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I am a lecturer in Digital Media and a sociologist by training. I'm interested in exploring sociological concepts such as identity, intimacy, trust, social capital and sense of belonging and how they work on the digital platforms. My recent research collaboration examines migration & racism-related public opinions on social media using AI-based computational methods, as well as quantitative survey methods.  I am interested in and welcome collaboration on qualitative and critical studies on East Asian popular culture and subculture, sports and leisure, gaming and fandom, gender performance and digital health. 

I have a broad research interests studying digital media from sociological perspective—how new technology changed the way people think and behave (attitudes and experiences). My broad research interests examine identity, social capital and digital media use, in the field of migration, sports and leisure, popular culture and gender studies.

Zhu, Y., Zhang, S., Tsatsou, P. & McLaren, L. (2025). Othering discourse online in the UK during a time of crisis:  a case study of opinion expressed on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Information, Communication & Society.

Zhao, J. & Zhu, Y. (2025). Need for Belonging: Exploring Subcultural Identity in the Chinese Lolita Online Communities. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(4), 1000-1020.

Xiong, Y. & Zhu, Y. (2025). Hometown relations in WeChat practice amongst internal migrants: rethink social capital logic in modernised China. Sociology, 59(3), 524-541.

Zhang, S., Zhou, H., & Zhu, Y. (2024). Why people accept mental health-related misinformation: role of social media metrics in users’ information processing. Social Science Computer Review, 43(6), 1270-1291.

Zhang, S., Tsatsou, P., McLaren, L., & Zhu, Y. (2024). Comparing location-specific and location-open social media data: methodological lessons from a study of blaming of minorities on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Computational Social Science. 7: 2457-2479. 

McLaren, L., Tsatsou, P. & Zhu, Y. (2024). Blaming Minorities During Public Health Crises: Post-COVID-19 Substantive and methodological Reflections from the UK. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 48(5): 1064-1086. 

Zhang, S., Zhou, H., & Zhu, Y. (2024). Have we found a solution for health misinformation? A ten-year systematic review of health misinformation literature 2013–2022. International Journal of Medical Informatics. 188: 105478. 

Zhao, Y. & Zhu, Y. (2021). Identity Transformation, stigma power, and mental wellbeing of Chinese eSports professional players. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 24(3): 485-503. DOI:

Zhu, Y. (2020). Open access policy and data sharing practice in UK academia. Journal of Information Science, 46(1): 41-52. DOI:

Zhu, Y. (2019). Social media engagement and Chinese international student recruitment: Understanding how UK HEIs use Weibo and WeChat. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 29(2):173-190. DOI:

Zhu, Y. (2017) Who support open access publishing? Gender, discipline, seniority and other factors associated with academics' OA practice. Scientometrics, 111(2), 557-579. DOI: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-017-2316-z

Zhu, Y., & Purdam, K. (2017). Social media, science communication and the academic super user in the United Kingdom. First Monday, 22(11).  Online at http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/7866/6560

Zhu, Y. (2016) 'Academics active and passive use of YouTube for research and leisure' in Antonella Esposito (ed.) Research 2.0 and the Impact of Digital Technologies on Scholarly Inquiry. IGI Global. http://www.igi-global.com/book/research-impact-digital-technologies-scholarly/150396

Zhu, Y. & Procter, R. (2015). Use of blogs, Twitter and Facebook by UK PhD students for scholarly communication. Observatorio (OBS*) Journal, Vol 9, no2, p. 029-046. http://obs.obercom.pt/index.php/obs/article/view/842

 

Publications on public health:

Li, J., Zhu, Y., Zhang, Z, et al. (2024). The association of individual cognition and social environment of smoking with autonomy over tobacco: A survey from rural China. Tobacco Induced Diseases., 22(January),14.

Wang, X., Zhu, Y., Wang, F., & Liang, Y. (2022). Association of organizational and patient behaviors with physician well-being: A national survey in China. PloS one, 17(5), e0268274.

Wang, X., Qin, H., Zhu, Y., Wang, Z., Ye, B., Zhu, X., & Liang, Y. (2022). Association of off-the-job training with work performance and work–family conflict among physicians: a cross-sectional study in China. BMJ open, 12(1), e053280. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053280

Wang Y, Ye B, Zhu Y, Wang X, Liang Y. (2022). Association of Hospital Characteristics and Previous Hospitalization-Related Experiences with Patients’ Perceptions of Hospital Care in China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(13):7856.

