Education
Ph.D. in Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2020
Dissertation: Control, Differential Association, and Normalization: A Gender-Specific Analysis of Illicit Drug Use in China
Supervisor: Prof. Hua Zhong
Visiting Ph.D. Scholar in Sociology, University of Copenhagen, 2019
Supervisor: Prof. Jakob Demant
LL. B. in Criminology, People’s Public Security University of China, 2015
Exchange Student, Korean National Police University, 2013
Academic Positions
2023-present Assistant Professor,
Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University, Denmark
2022-2023 Postdoctoral Fellow,
Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
2021-2022 Research Associate,
Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Zhang, Serena Yunran. 2023. Do Control, Peers, and Permissive Attitudes to Drugs Influence Drug Use Frequency in a Gendered Way? Crime & Delinquency, 69(8), 1441-1466.
Xi Chen, Hua Zhong, and Serena Yunran Zhang. 2022. Local ties, trans-local ties, and substance use behavior among rural-to-urban migrants in China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(7), 4233.
Zhang, Serena Yunran. 2022. Control, peer association, and permissive attitudes to drug use: An integrated model explaining illicit drug use in China. Substance Use & Misuse, 57(1), 134-144.
Zhang, Serena Yunran and Jakob Demant. 2021. Effects of self-control, drug-use peers, and family attachment on drug use among Chinese users: A gender-specific analysis. Drug and Alcohol Review, 40(7), 1369-1376.
Zhong, Hua and Serena Yunran Zhang. 2018. Establish anti-sexual harassment mechanism in Chinese universities: Learning from Hong Kong experience (in Chinese). People & Rule of Law 2018(4):92-93.
Zhang, Serena Yunran and Hua Zhong. 2017. Drug use patterns in China: From past to present. Forensic Science and Addiction Research 1(5). FSAR.000524.
Book Chapters
Zhong, Hua and Serena Yunran Zhang. 2021. Social control of crime in Asia. In E. Erez & P. Ibarra (Eds.), Oxford Encyclopaedia of International Criminology. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. PDF
Zhong, Hua and Serena Yunran Zhang. 2018. Preventing cybercrime and cyberbullying among youth in China (in Chinese). In Protecting Chinese Youth in Cyberspace, edited by National Survey and Big Data Research Center for Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press. PDF
Media Coverage
Zhang, Serena Yunran. 2020. Cross-border Criminal Justice: Learning from Taiwan’s Experience (in Chinese). Ming Pao, September 25. Link
Zhang, Serena Yunran and Sara Zhong. 2020. “More efforts needed to fight drug abuse in the city.” China Daily, May 19. Link
Zhang, Serena Yunran. 2020. The status quo of HK-Mainland cross-border criminal justice cooperation (in Chinese). Sing Tao Daily, April 14. Link
Zhang, Serena Yunran and Hua Zhong. 2020. Time to fix Hong Kong’s broken windows (in Chinese). Sing Tao Daily, January 14. Link
Zhong, Hua and Serena Yunran Zhang. 2017. Female Drug Use Patterns in Contemporary China: The Case of Jiangxi Province (in Chinese). Link