Ernestina Zhu

2018 CUC Scholarship for academic excellence

2018 ICUC Global Media Citizen representative

2017 Fall, 2018 Spring, Fall, 2019 Spring, 2020 Spring, Fall, 2021 Spring nominated NYIT Presidential honor list

2021-2022 The University of Edinburgh--Edinburgh Award

2022 University of Manchester Public Engagement Prize 

2023 Environmental Sustainability Student Video Competition Winner

2023 ESG Women of the Future Award 50 Rising Stars in ESG in the UK

Global Scholar of the Frontier Institute of Regulation and Supervision Technology (FIRST) ZIBS Ecosystem

Member of Expert Group of China Social Enterprise Certification Centre (CSECC) 

Research Advisory of the Young Women’s Movement Scotland(YWCA)

Committee Member of China-South Korea Cultural and Legal Exchange Center(CKCLEC) of Beijing Entertainment Law Society

Member of  Women in Film and Television China(WIFT)

2020.8 Judge for 2020 International Future Envoy Contest(IFEC)

2021.1 Interviewed by “Lightening” (Guangyuan) Project as an independent artist

2021.5 Interviewed by Chuxin Website as the Eco-Feminism based in Asian traditional culture -Independent artist

2021.6 Interviewed by TencentxVIVA THINC Fellowship as an independent artist-TechnologyxHumanity

2022.7 Participated in the “BXQ 2022 Experimental Images Week” Short Film Screening and was Interviewed by the Forum

2022.11 Interviewed by "Being Modern, Being Human" Podcast about NFT and Sociology of the Future

2023.2 Presented on the University of Salford Interdiscplinary Studies Symposium about Metaverse Technological Framework 

2023.3 Presented on the University of Alberta HCRGSA Conference about Liberal Nationalism

2023.5 Interview by Advital Patel Unleash the Innerrebel about ChatGPT, AI, and NFT

Ernestina Zhu is PhD researcher in Business Management at the University of Manchester (UoM), Visiting Lecturer at the University of Law (ULaw), Tutor in Marketing at the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), and Career Mentor at University of Southern California (USC China). She is an independent artist, Chief Public Relations Officer for Himylink, the Global Scholar of the Frontier Institute of Regulation and Supervision Technology (FIRST) ZIBS Ecosystem, Advisory of the Young Women’s Movement Scotland (YWCA), Honorary reporter of Korea.net, Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS), Committee Member of China-South Korea Cultural and Legal Exchange Centre (CKCLEC) of Beijing Entertainment Law Society, and career mentor at WeTalk Microcosmos. Her research focuses on non-fungible token art, art practice, Metaverse, identity building, and intimate relationship building. As she graduated from Digital Art (BA, BFA) double degrees in New York Institute of Technology and Communication University of China, digital sociology (MSc) from University of Edinburgh and practised arts for several years, her artworks have been exhibited in various countries, and she is awarded as the World Top 100 Art in Metaverse Artists by Artscloud. She contributed to Reframing the Archive on Metaverse Photography, the International Conference of Open Data on NFT Open-data Exchange, China and Higher education Conference about Metaverse and multiple book reviews on Global Media and China, SAGE about Chinese creative industries.

As a researcher, Ernestina Zhu is currently conducting PhD level research in NFT and digital identities in digital sociology at the University of Manchester. Previously she has conducted Metaverse and intimate relationship research(Digital Sociology MSc) at the University of Edinburgh. Graduated from double degrees in digital arts (BA, BFA) at the Communication University of China and New York Institute of Technology, her previous career is based on art creation. 

As an artist, she is specialized in using oil paint, oil pastel, mixed media, acrylic, and expreimental video arts. After working in Slovakia and Russia as an educator for UN Sustainable Development Goals, she found her way of incorporating art into the UN SDG education. The experience shaped her desire to explore arts and cross-discplinary research.

As her experimental video artworks and other pieces have been exhibited in multiple galleries, exhibitions in New Zealand, the US, Japan, Italy and etc. Her movie “Samsara” was also selected for the Lift-Off Global Film Festival in the UK in 2021, and 2022. As one of the founding figures of NFT in China, she dedicated herself to the NFT and digital art public lecture on the Wechat channel(275k view on one video about 3D printing) and was interviewed by the TencentxTHINC fellowship. Moreover, she launched her own NFT badges, and NFT artwork on NFT CN collectives and won the world Top 100 digital artists global award for Digital art “Art in Metaverse”, South Korea in 2022. She is also the author of the book "Talking NFT Metaverse".

As a translator, she worked for the Danish Chamber of Commerce in China, DIDI translator company, and Dreamsky Company as a registered translator. Based on her exceptional foreign language skills, she also founded the OOLA Global Cross-cultural Understanding Organization to enhance cross-cultural education and event organising. Later on, she was invited on the TEDxHaidian OpenMic to present her entrepreneurial path. Meanwhile, she was the judge for the Contest of International Future Envoy (IFEC) 2020.

As a cross-culture communicator, she has joined the Nordic China Startup Forum as an event manager to promote China's and Nordic countries' cooperation in entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, she is also part of the "Civilian Culture Ambassador" Group for the Korean Embassy in China and an honored delegate committee  of China Korea Culture and Legal Exchange Center with Beijing Entertainment Law Society to promote the bilateral ties between China and South Korea.