Dr. Jiyao Xun’s profile is characterised by a distinctive synergy between accomplished industry expertise and a strong academic foundation. His professional development was shaped on Tesco’s inaugural International Graduate Programme, where he gained multi-faceted exposure to both strategic and operational tiers. His assignments included contributing to nationwide brand initiatives in collaboration with London-based creative agencies, as well as gaining hands-on experience in front-line retail management at one of the company’s high-footfall stores. This unique opportunity provided him with an integrated, international perspective on retail operations, which continues to underpin his scholarly and industry-engaged work.

His research is strategically focused on the intersection of retail technology—particularly metaverse applications—digital marketing strategies, and the marketing–finance interface. He holds a PhD in Business & Management and an MA in Marketing from the University of Nottingham, along with an MSc from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, completed under the tutelage of Professor Jonathan Reynolds. His work has been published in internationally recognised journals including International Marketing Review, Psychology & Marketing, Internet Research, Business Strategy & the Environment, and the Journal of Enterprise Information Management. The calibre of his research has been recognised through awards such as the 2024 Best Paper Prize from the Chinese Academy of Management. He further contributes to the academic community as an Associate Editor for the International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research and as a peer reviewer for several leading SSCI-indexed journals. Beyond his academic publications, he authors industry white papers for bodies like the Shanghai Supply Chain Association and contributes to policy reports, such as an analysis of the Suzhou Metaverse industry. His insights also feature in practitioner-focused outlets including The Retail Digest and Learning & Training (Bank of Communications).

This research excellence is complemented by a proven capacity for securing competitive research funding. Dr. Xun successfully leads and contributes to grants awarded by provincial and industry sources, funding projects on retail digitalisation and metaverse consumer behaviour. He also plays a key role in major national initiatives, including a project awarded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). He is committed to translating his research and industry insights into the classroom, teaching core business courses and previously serving as Programme Director for the BSc Supply Chain Management at XJTLU. In this latter role, he successfully steered the programme through its critical Degree Awarding Power (DAP) accreditation. His commitment to curriculum development is further demonstrated through his membership on several university-level curriculum governance panels.

Dr. Xun’s professional background also includes a role as Associate MBA Director (Asia) for the University of Manchester, where he managed key regional partnerships and oversaw the supervision of numerous industry-linked MBA dissertations. These projects, often commissioned by multinationals and start-ups in sectors such as retail, fintech, and health tech, exemplify his commitment to bridging academic theory with corporate strategy. This ethos of applied learning and mentorship extends directly to his dedicated supervision of PhD candidates. He provides comprehensive guidance from project inception through to successful career placement in both academia and industry, with research themes centred on his expertise in retail/digital technology and social media consumer behaviour. His recently completed supervisions include doctoral projects on purchasing behaviour in metaverse retailing and business intelligence adoption in Chinese banks, while his current doctoral supervisees are investigating the impact of metaverse technologies on consumer purchase intentions and relational behaviour. Dr. Xun also serves as a co-supervisor for projects in cognate areas such as educational technology.

Primary Supervisor for:

• Qingyun Lyu (2026–Incoming): “Metaverse in retailing: Customers’ experience and value co-creation (Implementation)”

• Cheng Ma (2024–In Progress): “Understanding the impact of the metaverse on retail consumer behavior”

• Weihan Liang (2024–In Progress): “The relationship between the adoption of metaverse technology and consumer intent based on physical shopping malls”

• Xiaowei Fan (Completed): “Immersive retail in the metaverse: Understanding consumer behaviour through meta-analysis and experiments” (Initial placement: Academia)

• Dongyuan Yang (Completed): “Business intelligence adoption for Chinese banks: The impact on firm performance” (Initial placement: Industry)

Co-Supervisor for:

• Hanlihui Ma (2023–In Progress): “Investigating the effectiveness of work-based learning in terms of learner motivation, engagement, and self-regulation”

荀继尧博士是一位致力于推动产教融合的研究者与实践者。他的职业起点是英国Tesco集团的国际管理培训生项目，期间参与了总部品牌战略规划、高客流门店运营管理等多元业务环节，积累了扎实的零售行业实战经验，并形成了对商业运作逻辑的深刻洞察。

