When Da Chen graduated from the University of Bristol in 2023, he took home with him more than a master\u2019s degree. As a disabled person, he discovered the sport of snooker and was determined to bring its inclusivity and enjoyment back to Asia.<\/p>\n
At 21, a spinal cord tumour changed Chen’s life, and he spent years in rehabilitation and rebuilding independence. But over time, he realised that disability could also be a starting point, a way to understand resilience and create change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That led\u00a0him\u00a0to the UK, where\u00a0he\u00a0studied\u00a0an MSC in\u00a0Education, specialising in Inclusive Education,\u00a0at the University of Bristol\u00a0as a Chevening Scholar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since completing his master\u2019s degree in 2023, Da Chen has become a powerful advocate for disability inclusion in China, using sport,\u00a0education\u00a0and his own lived experience to inspire others, build confidence and expand opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whilst studying, he discovered World Disability Billiards and Snooker (WDBS), an organisation that promotes equality through sport, and began competing in tournaments. At one point, he reached number six in the world rankings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chen said: \u201cThrough tournaments, I experienced the true inclusivity of snooker,\u00a0a sport where players with and without disabilities compete on the same table, under the same rules, without any special adaptations. That equality inspired me deeply. I wanted to bring this sport to Asia, where it had never been played by disabled athletes before.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
Inspired by the\u00a0sport,\u00a0Chen worked to bring the sport to\u00a0China and\u00a0launched the\u00a0first WDBS Shanghai Disability Snooker Invitational in September 2023,\u00a0where over 30 players took part.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
He has\u00a0since helped to organise other\u00a0WDBS events in Asia,\u00a0including the first-ever World Disability Snooker Championship in Bangkok in 2025,\u00a0and has\u00a0launched free training sessions in Shanghai, helping new wheelchair users gain confidence and community through sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In January 2026, Chen\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0the global inclusivity of snooker\u00a0to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u00a0at a\u00a0reception organised by the UK Department for Business and Trade, which celebrated British business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He has also been invited by companies including Nike, Saint-Gobain, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to deliver inclusion awareness workshops for employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chen reconnected with the University of Bristol community as the keynote speaker at\u00a0its\u00a0China Graduation Celebration on Saturday, 21 March 2026,\u00a0held\u00a0at the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong. Drawing on his journey from student to advocate, he delivered an inspiring address that encouraged new graduates to embrace inclusion, lead with empathy,\u00a0and recognise the power of education to spark meaningful change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chen said: \u201cMy UK education\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0just give me knowledge – it gave me a vision of inclusion in action. Inclusion\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0treated as a theory – it was lived every day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy campus was fully accessible, my professors encouraged open discussion, and my classmates came from diverse backgrounds. Everyone\u2019s voice mattered. That atmosphere taught me that inclusion is not only about removing physical barriers, but also about changing attitudes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Professor Michele\u00a0Acuto, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement\u00a0at the University of Bristol, said:\u00a0\u201cDa\u2019s\u00a0story is a powerful example of how the Bristol experience stays with our graduates long after they leave campus.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0incredibly proud to see how he has taken the values of inclusion\u00a0and community that shaped his time here and turned them into meaningful, lasting change. His work continues to inspire all of us who believe in the positive impact education can have on the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Da Chen graduated from the University of Bristol in 2023, he took home with him more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-493113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}