The 11th session of "Frontier Training by International Teachers" Lecture Series & the closing ceremony of Academic Frontier Workshop on Cyber Behavior Research was held on the morning of December 10 at the School of Journalism and Communication (SJC) of Renmin University of China, marking the successful end of a series of 11 lectures which began in September 2021 and covers the whole autumn seminar of 2021.
The lecturer of this "International Teacher Frontier Training" lecture is Matthieu J. Guitton who is an internationally renowned scholar, a professor at Université Laval in Canada, and the editor-in-chief of the SSCI journal Computers in Human Behavior. With the theme of cyber behavior, Guitton combined his multi-disciplinary academic background with his dual experience as a scholar and a journal editor to discuss international research trends and achievements, frontier projects and publication guidance with the teachers and students who attended the lecture.
The theme of this workshop is in line with the global development process. With the transformation of people’s overall communication environment from the Internet to mobile social media, the virtual space based on intelligent computers has become the center of human daily life. The COVID-19 has intensified human dependence on technology, which is crucial for the study of cyber behaviors, that is, human behaviors in the computer environment.
The workshop discussed international frontier topics such as cyber behavior, virtual community, online journalists, artificial intelligence, and telemedicine. Guitton also gave guidance on specific issues that concerns the students, such as overseas postdoctoral applications, English academic resume writing, and English academic journal submissions.
At the closing ceremony of the workshop, the students expressed their admiration and best wishes to Guitton through a self-made video clip. Professor Yan Yan, deputy secretary of China’s Communist Party Committee in SJC who is in charge of foreign affairs, expressed her gratitude to Guitton for his contribution to impart forefront knowledge to graduate students and young scholars of SJC on every Thursday evening, Quebec Time, i.e., every Friday morning, Beijing Time. This online international exchange workshop is also a vivid embodiment of cyber behavior against the COVID-19. Yan extended her welcome to Guitton to visit Renmin University of China after the pandemic.
The Academic Frontier Workshop is open to all teachers, doctors, postdoctoral fellows, top-notch academic talents and visiting scholars of SJC, aiming to help broaden their international horizons, improve English proficiency, and expand academic foundation. The workshop was convened by Yan, deputy secretary of China’s Communist Party Committee in SJC, and organized by Zhao Jin, staff of the Foreign Exchange and Cooperation Office of SJC. More than 30 teachers and students attended all the lectures.
This workshop is an endeavor of SJC to create a multi-disciplinary academic training and cultivation environment of journalism and communication, biology, medicine, and information science for academic talents of SJC. The workshop adopts an organizational model that combines online and offline, emphasis on lectures and seminars, and sets up sessions of Q&A and teacher-student discussion, etc., to fully stimulate the enthusiasm of students and to effectively match the academic expertise of the lecturer and the practical needs of the students.
Matthieu J. Guitton is a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies of the Université Laval. He is also a professor, vice president and secretary of the Faculty of Medicine of the Université Laval. He works as a senior researcher at the CERVO Brain Research Center of the Université Laval, and a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain. Guitton serves as the editor-in-chief of the SSCI journal Computers in Human Behavior which is a worldwide top journal in the field of cyber psychology. Guitton's research deals with cyber behavior, eHealth and digital security in virtual spaces, and healthy applications of information technologies.
Author: Wang Huiyi ,Jiang Xiancheng
Photo by: Wang Huiyi
Editor: Guan Yilun
Translator: Chen Ran
