People
Faculty
Francisco Olivos
Francisco earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He also holds a Master’s degree in Sociology and Social Research from Utrecht University, as well as a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Since joining Lingnan University in August 2021, Francisco has focused his research on the intersections of cultural sociology, social stratification, and subjective well-being, employing quantitative and computational methods to advance these fields.
Frankie Ho Chun Wong
Frankie Ho Chun Wong studies the intersection between digital media, health, and society. Frankie obtained his Ph.D. from Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to that, he worked at The University of Hong Kong on ageing and mental health research. Frankie employs machine learning, natural language processing, and mixed methods techniques, looking for nuances in the sea of data. His work examines how social and policy issues were shaped by new media and technology in the digital age, as well as the influence of social and demographic factors on media use and health outcomes.
Tobias Kamelski
Tobias obtained his Master of Arts (Socio-cultural Studies) from the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences at European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. Before that, he studied at the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and the Catholic University of Korea. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Lingnan University. In his research project, he investigates the anticipation of attraction, self-presentation, and impression management utilizing computational image analysis.
Pablo Beytia
He holds a Ph.D. from the Humboldt University of Berlin and is the director of Monitor Social (www.monitorsocial.cl), a company dedicated to creating systems that report real-time social indicators. His research focuses on how digital platforms frame information about humans, creating content inequalities that favor specific social groups. Pablo’s research interests include digital discourse, open knowledge, platform power, digital social memory, and artificial intelligence for social data reporting.
Pedro Seguel
Pedro Seguel's research focuses on understanding the evolution of technology and the changing landscape of IT job skills. He uses a combination of computational social sciences and traditional qualitative methods to study the factors behind digital innovation, the IT workforce, and developer communities. With an interdisciplinary background, he holds a Ph.D. (c) in Management of Information Systems from McGill University, an M.Sc. in Information Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.Speakers
Eun Kyong Shin
Eun Kyong SHIN is Sociology Department Chair at Korea University. As a social scientist with a PhD in Sociology (2015, Columbia University), and who additionally trained as a postdoc at Columbia Law School and the UT Medical School, her investigations weave through multiple disciplines. Bringing unconventional data sources to various sociological investigations, the overarching goal is to gain better understanding of how relational networks and social conditions influence social behaviors, health outcomes and human development. Methodologically, she uses multiple analytical tools, including social network analysis, statistics, GIS, and machine learning.
Siqi Han
Siqi Han is an assistant professor of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is also associated with CUHK’s computational social science cluster. Before joining CUHK she was a postdoctoral research scholar on the Measuring the Liberal Arts project at INCITE, Columbia University. She received her PhD in Sociology from The Ohio State University. Her work mainly focuses on knowledge structure in higher education, school-to-work transition, and labor market skill returns. She addresses her research questions using both surveys and unstructured textual data with computationally intensive quantitative methods, including chatGPT-assisted data collection and processing. These projects appeared in PNAS, Journal of Marriage and Family, Social Science Research, European Sociological Review, Sociological Perspectives, Demographic Research, Socius, and other academic journals.
Yiting Chen
Yiting Chen joined Lingnan University as an assistant professor in economics since August 2023. Prior to that, she worked in Xiamen University as an assistant professor in economics. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the National University of Singapore on May 2022. Her research interests are behavioral and experimental economics, with a focus on decision-making under uncertainty, moral behavior, and their interaction with artificial intelligence. She has recently published “The Emergence of Economic Rationality of GPT” in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Alex Preda
Alex Preda holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Bielefeld and a Dr. habil. from the University of Konstanz, Germany. Before joining Lingnan University, he has held positions at the Universities of Konstanz, Edinburgh, King’s College London, and visiting positions at the University of Chicago. He works at the intersection of economic sociology and the sociology of science and technology. His current research projects focus on the blockchain economy and on digital art markets, respectively.
Gleb Papyshev
Gleb Papyshev is a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Social Science. His research interests include AI policy and regulation, AI ethics, and corporate governance mechanisms for emerging technologies. The results of his work have been published in Policy Design and Practice, AI & Society, Data & Policy, and Elgar Companion to Regulating AI and Big Data in Emergent Economies. # add speaker bio hereTeaching Assistants
Juliana Qi Xuan Yuncg
Juliana Qi Xuan Yuncg is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology and Social Policy at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. She obtained her Master of Arts in Survey Research from the University of Connecticut, USA, and a Master of Arts in Integrated Marketing Communications from California State University, USA. Juliana’s research focuses on integrated senior care solutions versus aging-in-place strategies, addressing the housing challenges faced by senior residents in Macau. Utilizing social listening—an AI-powered content analysis method—and in-depth interviews, her work investigates government resource allocation, the motivations behind seniors’ relocation decisions, and barriers to transitioning into public senior housing. This interdisciplinary approach integrates computational social science with qualitative insights, with a strong emphasis on policy application.
