Dr. Haili Ma is Associate Professor in Performance and Creative Economy, International Director at School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds. Haili’s research focuses on intangible cultural heritage/Chinese opera, cultural and creative industries in global contexts.

Trained in traditional Chinese opera from her early teens, Haili was a member of the Shanghai Luwan All-Female Yue Opera Company, before coming to the UK in 1997 where she pursued her academic career. She is the author of Urban Politics and Cultural Capital: The Case of Chinese Opera (Routledge 2015) and Understanding Cultural and Creative Industries through Chinese Opera (Palgrave Macmillan 2021).

Haili is the Principle Investigator of the AHRC newton grant – creative economy development in China: Popular Performance for New Urban Audience (2018-2021) and also the AHRC development grant – UK-China research-industry creative partnership: Bridging the gaps, mixed reality performance of Chinese opera in rural and urban Shanghai (2020-2023).