Serafina Aquilino is an Italian researcher with a lifelong passion for literature and foreign languages. After completing her secondary education, she pursued Oriental Studies at Sapienza University of Rome, where she obtained her BA and MA in Chinese Studies. During her academic journey, she completed three study periods in China, including a term at Beijing Foreign Studies University and a one-year program at Wuhan University through the LiSUM Project scholarship. Her interest in Chinese Internet culture and digital media blossomed while conducting research for her master's thesis in Wuhan. Subsequently, she conducted a one-year period of fieldwork research in Hangzhou as a part of her PhD.
In 2017, she obtained her PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), focusing on the interplay between official and online literary spheres in China. In 2019, she worked as a lecturer in Chinese Literature at the University of Catania. Her research interests include digital humanities, Chinese Internet literature and popular fiction, portrayals of Chinese urban realities through literature, and recent developments in censorship, cultural policies, and publication infrastructures in contemporary China.
After a brief hiatus from academia, during which she engaged in diverse professional endeavours, she is now ready to fully commit herself to research. She lives and works in London, UK.