Sebastian Ascui-Gac
Sebastian completed an undergrad in Social Anthropology at the Academia de Humanismo Cristiano University in Chile. Within those years, he has accumulated a vast experience doing ethnographic fieldwork, particularly among rural communities, marginalized peoples, Native Americans, Chilean Afro-descendants and artisanal fisherman. He holds a MA in Applied Economics for Public Policy at the Alberto Hurtado University and a MA in International Political Economy and Development Fordham University. His research mainly focusses on the use of quantitative and formal methods applied to social sciences and modeling applications.Participants
Ling Wang
Ling Wang is a final-year PhD student at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. She passed her viva in April 2024, and her thesis was rated in the top 10% by the Thesis Examining Committee. She was awarded the Dissertation Year Fellowship from 2024 to 2025, allowing her to pursue an additional year of training at HKU. From 2020 to 2023, she was a recipient of the HKU Presidential Scholarship. Her research interests include higher education leadership and power, the politics of knowledge production in China, and professional development of academics.
Larry KOU Yilin
Hello! My name is Larry KOU Yilin. I am a Ph.D. student in Psychology at the City University of Hong Kong. My research focuses on human–machine interactions, particularly in the context of autonomous vehicles. I am currently exploring strategies to enhance cooperative interactions between human-driven and autonomous vehicles, as well as the broader implications of autonomous vehicles on cooperative road behavior. To investigate these issues, I utilize a combination of surveys, behavioral experiments, and simulations. Prior to this, I completed my MPhil at Beijing Normal University, where I focused on human motivation and terror management theory.
Everardo BLANCO LIVERA
Everardo Blanco is a second-year PhD student in Sociology and Social Policy at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, SAR, People’s Republic of China. He holds an MPhil in Political Affairs and Public Policy and a BA in International Relations from El Colegio de San Luis, Mexico. He has over 20 years of teaching experience as a part-time faculty member in MA and BA programs, and collaborations in scholarly publications. Additionally, he is a recipient of the 2023/24 HKPFS award from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, and the 2024 Outstanding Paper Award from the International Postgraduate Roundtable and Research Forum cum Summer School 2024 at The Education University of Hong Kong.
Blaire (Xiao) Yuan
Blaire (Xiao) Yuan is a PhD candidate in Education at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, with a Sociology foundation. Her research explores how family investments influence children's educational success, emphasizing social stratification and advanced quantitative methods. Skilled in SPSS and STATA, and expanding in R and Python, Blaire aims to leverage computational tools like network analysis. Currently serving as Vice Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Student Forum Advisory Board, Blaire shines in fostering collaboration and effective communication. Meanwhile, she also has quantitative research, co-authored and published, in Journals like Social Science Research and Teaching and Teacher Education.
Wanying Ling
Wanying Ling is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong. Her research lies at the intersection of demography, sociology, and epidemiology, focusing on three core topics: work and occupations, population health, and family formation. She employs a diverse range of multi-source data—including census records, social surveys, interviews, biographies, and biomarkers—alongside quantitative and computational methods to investigate these topics.
Zhang Zhiqi
Zhang Zhiqi is the inaugural Ph.D. candidate in the English program at Lingnan University, where she explores the intersection of language, identity, and digital discourse. Previously, she earned her Master’s degree in Linguistics and Translation from City University of Hong Kong, specializing in sociolinguistics and digital communication.
Lulu LI
Dr. Lulu LI is Research Assistant Professor (RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship awardee) in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at Lingnan University. Dr. Li obtained her Ph.D. in Gender Studies from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Li conducts research in the field of gender, work, family, and migration with various research methods (with a rising focus on qualitative research methods in a digital context). Her current research interests are self-employment and digital nomadism in the context of marketization, digitalization, and globalization.
Rui SUN
Rui SUN freshly received her Ph.D. in Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and is currently preparing her dissertation for a book manuscript tentatively titled Flower Economy: Value-making and Temporalities in Accelerationist China. Her research interests cover value theories, low-level Chinese entrepreneurs, economic anthropology, temporalities, and new materialism. She was the 2021/22 Harvard-Yenching Fellow and 2023/24 Ernst-Mach Worldwide Grantee respectively based in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University and East Asia Studies at the University of Vienna.
