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The Sound Studies Group is an international academic team dedicated to sound studies across disciplines, regions, and institutions. From theory to practice, it explores all things related to sound. It also operates a Sound Lab in the School of Design, SUSTech Shenzhen.

Dr. Qiushi XU

Assistant Professor
Southern University of Science and Technology, School of Design
Shenzhen, China

Introduction

Dr. Qiushi XU is a scholar of Sound Studies and STS (Science and Technology Studies). She is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Design, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), where she leads the Sound Studies Group and the Sound Lab. Dr. XU is regarded as one of the main figures in Sound Studies in China. Her first monograph “The Sound of Piano - The Production and Construction of Piano Sound in Recording Studio” is published by CITIC Press Group in 2025. Currently, she works as one of the editors of the Encyclopedia of Sound Studies by the Bloomsbury Publishing. In addition, she is a sound curator who organized pioneering exhibitions of sound installation in China.

From 2020 to 2022, Prof. XU was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts at SUSTech. In 2020, she gained her Ph.D. in Philosophy of Science and Technology from Tsinghua University, China, and was in a joint Ph.D. program in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University, U.S.A. She obtained an MA in Cultural and Creative Industries at King's College London, UK, got a BA in Recording Arts and a BA in Journalism from the Communication University of China. Her current research includes sound technology and sound art, the sound of musical instruments, noise and environmental studies, philosophy and ethics of AI sound, sound, body, and medicine, philosophy of technology and design, and Research and Design for Birds.

学校官网个人主页：https://designschool.sustech.edu.cn/cn/about/team/faculty/485.html

Book in Chinese

The Sound of Piano —— The Production and Construction of Piano Sound in Recording Studio. CITICPress Group, 2025.10.
The Chinese Encyclopedia for Children: Adventures on the Planet of Sound. Jointly published by Dolphin Media Co., Ltd. and Juvenile & Children’s Publishing House (Shanghai), expected publication in November 2026.

Academic Journals in Chinese

Qiushi XU and Song TIAN, 2025. Turning on the Camera for Constructing the Situation of Presence: Investigating Online Teaching from the Perspective of Sociology of Technology[J]. Journal of Dialectics of Nature, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 24-34.
Qiushi XU, 2024. Sound as a Dimension of Design Narrative[J]. Industrial & Engineering Design, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 1-7.
Qiushi XU, 2022. A STS History of Piano: Technical Revolution and the Shift of Art Paradigm[J]. Journal of Dialectics of Nature, Vol. 44, No. 12, pp. 22-31.
Steven Shapin, 2022. Translated by Qiushi, XU. Doing It Together: Memories of Trevor Pinch[J]. Journal of Dialectics of Nature, Vol. 44, No. 12, pp. 1-4.
Qiushi XU, 2021. The Unbearable “Lightness” of Life – Noise, Power Structure, and the Studiolization of Nature [J]. DUSHU，pp.14-22.
Qiushi XU, 2020. Performing “Noise” - The Construction and Deconstruction of Noise in the Production of Piano Sound [J]. Tsinghua Sociological Review, Vol. 14, pp. 147-170.
Qiushi XU, Trevor Pinch, Bing LIU, 2020. STS Marching in Sound Studies: “A Revolutionary Moment” [J]. Science and Society, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 81-96.
Qiushi, XU. and Bing, LIU, 2018. Sound Studies: A Brand-New Area in STS [J]. Journal of Dialectics of Nature, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 88-97.
Qiushi XU, 2017. Calling for the Metaphysics of Human Civilization – Reading the Book Daoxiangyuan Essays [J]. Green Leaf, No.5, pp. 62-65.
Qiushi, XU. and Bing, LIU, 2016. The Historiography Significance of The Death of Nature to Scientific Revolution –With Discussing the Hyperprofessionalism in History of Science [J]. Science and Society, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 44-53.
Qiushi, XU, 2016. Theory, Perspective and the New Study of Science Communication [J]. Science Education and Museums, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 83-84.

Articles in English

Qiushi XU, 2022.2.13. An Incredible Thinker, An Admirable Mentor, and A Much-Valued Friend: A Tribute to Trevor Pinch. Backchannels, 4S.
Qiushi XU, 2019.12. A Woman’s Masterpiece of Women: Analyzing Cindy Sherman’ Untitled Film Still # 21. Arts Autour Du Monde by Artistes autour du monde – Centre detudes interdisciplinaries en art (AAM-CEIA).
Qiushi XU, 2019.6.24. SO! Amplifies: The Electric Golem (Trevor Pinch and James Spitznagel). Sounding Out! (Sound Studies Online Publication).

Essays in Chinese

Qiushi XU. A Scholar’s Hidden World. Meiwen, No.4, 2024.
Qiushi XU. The Sound of Natural History and the Natural History of Sound. Wen Wei Po, 2023.5.25
Qiushi XU. Does the Piano Sound You Hear Comes from a Piano? The Thinker, No.3, 2022.
Qiushi XU. The Sociology of Insects and Health. Meiwen, No.2, 2020.
Qiushi XU. Material, Nature, and the Environment of Human Living. Meiwen, No.2, 2020.
Qiushi XU. But There is No His Home Outside the Window. Meiwen, No.2, 2020.
Qiushi XU. The New Trend of Digital Art. China Culture Daily, May 25, 2019.
Qiushi XU. Holographic Practice of Ecological Agriculture. Liaoning Daily, March 26, 2017.
Qiushi XU. Tasting the Sweets and Bitters of Life. Chinese Science Daily, May 20, 2016.

Book Chapters in Chinese

Qiushi XU, 2015. Copywriting of the Program “Listening to Chinese Classics”. Win for Creative Idea [M], Beijing People’s Broadcasting Corporation, Beijing: Tsinghua University Press. The program won the Excellence Award of the 4th “Win for Creativity” Global Chinese Language in 2011.
Qiushi XU, 2012. “Appreciation Index Survey”, Report on Development of China’s Television Art [M]. China Radio and Television Publishing House, pp 350-385. This book which organised by The State Administration of Radio Film and Television represents the most authoritative level in the field of academic study of Television Media in China.

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