I am a social anthropologist based in London and currently work as Research Fellow in Social Science at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. With over a decade of ethnographic experience in Central Asia and China, coupled with recent fieldwork in Ethiopia, my anthropological approach delves into gender dynamics and social change, with a focus on advancing sexual and public health in a global context.

Following the completion of my PhD at the University of Queensland, I have been part of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team. I am currently engaged in multiple research projects, including integrating social science into Africa CDC's public health operations, identifying research priorities for cholera outbreak responses in Southern Africa, and evaluating the implementation of the MHPSS Minimum Service Package for infectious disease outbreaks in Uganda. 

In addition, I am working on my monograph titled "The Voyage to Manhood in the 'New Uzbekistan': Tashkent Dreams" which is under contract with Amsterdam University Press. I am fluent in both Uzbek and Mandarin.

When I need a break from research, I go long-distance cycling.

Selected Publications (Journal Articles, Book and Book review)

Zhao, Yang (2024). Dressing masculinities: Muted colours, aesthetic citizenship and nation-building in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Citizenship Studies. doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2024.2348869

Zhao, Yang (2024). Review of: The Grass is Always Greener: Unpacking Uzbek Migration to Japan, edited by Timur Dadabaev. Central Asian Survey. doi: 10.1080/02634937.2024.2312169

Zhao, Yang (2024).TikTok and researcher positionality: Considering the methodological and ethical implications of an experimental digital ethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 22, 1-11. doi: 10.1177/16094069231221374

Zhao, Yang (2023).Chopping carrots and becoming ‘real’ men: Uzbek boys, household work and the reproduction of masculinities in post-Soviet Uzbekistan. Gender and Education, 36 (1), 1-16. doi: 10.1080/09540253.2023.226302

Stahl, Garth and Zhao, Yang (Eds.) (2023). Migratory men: place, transnationalism and masculinities. Routledge.

Zhao, Yang (2022). Breadwinning, migration, and nation-building: a critical scoping review of men, masculinities, and social change in post-Soviet Uzbekistan. NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies, 17 (2), 1-19. doi: 10.1080/18902138.2022.2026106 

Zhao, Yang, Day, Suzanne, Yang, Nancy S., Bao, Huanyu, Li, Linghua, Mathews, Allison and Tucker, Joseph D. (2020). Crowdsourcing contests to facilitate community engagement in HIV cure research: a qualitative evaluation of facilitators and barriers of participation. BMC Public Health, 20 (1) 67, 67. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-8185-z 

Zhao, Yang, Fitzpatrick, Thomas, Wan, Bin, Day, Suzanne, Mathews, Allison and Tucker, Joseph D. (2019). Forming and implementing community advisory boards in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review. BMC Medical Ethics, 20 (1) 73. doi: 10.1186/s12910-019-0409-3