他的研究聚焦于零售科技（特别是元宇宙应用）、数字营销战略及营销-金融交叉领域的战略性探索。他拥有诺丁汉大学商业与管理学全奖博士学位及市场营销学硕士学位，以及牛津大学赛德商学院的理学硕士学位。其研究成果发表于《International Marketing Review》、《Psychology & Marketing》、《Internet Research》、《Business Strategy & the Environment》、《Journal of Enterprise Information Management》等国际期刊。学术成果获得中国管理学会“2024年度最佳论文奖”等重要荣誉。他还担任《International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research》副主编，并为多本SSCI检索期刊承担同行评审工作，持续推动学术共同体建设。他的研究注重产学研融合，不仅发表于国际学术期刊，也深入行业与实践一线。他曾为上海供应链发展促进会等行业机构撰写白皮书，并为苏州市元宇宙产业分析等政策报告建言献策；其行业观点亦常见于牛津大学零售研究中心《The Retail Digest》、交通银行《学习与培训》等知名实践刊物。在科研项目方面，荀博士主持并参与了多项竞争性课题，获得省部级及行业资助，主要关注零售数字化及元宇宙消费者行为等前沿方向。同时，他也作为核心成员参与国家自然科学基金项目等国家级课题。

在教学与服务方面，荀博士在西交利物浦大学讲授多门商科核心课程，并于2020至2022年担任供应链管理本科专业主任，期间推动该专业顺利通过学位授予权（DAP）认证。他通过在校级及院级课程委员会的任职，积极参与课程体系建设。此前担任曼彻斯特大学亚洲区MBA项目副主任期间，他负责维护区域合作伙伴关系，并指导了大量与行业实践结合的MBA论文项目，课题多源自零售、金融科技等领域的实际需求，体现了他注重学术与实践融合的培养理念。

在博士生培养方面，荀博士主要指导零售数字技术、社交媒体消费者行为等研究方向。他为学生提供从选题到职业发展的全程指导，近期完成指导的博士毕业生中，既有就职于学术界的"虚拟现实技术在元宇宙零售中的购买行为研究"方向学者，也有进入产业界的"中国银行业商业智能采纳与企业绩效研究"方向专家。目前指导的在读博士生研究方向涵盖元宇宙技术对消费意愿的影响、元宇宙中的消费者关系行为等。此外，他还担任教育科技相关博士项目的联合指导教师。

• Retailing and technology (electronic/mobile-commerce & metaverse)
• Social media marketing
• Retail and entrepreneurship
• AI and Education (https://connect.xjtlu.edu.cn/group/aied/research)

• Associate Professor, XJTLU (2020- now)
  
  • EEH Academic & UCRP Member (AY23- )
  • Programme Director (BSc Intelligent Supply Chain with Contemporary Entrepreneurialism; AY20-22) 
  • Founding Director of Shanghai-Taicang Research Institute (01-08.2023)
• Associate Director of MBA Programmes (Asia Region) & Programme Director of BSc Management (Singapore SIM); Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) (2014-20)

UG (From AY23-)

• ENT203TC Leadership & Communication
• ENT301TC Capstone Project
• ENT302TC Cutting-edge Practice in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Final Year Projects 

AY2020-23:

• IFB002TC Essentials of Intelligent Supply Chain
• IFB101TC Analytical Tools In Management Science
• IFB106TC Demand Forecasting & Management
• IFB110TC Fundamentals of Marketing
• IFB204TC Purchasing and Negotiation
• IFB207TC Service Management
• IFB317TC Strategic Management and Policy 

EEH summer school/ILEAD/AoFE/LM open programmes;

PhD Programmes;

• Supervised PhD student Cheng Ma, winner of the Best Doctoral Dissertation Award at the 2025 Logistics Research Network (LRN) China Conference (in association with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK), (November, 2025).

• Designated as an Expert and included in the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education's Expert Database (June 2025).

• Nominated Financial Consumption Expert for Suzhou Municipal Education Bureau (March 2025).

• Supervised PhD student Cheng Ma, awarded Best Oral Presentation Award (Top 10%) at the First XJTLU-UoL-XJTU Postgraduate Research Joint Conference & 2025 XJTLU Postgraduate Research Symposium (21 March 2025).

• Supervised PhD student Xiaowei Fan, awarded Excellent Poster Presentation Award (Top 20%) and Excellent Oral Presentation Award (Top 20%) at the First XJTLU-UoL-XJTU Postgraduate Research Joint Conference & 2025 XJTLU Postgraduate Research Symposium (21 March 2025).

