I am a global media and cultural researcher with research interests in fandom and audiences, East and Southeast Asian popular culture, gender and sexuality, queer Asian and queer Sinophone studies, and diasporic media.
My research interests focus on two interrelated areas: (1) East and Southeast Asian media and culture and (2) gender and sexuality through the lens of the multi-directional flows of transnational and regional popular culture, audience participation (or non-participation), and everyday practices. I'm also researching diasporic Hong Kongers and their media use in the UK.
I am interested in understanding the interplay between media texts, audiences, producers, and the process of consumption and appropriation. My research investigates how power operates in everyday social interactions and through structural inequality by examining both on-screen representations and lived experiences. Despite the increasingly diverse gender and sexual representations in Global Asia, I am keen to study how these visual representations have (or have not) empowered audiences, influenced individual gender and sexual practices, and transformed structural inequalities. My methods are qualitative, ethnographic, and empirical.
I'm now working on my first monograph, titled The Middle Gender: Resistance against Gender Binary in Sinophone Asia, based on my award-winning dissertation.
I have been interviewed and have responded to media requests regarding the Chinese entertainment industry, queer media in Hong Kong, as well as the new Hong Kong migrants in the UK.
I'm interested in supervising PhD projects in the following areas:
- Fandom and participatory culture
- Transnational Asian popular culture
- Queer Sinophone studies
- Yuri/GL (Girls' Love) media in Asia
In the 2023-2024 academic year, I convene the following modules as the sole convenor:
- MCS.302: Fans and Audiences in a Global Context
- MCS.910: Participatory Culturers: From Mediated Communities to Fan Engagements
I am also involved in the teaching of a couple of team-taught modules across the department, including:
- SOCL116: Contemporary Social Problems
- MCS.101: Transformations: From Mass Media to Social Media
- MCS.201: Media Resarch Lab
- GEN.101: Gender Studies: Identities, Inequalities and Politics
- GEN.403: Feminist Media and Cultural Studies
Assistant Editor, Media, Culture & Society (2020-present)
Associate Board Member, Sociological Research Online (2020-2023)
Prior to joining Lancaster Sociology, I have previously held research and teaching positions at King’s College London (Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries), University of Hong Kong (Department of Sociology), and University of Sheffield (Management School).
