Dr Yimei Zhu

• Honorary Advisor, TCSSN
• Lecturer in Digital Media, University of Leicester

Dr Yimei Zhu is Lecturer in Digital Media at the University of Leicester and Honorary Advisor to the Tangible Culture and Society Studies Network (TCSSN). A sociologist by training, her research explores how digital media is used across different social contexts, with particular interests in Chinese social media platforms, digital participation, online communities, and the changing role of platforms in everyday social life.

Her work brings together sociology, digital media studies, and the analysis of communication, identity, and social relations in contemporary mediated environments. She has researched a wide range of topics, including social media use in higher education, health communication, social capital, ageing, digital labour and wellbeing, and the circulation of information and misinformation online. She has also published on subcultural identity in Chinese online communities, contributing to broader discussions of cultural participation, belonging, and mediated forms of collective life.

Dr Zhu’s research is especially relevant to TCSSN’s interests in communities, practices, and cultural formations that develop through the interaction of platforms, identities, and everyday participation. Her work on Chinese social media, online community formation, and subcultural identity offers valuable perspectives on how digital environments shape social experience and cultural life in contemporary society.

She has published in journals including Sociology, European Journal of Cultural Studies, Journal of Computational Social Science, Social Science Computer Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies, International Journal of Medical Informatics, and Journal of Marketing for Higher Education. Methodologically, her research spans quantitative, qualitative, and computational approaches.

In addition to her research, Dr Zhu has extensive teaching experience in sociology, digital media, and quantitative and qualitative research methods at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She has also undertaken consultancy work on Chinese social media, particularly Weibo, for UK universities, and welcomes doctoral research in areas such as health communication and the sociological study of Chinese social media platforms, including Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu.