The ANU School of Sociology is delighted to congratulate Dr Jessie Liu on receiving both the J.G. Crawford Prize at ANU and the Jean Martin Award from The Australian Sociological Association (TASA), recognising the outstanding contribution of her doctoral research.

The J.G. Crawford Prize recognises outstanding doctoral research at ANU for its originality, integrative analysis and contribution to knowledge across disciplines. The Jean Martin Award, presented by TASA, honours the legacy of Jean Martin by recognising an exceptional PhD thesis in sociology that combines theoretical depth, empirical rigour, and an enduring contribution to sociological understanding.

Jessie’s thesis, Formulas of Chineseness: Tracing Daigou between Australia and China, offers a genuinely original sociological account of the daigou (infant formula) trade. While existing research has tended to focus either on Chinese consumers or on migrant shoppers in Australia, Jessie’s work breaks new ground by examining the trade relationally and transnationally.

Using a transnational, multi-method approach, the thesis draws on interviews with daigou shoppers in Australia and formula buyers in China, participant observation in daigou shops, and detailed analysis of media, advertising, and scientific and policy materials from both national contexts. This breadth allows Jessie to trace how national imaginaries, racialisation, and economic processes intersect with everyday practices of care.

The thesis challenges dominant Australian narratives that frame daigou as greedy profiteering. Instead, it shows daigou shopping as a form of feminised domestic labour, combining paid and unpaid work and reproducing norms of maternal and familial responsibility. It also reveals how the trade is shaped by how the trade is shaped by the Australian labour market and migration history.

These awards are well deserved. Congratulations, Jessie.