Academic Appointments
Ph.d.-stipendiat [PhD Fellow] at IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark: December 2021 – 2024
Conducting research on video gaming regulation, specifically, that of loot boxes, a gambling-like product that provides randomised rewards, using empirical legal and psychology methods.
Delivering lectures on data protection law and video game monetisation to master’s students.
Visiting Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, England: January 2024 – Present
Hosted by Dr Tom Brock, Digital Society Group, Department of Sociology.
Visiting Postgraduate Research Student at University of Bristol, Bristol, England: January 2024 - Present
Hosted by Dr Philip Newall, School of Psychological Science.
TTLF Fellow at Stanford Law School, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States: January 2023 – December 2023
Hosted by Profs Siegfried Fina and Roland Vogl, Stanford-Vienna Transatlantic Technology Law Forum.
https://wayback.stanford.edu/was/20230205184508/https://law.stanford.edu/directory/leon-xiao/.
Board Member at Chinese Digital Games Research Association (CDiGRA): 2022 – 2024
Nominated to serve on the Chinese chapter’s board and assist in organising the annual conference.
Visiting Associate at Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, England: November 2022 – January 2024
Hosted by Dr David Zendle of the Video Game Effects Lab, Department of Computer Science.
Visiting Scholar at School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, London, England: July 2022 – March 2023
Acted as principal investigator on two international loot box-related projects in Belgium and China with a £3,000 postgraduate grant funded by the Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling (AFSG).
Visiting Scholar at The Jagiellonian Games Research Centre, Faculty of Polish Studies, Uniwersytet Jagielloński (The Jagiellonian University), Kraków, Poland: July 2022
Attended the Digital Games Research Association 2022 International Conference (DiGRA 2022) to lead a panel discussion on loot boxes; present two papers; and chair one hybrid session on player research.
Hosted by dr hab. Tomasz Z. Majkowski of The Jagiellonian Games Research Centre at the Faculty of Polish Studies.
Funded by the PROM Programme - International scholarship exchange of PhD candidates and academic staff of the International Relations Office of The Jagiellonian University (Uniwersytet Jagielloński), the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA; Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej) and the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska) with co-financing from the European Social Fund of the European Commission of the European Union under the Knowledge Education Development Operational Programme.
Visiting Scholar at Faculty of Social Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, Leuven, Belgium: May – June 2022
Visited the Meaningful Interactions Lab (Mintlab) of the Institute for Media Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences to empirically assess video game companies’ compliance with Belgian gambling law through fieldwork.
Hosted by Profs Bieke Zaman, Rozane De Cock and the FWO-funded Gam(e)(a)ble project.
Funded by the Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling (AFSG) and Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO) using ‘regulatory settlements applied for socially responsible purposes’ received by the UK Gambling Commission.
Teaching Associate - Mixed Mode Education at Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, London, England: October – December 2021
Assisting lecturers with the technical hardware and software aspects of simultaneously delivering face-to-face and remote teaching (Mixed Mode Education; MME) of copyright law, data protection law, and international investment treaty arbitration to postgraduate students.
Teaching Associate - Tort Law at School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, London, England: September 2021 – September 2022
Delivering tutorials on the fundamental areas of tort law to 4 groups of 12–13 undergraduate students.
Pre-Sessional Assistant Coordinator at Josephine Butler College, Durham University, Durham, England: June – September 2020
Delivered academic English and cultural training to incoming international students using Zoom.