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There has been a growing focus on uncertainty as a distinct concept in the risk literature. This paper is concerned with how those involved in the design and implementation of climate change policy conceptualize risk and uncertainty. Based on interviews with policy and industry elites in Australia, China and the UK, it finds that participants did not distinguish between "risk" and "uncertainty" in their conceptualization of climate threats. For the majority of them, politics was the most significant source of risk and uncertainty in climate policy, but delegation of otherwise political decisions to the market was seen as the best solution. The conclusion suggests that the conceptual distinction between risk and uncertainty is less important, for policy and industry elites, than the need to develop mechanisms that account for both persistent scientific uncertainties as well as interpretive and moral ambiguities in climate policy design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rise as a global economic and political power has created a policy puzzle for established global players. For the United Kingdom (UK), the policy towards China has pursued a dual emphasis: seeking commercial benefits and promoting a positive social and political change. We explore the scope and tone of official UK policy publications on doing business with China. We argue that, while these documents reflect some of the predominant concerns of public debates over the UK's relationship with China, the political neutrality of the civil service and insulation from external forces enable the relationship to continue. We conduct content and sentiment analyses of government publications focussing on China from 2013 to 2018. During this period, the key policy focusses have remained stable, while the extent to which the main topics are discussed changes slightly with time. Sensitive topics are dealt with using a neutral tone, while publications have become increasingly positive on the prospects of business interactions with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olympism has the potential to establish a common ground for tolerance of, and respect for, diversified ideologies. This is indispensable for humanity in the modern world. The 2008 Torch Relay and its representation in the press offers a unique window through which to examine the discursive construction of Olympism by and through the media within the historical and sociopolitical contexts associated with the Games. This paper firstly focuses on the historical development of the Olympic ideology (Olympism) along with the respective mainstream ideologies in China (harmony) and Britain (liberalism). It then attempts to explore the discursive construction of Olympism in the 2008 Torch Relay news coverage by the British and the Chinese media through applying the elaborated analytical approach – corpus-based CDA. This study demonstrates that there are contrasting expressions of Olympism in the media discourse. At a deeper level, this social practice is revealed to be dominated by the mainstream ideologies of the hosting and participating nations that have been entrenched throughout history. The involvement of China in Olympic history and the relevant sociopolitical events surrounding the 2008 Torch Relay are explored. The conclusion reinforces its significant contribution to the study of Olympism in the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accompanied by an emergent 'strategy' and 'sustainability' discourse, international higher education (HE) partnership building has become increasingly orchestrated by non-academic (i.e. operational, and managerial) agents, thereby shifting away from universities' 'academic heartland'. The purpose of this article is to scrutinise the frequently used, yet often ill-defined, 'strategic' and 'sustainable' nature of international partnership building and the way it transforms power dynamics and sense of agency both across and within universities. Drawing on qualitative research with university staff at two partnering higher education institutions (HEIs) in UK and China, this article explores different interpretations of what strategic and sustainable partnership building means and sheds light on the conflicts that emerge between academic and non-academic stakeholders in this process. In doing so, it highlights the all-pervasive influence of managerialism in HE and the potential effects it can have on the success or failure of international partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralization and a lack of integration in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry are some of the main challenges for project management in green building construction. To address this problem, many construction companies have attempted to use building information modelling (BIM) to coordinate and optimize the management of green building projects. However, the research on successfully adopting and using BIM in interdisciplinary teams working on green building projects is limited; moreover, comprehensive comparisons across different countries and regions are lacking. Therefore, this study conducts a novel investigation of the key factors affecting the use of BIM in project management for green building construction through case studies in the UK and China. This study uses semi-structured interviews, Python-based term frequency analysis and thematic analysis to identify five key themes, namely, communication, data environment, motivation, project members and policy, which influence the adoption and implementation of BIM. In addition, based on gained insights, the impacts of different green building certification levels on BIM project management during the construction phase must be fully considered. These findings provide practical recommendations for BIM management in green building construction projects and contribute to the field of construction management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 academics from various disciplines in both UK and Chinese universities, this comparative study aims to offer new insights into how academics in British and Chinese universities maintained work–life balance and the similarities and differences experienced between academics of both countries. This study finds that both British and Chinese academics adopted a range of approaches to cope with work–life imbalance, and the approaches fall into three types of coping strategies, namely behavioural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Whilst convergence occurs in coping strategies adopted by the two groups of academics, this study uncovers greater divergence. This can be explained by differing institutional, legal and political arrangements, and cultural values and attitudes to work and life in the two contexts. All of these have practical implications for institutions and managers in both higher education sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]