Deng Qinlingyu
Deng Qinlingyu is a Ph.D. Student of Communication Studies at Huazhong University of Science and Technology . Her research leverages computational approaches to study social science questions around online communities, emotions, morality, and culture.
Xiaosu (Hellen) Tian
Xiaosu (Hellen) Tian is a PhD student in sociology at the University of Oregon. She obtained her Master of Arts in Sociology from Boston College in the USA. Xiaosu’s research uses computational and historical methods to explore the influence of cultural processes on economic activities and ecological outcomes. Her current research focuses on mapping multivocal terms, particularly examining how terroir—a term that encompasses not only the ecological conditions of a place but also the legitimacy tied to authenticity and patrimony in food production—is classified and valorized across time and places.
Keyu Peng
I am Keyu Peng, a third-year PhD candidate at Renmin University of China and City University of Hong Kong. My research examines the intricate relationship between population aging, retirement, and digital inequality. Specifically, I investigate how the rising prevalence of Internet usage among older adults influences their employment prospects and overall wellbeing, particularly in the context of the digital divide and its ramifications for social inequality. Utilizing large datasets, I apply econometric methods and causal inference techniques. My findings have been published in leading Chinese demographic journals, including Population Research, Population Journal, and Jiangxi Social Sciences. Please feel free to contact me at chloe.peng@my.cityu.edu.hk.
Liu Huiqi
I am Liu Huiqi, a Master's candidate at Huazhong Agricultural University. My research interest lies in using text analysis methods to examine texts on educational mobility experiences from Chinese internet platforms, exploring educational inequality from the perspectives of cultural production and cultural capital. At SICSS, I aim to enhance my textual data analysis skills and engage in academic exchanges with fellow researchers in this field. Beyond research, I enjoy resistance training. I look forward to learning and exchanging ideas this summer!
Liu Yuyao
Liu Yuyao is a full-time Ph.D. student at the Department of Sociology at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). She received her bachelor’s degree with First Honors from the Faculty of Business and Economics at HKU, double majoring in Economics and Finance. Her current research interests lie in international migration, labor economics, and behavior sciences. Her work adopts interdisciplinary and quantitative approaches to examine the temporal evaluation of global labor mobility and subjective integration and decision-making behaviors of migrant workers.
Scarlett Lau
Scarlett Lau is a first - year doctoral student in Policy Studies at Lingnan University. She holds a Master's degree and a Bachelor's degree in Economics. Her research interests span urban economics and corporate governance. Regarding econometric software, she is proficient in tools like Stata and R. Moreover, being familiar with Python for data crawling equips her with a broader skill - set in data - related operations.
Wang Yi
Wang Yi is a dedicated doctoral student in Policy Studies (Education Policy and Management) at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, with a strong focus on gender equality and international higher education systems. Her research interests include analyzing factors influencing gender equality in education, the impact of resource distribution on vulnerable student populations, and motivations driving cross-border educational mobility. Proficient in quantitative methodologies, Wang Yi employs statistical modeling, survey research, and case analysis to address complex challenges in education policy. She is passionate about bridging academic insights with real-world impact, aiming to apply her expertise in both educational institutions and organizational settings.
Zhichao Wang
I am very excited to join SICSS-Lingnan! My name is Wang Zhichao, and I am a first-year Ph.D. student in Computational Social Science at Tohoku University. My research focuses on leveraging large language models to advance social science research. I have developed an LLM-driven social simulation framework to study how recommendation algorithms influence user behavior and opinions on social media. I also explore the use of LLMs to impute missing values in social survey panel data. My goal is to build accessible and user-friendly tools that enable social scientists to conduct experiments more easily, efficiently, and ethically.
Zhichao Wang
Zhichao Wang is is a doctoral student in the Computational Humanities and Social Sciences Department at Tohoku University. His research focuses on exploring the potential of large language models to simulate human-like behavior and responses in social science research. In particular, he uses LLMs to drive agent-based social media platform simulations. He is also interested in applying LLMs to impute missing values in social survey panel data.
Xinyi Yang
I am a PhD student in Sport Management at Temple University. My research centers on sports marketing and fan behavior, with particular interests in fantasy sports and sports rivalry. My current work explores how marketing strategies on digital platforms shape cross-cultural fan experiences. With a background in the sports media industry, I am committed to bridging research and practice through mixed methods approaches and interdisciplinary insights. My goal is to contribute to a more inclusive and culturally aware understanding of international sport consumption and sports fan behavior.
Yutong LU
Yutong LU is an MSc student in the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her research interests lie in quantitative social science, with a prior focus on marine economy. She is currently working on applying multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models to measure embodied carbon emissions in international trade, with broader interests in sustainable development.