Yongyu primary research interests cover the study of the dynamics and organisation of white-collar crime and 'organised' crimes of a financial nature, such as financial market abuse, money laundering and cyber fraud. She has expertises in the use of crime script analysis and social network analysis in criminological research. She has previously held reserach positions at Manchester Metropolitan University, NASDAQ, Partnership for Conflic, Crime and Security Research (PaCCS), University of Manchester and University of Bristol. She obtained her university-funded PhD on the organisation of insider dealing at the University of Manchester, has an MRes in Criminology (Disctinction) and a BA Social Sciences from the University of Manchester.