Professor Ernest Caldwell has over 20 years of experience in higher education in the US, Singapore and England. He fell in love with the study of China over 30 years ago, which led him to complete several degrees in Chinese history and law.  

Subsequently, Professor Caldwell spent over 15 years in the classroom teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students and actively engaging in research.  

Professor Caldwell is extremely dedicated to the UK higher education sector, working with institutions to improve their financial sustainability and enhance their contributions to students. Prior to joining RCL as Deputy Provost, Professor Caldwell was Professor of Asian Law and History and served in a Deputy Vice-Chancellor equivalent role at Goldsmiths, University of London.  

He previously served at Reader in Chinese Studies and Senior Lecturer in Chinese law at SOAS, University of London. Whilst at SOAS, Professor Caldwell also held a series of academic leadership roles including Associate Director for Languages, Associate Director for Teaching Quality, and Director of Learning and Teaching. Additionally, he has held roles at the British Academy and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). 

Research and publications 

Key publications

Caldwell, Ernest. Writing Chinese laws: The form and function of legal statutes found in the Qin Shuihudi Corpus, New York: Routledge, 2018.

Caldwell, Ernest, guest editor. Promoting transitional justice in Taiwan: Collected responses to Ernest Caldwell, Special Issue of the Washington Journal of International Law, Vol. 28, no. 1 (2019).

Caldwell, Ernest. Social Change and written law in early Chinese legal thought, Law and Society Review, Vol. 32, no. 1 (2014): 1-30.

Recent publications 

Caldwell, Ernest, with Michael Gagarin, et al. “Law as text” in The Cambridge Comparative History of Ancient Law, edited by Caroline Humfress, David Ibbetson, and Patrick Olivelle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024. (pp. 20-72)

Caldwell, Ernest, with Dario Mantovani, et al. “Legal science” in The Cambridge Comparative History of Ancient Law, edited by Caroline Humfress, David Ibbetson, and Patrick Olivelle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024. (pp. 73-145)

Caldwell, Ernest, with David Ibbetson, et al. “Commerce and Contracts” in The Cambridge Comparative History of Ancient Law, edited by Caroline Humfress, David Ibbetson, and Patrick Olivelle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024. (pp. 565-597)

Bailey, Julian, Nathan Hill, and Ernest Caldwell, Chinese transcription of Buddhist terms in the late Han dynasty, Journal of Open Humanities Data, Vol. 9, no. 10 (2023): 1-8