Thomas Raya Zheng

Thomas Raya is a PhD candidate at the University of Exeter in Cultural Policy and Law Research (as part of the Art History and Visual Culture department), under the supervision of Professor Tom Trevor and Dr Sabrina Rahman.

His project utilises autoethnographic, psychogeographic, and community-led methods to investigate memory politics surrounding public monuments in postcolonial Britain, Singapore, and Hong Kong SAR, and how they interact with contested heritage, state authority, and urban communities. A significant component of this project analyses legal and constitutional implications of AG Reference No. 1 of 2022, in which the Court of Appeal clarified limitations of ECHR rights as defence for criminal damage in protest-related cases, following the acquittal in R v Graham and Others.

From 2023 to 2024, Thomas Raya was one of ten members on the Bristol City Council Culture and Creative Industries "Young" Collective Advisory Board, consulting for the local government authority on cultural policymaking and engagement of underrepresented demographics in Bristol museums and archives.

Thomas Raya is LTHE certified for Postgraduate Teaching Associate positions.

Qualifications:

MA - Archaeology; University College London (UK), awarded Distinction overall

(awarded Distinction for thesis supervised by Dr Gabriel Moshenska - "Performing the Second World War in Poland: Narrative Identities and Politics of Memory in the Gdańsk Museum Paracosm.")

Intercultural Programme - International Relations and European Studies; Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (Germany), awarded 1,0 overall (equivalent to UK first-class honours) with 1,3 in German Language

Relevant Awards and Funding:

University of Exeter HASS Faculty Global Research Studentship (2024-27)

Company of Arts London Research Scholar Award (2024)

Exeter x Santander Overseas Programme Scholarship Grant (2025)

TÜ-IES Intercultural Programme Academic Scholarship (2025)

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