Liu, N., Zhu, Y., Wang, X., Jiang, H., & Liang, Y. (2021). Association of Organizational Behavior with Work Engagement and Work-Home Conflicts of Physician in China. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(10), 5405.

Ye, B., Zhu, Y., Wang, X., Wei, S., & Liang, Y. (2020). Association between sleep-wake habits and use of health care services of middle-aged and elderly adults in China. Aging, 12(4): 3926-3935. DOI:

I welcome PhD proposals in the following areas: digitally mediated intimate labour, popular culture and subculture, online fandom, migration and racism, and gender studies on digital platforms.

 

My current PhD students:

Lisi Mai--The Identity Construction of the Aoluguya Ewenki Ethnic Group in the Social Media Era

Jieyi Ke--Considering social capital as a resource for crypto enthusiasts to seek economic opportunities: a qualitative research based on Twitter users.

 

Completion of PhD supervision of previous students:

Dr Jiahui Qi--Chinese overseas students national identity during COVID-19 in the UK: The role of Chinese social media

Dr Shiyi Zhang-- Mental health misinformation acceptance and mediating roles of perceived risk and trust 

Dr Yutian Xiong-- Female Subculture Identity and Performance How WeChat facilitates doing families blood relations and hometowns for the internal migrants in contemporary

Dr Jiayixiu Zhao-- Exploring Chinese Lolita Fashion as a Cultural Industry: Female Subculture Identity and Performance

Dr Khamis Ambusaidi-- Online Civic Engagement and Activism: A Study of Hashtag Activism in Oman   

I lead the following Postgraduate modules: MS7060 Sociology of Digital media; MS7224 Digital media online persuasion and behaviour change; MS7043 Digital media and everyday life; 

Digital media in China

Member of International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)

Member of International Communication Association (ICA) 

Member of Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA)

Program Committee member of International Conference on Social Media & Society for 2020 #SMSociety

 

Referee for Grant Proposals, books and Journal Articles

Dutch Research Council Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Vidi programme, 2023

UKRI Future Leadership Fellowship, 2020

Medical Research Council, UK, 2020

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Research Development Fund (RDF), 2019

Journals: New Media & Society, Information, Communication & Society, Social Media & Society, Higher Education, Language and Communication, Scientometics, etc.

Books: Polity, Springer, etc.

Top faculty paper by The International Communication Association Popular communication Division at ICA 2020 conference

‘Performative Hyper-femininity and intersection with social classes: How young women challenge heteronormativity through Lolita dressing practices’ at ICA, 4-8 June, Cape Town, South Africa.

‘Gender Fluidity and Cross-Dressing in Chinese Lolita Subcultural Practice’ at IAMCR, 13-17 July 2025, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

‘Blaming of minorities on Twitter: Public opinion discourse during the COVID-19 public health crisis’ at IAMCR, 30 June-4 July 2024, Christchurch, New Zealand.

‘Identity transformation stigma power and mental wellbeing of eSport professional players’ at GameSym2021: Gaming Livestreaming eSports & Youth Mental Health Symposium, 2-3 June 2021, Â鶹ÊÓƵ, UK.

‘HEI’s social media engagement and Chinese international students’ weak-tie social capital’ at CERA Conference: Transformations in space: migration and mobility in Chinese education, 13-14 June 2019, Faculty of Education and Society, UCL, Institute of Education, UK.

‘Big data analysis of mental health communication on Chinese microblogging site Weibo: A case study of Post-partum depression posts after a publicised suicide’ at Medicine Humanity and Media (MHM 2019) Conference, 10-12 November 2019, Peking University, China.

‘British universities’ brand communication on Chinese social media’ at 10th International Conference on Social Media & Society Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson, 19-21 July 2019, Toronto, Canada.

‘A case study of older adults’ digital literacy and WeChat use for health communication’ at The Shenzhen Forum 2019 organised by the National Communication Association (NCA) U.S., 27-29 June 2019, Shenzhen University, China.

Fellow of the British Higher Education Academy