• Supervised PhD student Weihan Liang’s research “Enhancing Virtual Reality Experience: Cognitive Fulfilment’s Impact on Customer Attitude” awarded Sugarbomb Best Paper Award at the 2024 International Conference on Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Social Sciences (4–5 December 2024, Kuala Lumpur).

• Supervised PhD student Xiaowei Fan’s research “Shaping Consumer Behaviour in Metaverse Retailing: The Role of Spatial Presence, Immersion, and Interactivity” awarded People’s Choice for Poster Presentation at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China 8th Postgraduate Research Conference (22–23 November 2024, Ningbo).

• Outstanding Paper Award (Marketing Management Track) at the 19th Chinese Academy of Management Annual Meeting (26 October 2024, Taicang, China).

• Supervised PhD student Xiaowei Fan’s research awarded Best Poster Presentation Award (Top 10%) at the First Wisdom Lake Postgraduate Researcher Development Conference & 2023 XJTLU Postgraduate Research Symposium (13–15 December 2023, Suzhou Industrial Park [SIP]).

• Supervised student project “Bosch Warehouse Heavy Goods (Battery) Picking Process Optimization Project” awarded Second Prize at the 2023 XJTLU Student Research-led Learning Symposium, Learning Institute for Future Excellence (November 2023).

• ILEAD/AoFE Open Programmes Training Instructor/Speaker on Syntegrative Education, Teaching Management, and Research-led Pedagogical Reform (Academic Years 2020–2021, 2021–2022, 2022–2023).

• Trainer for XJTLU Affiliated School New Faculty Summer Training Camp, Taicang (2023).

• TV Interview on the Opening Ceremony of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese XJTLU Taicang Campus (April 2023).

• Round Table Panel Discussant at the Suzhou Software Industry Association Special Committee of Meta-verse Ecology Conference (April 2023).

• TV Interview on the Grand Opening Ceremony of XJTLU Taicang Campus (5 September 2022).

• Forum Speaker on “Complementary Resources and SME Firm Performance” at Shanghai Maritime University (2022).

• Supervised student project “Supply Chain Management in Organic Agriculture in the Post COVID-19 Era” awarded First Prize at the 7th Annual Global Issues Conference (April 2022).

• Speaker on “Supply Chain Talent Development: The Syntegrative Approach at EC Taicang” at the Shanghai Forum on Supply Chain Management Construction and Development (22–25 April 2021, Lingang, Shanghai).

• Speaker at the 2021 Digital Economy Development and Digitalised Talent Development Conference, organized by the Shanghai Yangpu Industry Internet and Blockchain Application Innovation Centre (January 2021, Shanghai).

• Keynote Speaker on “Analytical Tools in Management Science” at Beihai Senior High School of Guangxi Province (December 2020).

• Guest Speaker for Undergraduate Social Sciences at NYU Shanghai (2019).

• Representative of Alliance MBS at the Association of MBAs (AMBA) Asia Pacific Deans and Directors Conference (January 2018, Harbin).

• Delegate of Alliance MBS at the GMAC APAC Conference (November 2017, Hong Kong SAR China).

• Representative of Alliance MBS at the Russell Group-China Collaborative Conference (June 2015, Fudan University).

• Delegate of Alliance MBS at the Association of MBAs Asia Pacific Deans and Directors Conference (2015, Chongqing).

• Panel Guest on “Future of Retailing in China” by the Oxford Institute of Retail Management (OXIRM), Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (2015, Shanghai).

• Panel Guest at the 8th China Retail Forum, co-organized by Tsinghua University, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (2012, Beijing).

• Session Chair for Relationship Marketing Track at the Academy of Marketing Conference, supported by the Nottingham University Business School Conference Full Grant (2012, Southampton University).

• Doctoral Fellow in Advanced Model Building for Marketing, Aston Business School (2012, Birmingham).

• EDEN Doctoral Fellow, European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (2011, Brussels).

• Doctoral Consortium Fellow, INFORMS Marketing Science Conference (2010, Cologne).

• Doctoral Colloquium Fellow, European Marketing Academy (EMAC) Conference (2010, Copenhagen).

• Doctoral Colloquium Grant Recipient, Academy of Marketing Conference (2009, Leeds).

• Nautilus Travel Grant Recipient, Templeton College, University of Oxford (2008).

• Conference Grant Recipient, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (2008).

• Doctoral Fellow, Research Methods for Industrial Doctoral Community, Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), University of Cambridge (2008–2009).