Gianluigi Negro is an Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Siena. He holds a PhD in Communication Studies from the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI, University of Lugano, Switzerland), where he also served as an assistant editor for the China Media Observatory.
His postdoctoral experience, which was funded by the Sino-Swiss National Foundation, includes positions as a researcher at Tsinghua University's School of Journalism from 2017 to 2018, and at Peking University's School of Journalism and Communication from 2018 to 2019. Additionally, from 2015 to 2019, he was a member of the coordination team for the Europe-China Dialogue: Media and Communication Studies PhD Summer School (ECDSS).
Prior to his current role, he worked as a researcher at the University of Siena from 2019 to 2022. In November 2020, he obtained his National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) as an Associate Professor in the field of Central and East Asian Cultures (10/N3). His primary research focuses on Chinese media history, digital media, and media governance.
Gianluigi is the author of The Internet in China (Palgrave, 2018) and Le Voci di Pechino (Luiss University Press, 2022). His research articles have been widely published in prominent academic journals, including Global Media and Communication, the Chinese Journal of Communication, Information, Communication & Society, and the European Journal of East Asian Studies. In 2022, he co-founded a collaborative research network dedicated to the analysis of Chinese media. Furthermore, from 2022 to 2025, he served as a research unit supervisor for the PRIN research project, "From Netizens to Metazens: Exploring Narratives of Virtual Worlds and Civic Engagement in the Metaverse."