Dr. Jian "Aaron" Chen, Associate Professor, currently serves as the Head of Institute of Leadership and Education Advanced Development (ILEAD), the Division Head of New Professional Education and the Director of Research Center for Internationalization at the Academy of Future Education, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. His expertise and research interests lie in international comparisons in higher vocational education and training (VET), transnational education (TNE), industry-academia collaboration (IAC), and teacher professional development (TPD).

Before joining XJTLU, Aaron worked as the Associate Vice President (AVP) and the Dean of School of Liberal Arts at Suzhou Centennial College - a higher VET institution which was jointly established by Suzhou University of Science and Technology and Centennial College Canada, overseeing Chinese-Canadian partnerships, academic program development and delivery, and international student service. In addition, Aaron also worked as the Assistant Director and Mandarin Lecturer of Confucius Institute in Atlanta, at Emory University, Georgia, in the U.S.A. for two years.

Overall, he views himself as an educator dedicated to practice-based research (PBR), with a global outlook and strong leadership skills.