I am a lecturer in Digital Media and a sociologist by training. My main research focus is studying how digital media is employed in various social context—e.g. how academics adopt social media how higher education sectors employ social media and how eSports industry develops. I also collaborate with colleagues in public health on various topics on health management and ageing. I have taught over a wide range of Sociology and quantitative & qualitative research methods courses to UG and PGT students as well as supervising students’ projects. I also conducted consultant work on Chinese social media Weibo for Durham University and Aston University.
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 research interests include health communication social capital and digital participation and higher education branding on social media. I am currently working on a number of research projects:
1). Digital labour and wellbeing—a quantitative examination of digital workers’ job insecurity and mental health College Research Development Fund £3920
2). The influence of social media and social capital on Postpartum depression in China Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund £1990
3) Social media use and Chinese international students’ social capital and belonging to UK universities School Research Support Fund. £1923
4) Big data analysis of mental health discussion on Chinese microblogging site Weibo School Research Support Fund. £1984.
5) How senior citizens use social media to obtain health information in China College Research Development Fund £4978.
6) UK universities’ participation and interaction with Chinese students on Weibo and WeChat School Research Support Fund. £1997
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. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42001-024-00311-5
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. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393241287791
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. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2024.2342408
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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2024.105478
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: https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877920975783
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: http://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102860
Zhu, Y. (2020). Open access policy and data sharing practice in UK academia. Journal of Information Science, 46(1): 41-52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551518823174
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: https://doi.org/10.1080/08841241.2019.1633003
Zhu, Y. (2017) Who support open access publishing? Gender, discipline, seniority and other factors associated with academics' OA practice. Scientometrics, 111(2), 557-579.
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
I lead the following Postgraduate modules:
MS7224 Digital media online persuasion and behaviour change
MS7043 Digital media and everyday life
MS7085 Making the Web
Digital media in China
Program Committee member of International Conference on Social Media & Society for 2020 #SMSociety
Member of International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and International Communication Association (ICA)
Top faculty paper by The International Communication Association Popular communication Division at ICA 2020 conference
Zhao Y & Zhu Y. (2021) ‘Identity transformation stigma power and mental wellbeing of eSport professional players’ at GameSym2021: Gaming Livestreaming eSports & Youth Mental Health Symposium University of Leicester 2-3 June 2021.
Zhu Y. (2019) ‘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 Peking University 10-12 November 2019.
Zhu Y. (2019) ‘British universities’ brand communication on Chinese social media’ at 10th International Conference on Social Media & Society Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson Toronto Canada 19-21 July 2019.
Zhu Y. (2019) ‘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. and Shenzhen University China 27-29 June 2019.
Zhu Y. (2019) ‘HEI’s social media engagement and Chinese international students’ weak-tie
social capital’ at Chinese Educational Research Association (CERA) conference UCL Institute of Education 13-14 June 2019.
Fellow of the British Higher Education Academy