Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies, University of Leeds, and alumna of Oxford.

Dr Hardie is the UK's leading expert on Chinese garden history and a cultural historian of late-imperial China who is well-placed to interpret the historical, social and stylistic features of Chinese gardens as well as to situate them in a wider cultural context.

Her current research interests are the cultural history of Ming dynasty China, particularly the 16^th and 17^th  centuries. She has published extensively on the garden history and culture of this period, particularly the use of gardens for self-representation, as well as publishing translations of garden literature.