My research sits at the intersection of technology and governance, examining the role of technological developments in shaping governance and political participation. My methodological approach is diverse, integrating both traditional social science techniques including surveys and experiments and advanced computational social science methods such as machine learning and quantitative text analysis. My current work moves in two directions. The first concerns artificial intelligence: I examine geopolitical competition over AI development, the political orientations of large language models, and the implications for digital governance globally. The second explores how experience shapes political identity and values, with ongoing work on how digital platform ecosystems structure political communities, and how international exposure reshapes the political values and geopolitical perceptions of Chinese international students.
Principal Investigator, “Fandom Culture and Rhetoric Online: The Self-motivated Nationalism in Authoritarian Regimes”, BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants, With Yan Wang (LSE), £9,886, 2021-2023.
Co-investigator, “COVID-19: Understanding Chinese Government Containment Measures and Their Societal Impacts”, UKRI & NIHR, With Jane Duckett (PI), Ana Langer, Holly Snape, Yingru Li, and Yajun Bao, £334,000, 2020-2021.
"How Shortcuts Amplify Political Preferences for State Control in China", with Daniela Stockmann, and Pierre Landry
"The Art of Storytelling in Authoritarian Regimes: Crafting State Narratives on Chinese Social Media", with Yan Wang
"Political Ties and Participation: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in China, with Daniela Stockmann
"Strategic Supremacy in Artificial Intelligence: Mapping Geopolitical Power in the U.S. - China AI Race", with Martin Wählisch
"One Foot Out the Door: How Creators on TikTok Collectively Navigated a Potential Migration to RedNote", with Allison Koh, and Tim Henrichsen
"How Do LLMs Differ Politically? A Multi-Agent Approach to Measuring AI Ideology", with David Yen-Chieh Liao, and Slava Jankin
"Understanding Chinese Students in the West: Changing Political Values and Geopolitical Views?", with Ning Leng, and Aofei Lv
Fandom Culture and Rhetoric Online: The Self-motivated Nationalism in Authoritarian Regimes
BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants, with Yan Wang, £9,886, 2021-2023.
This project explores the relationship between fandom and the state in authoritarian regimes where the power distribution is immensely unbalanced and the space for political participation is limited within the political boundaries set by the state. Little has been written on the political agency of fan communities, yet there is ample evidence of fan communities becoming politically mobilized and engaged. This project takes the fandom groups in China as an example and investigates how their agencies—as a group and as individuals—shape their interaction with the state. We have chosen to examine their actions and choices of nationalist activities during a salient threat – the Covid-19 pandemic – when there is an outburst of nationalist discourse due to the threat. This study will shed new lights on contemporary modes of political participation and the role of digital technology in shaping state-society relationships in authoritarian regimes.
COVID-19: Understanding Chinese Government Cotainment Measures and Their Societal Impacts
UKRI&NIHR, with Jane Duckett (PI), Ana Langer, Holly Snape, Yingru Li, and Yajun Bao, £334,000, 2020-2021
A joint team led by the University of Glasgow, alongside Manchester Metropolitan University and Peking University conduct research into the Chinese Government’s measures to tackle Covid-19. The Chinese authorities have adopted a wide range of often stringent measures to tackle the Covid-19 epidemic. Our project examines those measures and their societal impacts. The findings should help other governments to develop their own responses to the pandemic which are effective, ethical and humanitarian.
Authoritarianism 2.0: The Internet, Political Discussion, and Authoritarian Rule in China
European Research Council Starting Grant, with Daniela Stockmann (PI), €1,500,000, 2014–2019
I have worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Hertie School of Governance, Berlin and Leiden University as part of the European Research Council funded research project “Authoritarianism 2.0: The Internet, Political Discussion, and Authoritarian Rule in China” (Starting Grant, 1.5 million Euro) under the direction of Principal Investigator Professor Daniela Stockmann. Relying on both conventional social science methods and digital methods, the project examines why social media mobilise people to voice opinions and to act both online and offline in the context of authoritarian China. For more information about the ERC-funded research project on social media and political participation in China, please click here. Based on this ERC-funded project, we continue to explore the impact of digital media on political deliberation and participation in China.