plans to work toward a Ph.D. in social anthropology this Fall at King's College, one of the 31 colleges in the University of Cambridge.

“My Ph.D. project will examine how citizens of diverse backgrounds engage with revived Daoist spiritual and bodily practices through participant observation at a Daoist institution in the Wudang Mountains,” Zhang said in a Duke Today release. “I hope understanding these lay Daoist adherents’ motivations and objectives can inform social policy making in China, a country undergoing rapid transformations.”

Born in Inner Mongolia and raised in Zhuhai, China, she graduated from Duke in May 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in international comparative studies and a minor in French.

As an undergraduate, Zhang co-founded and served as the president of Harmonies for Health, which brings music therapy to the local health care community.

She has also performed research in China and Macau on the societal impact of China’s “one country, two systems” policy and interned at the International Organization for Migration in Geneva, Switzerland after she graduated from Duke.

Zhang joins senior Jessica Van Meir, who was named a U.S. Gates-Cambridge scholar in February. The recipients are selected based on their intellect, leadership potential and academic merit.