Staff Profile

Professor Tang is a Visiting Professor at the Newcastle Law School, a Professor at the Wuhan University Institute of International Law and an Associate Dean at the Wuhan Univerity Academy of International Law and Governance. Before that she held a Chair in Law and Commerce at the Newcastle University. She had also taught law at the University of Aberdeen and University of Leeds. 

Professor Tang is specialised in private international law, internet law, international commercial arbitration, and Chinese law, in which she has published extensively. Her articles appear in prestigious law journals, including ICLQ, Modern Law Review, Journal of Private International Law, Hong Kong Law Journal, Asia-Pacific Law Review, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, European Law Review, etc. Professor Tang's monograph Electronic Consumer Contracts in the Conflict of Laws (2nd., Hart, 2015) and article "Exclusive Choice of Forum Clauses in Electronic Consumer Contracts" (2005) 1 Journal of Private International Law 237 are cited by the Canadian Supreme Court in Douez v Facebook. Her co-authored book Conflict of Laws in the People's Republic of China (EEL, 2016) has received positive reviews from scholars in the UK, Australia, China and Singapore and four awards from China. 

Professor Tang is an editor of conflictoflaws.net, the leading and most influential blog in conflict of laws which was ranked 33 of the top 100 UK law blogs. She is also a member of the advisory board of Journal of Private International Law. She is one of the authors of Cheshire, North and Fawcett: Private International Law (15th ed), the leading text in this field. She is a regular reviewer for many reputable law journals in the field and prestigious law publishers, including OUP, CUP, Hart, Edward Elgar, etc. She has provided public lectures and training for judges, government officials and legal practitioners in EU, UK, China and Macau. She has led research projects funded by the Carnegie Trust, State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of PRC, Chinese Social Science Foundation, and European Commission. She serves as an expert for the European Commission DG Justice in the Justice programme and Horizon 2020, and for the National Science Centre in Poland. She is a member of the ESRC Global Challenge Research Fund peer review group.

Professor Tang's research interest lies in the field of private international law/conflict of laws, broadly defined. Professor Tang published extensively in her specialised area. She has published five monographs with Hart, Routledge and Edward Elgar. Her articles are published in reputable peer-review journals, such as ICLQ, Modern Law Review, European Law Review, Journal of Private International Law, Hong Kong Law Journal, Edinburgh Law Review and the Netherlands International law Review. She is a frequent speaker in international academic and professional conferences and seminars.

Current Research Projects 

Cross-border Intellectual Property Litigation in China

Consumer Protection in the Cross-border Digital Market

Extraterritorial Jurisdiction from China's Perspective

Selected Publication:

• Tang Z. Validity in Patent Infringement Proceedings -- A New Approach to Transnational Jurisdiction. Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property 2021, 11(1), 47-68.
• Tang Z. Judicial enforcement of intellectual property rights in China — from technical improvement to institutional reform. Asia Pacific Law Review 2019, 27(2), 176-197.
• Tang Z. "The Belt and Road" and Cross-Border Judicial Cooperation. Hong Kong Law Journal 2019, 49(1), 121-152.
• Tang ZS. Future Partnership in EU-UK Cross-Border Civil Judicial Cooperation. European Foreign Affairs Review 2018, 23(4), 565–583.
• Tang Z. UK-EU civil judicial cooperation after Brexit: five models. European Law Review 2018, 43(5), 648-668.
• Torremans P, Grusic U, Heinze C, Merrett L, Mills A, García-Castrillón C, Tang Z, Trimmings K, Walker L, ed. Cheshire, North and Fawcett: Private International Law (15th ed). Oxford University Press, 2017.
• Tang Z. Cross-Border Contract Litigation in the EU. In: Beaumont P; Mihail D; Trimmings K; Burcu Y, ed. Cross-Border Litigation in Europe. London: Bloomsbury, 2017.
• Tang ZS. Choice of Law in Electronic Consumer Contracts: Injunctive Action and Choice-of-Law Clauses. Revue européenne de droit de la consommation 2016, (2), 303-309.
• Tang ZS, Xu L. Choice-of-Court Agreements in Electronic Consumer Contracts in China. Pandora’s Box 2016, 23, 21-30.
• Tang ZS, Xiao Y, Huo Z. Conflict of Laws in the People's Republic of China. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2016.
• Tang ZS. Consumers' Access to Justice in E-Commerce: A Comparative Study. In: 6th Annual Conference: E-Commerce Forum. 2016, China-EU School of Law, CUPL, Beijing.
• Tang ZS. Cross-border contractual disputes: The legislative framework and court practice. In: EUPILLAR Conference on Cross-Border Litigation in Europe. 2016, London School of Economics: Centre for Business Law and Practice (University of Leeds) and Centre for Private International Law (University of Aberdeen).
• Tang ZS. Future Private International Law in the UK: Different Models. In: Changes and Challenges in Cross-Border Litigation: A Post-Referendum View from the UK. 2016, University of London: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
• Dowers N, Tang ZS. Arbitration in EU Jurisdiction Regime: the Recast Regulation and a New Proposal. Groningen Journal of International Law 2015, 3(1), 125-146.
• Tang ZS. Declining Jurisdiction in Chinese Courts by Forum Non Conveniens. Hong Kong Law Journal 2015, 45(1), 351-372.
• Tang ZS. Electronic Consumer Contracts in the Conflict of Laws. Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, 2015.
• Tang Sophia. Mandatory Rules in International Arbitration. In: Arbitration and Private International Law Conference. 2015, Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.
• Tang ZS. Consumer contracts and the Internet in EU private international law. In: Savin, A; Trzaskowski, J, ed. Research Handbook on EU Internet Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2014, pp.254-284.
• Tang Z. Consumer contracts and the Internet in EU private international law. In: EU Internet Law Conference. 2014, Denmark.
• Tang Z. Cross-Border Enforcement of Gambling Contracts: A Comparative Study. International Journal of Private Law 2014, 7(1), 1-19.
• Tang ZS. Jurisdiction and Arbitration Agreements in International Commercial Law. London: Routledge, 2014.