DPhil Student
Linacre College
Research: My DPhil research was developed on the basis of my thesis for MPhil Social Anthropology at Oxford, which examined the anthropological implications of the discourse of “ziyou” (freedom), also known as work flexibility, associated with platform labour through ethnographic research on the everyday life and work of app-based taxi drivers in China.
I am currently undertaking further research for my doctoral studies. By looking at the lived experiences of app-based taxi drivers, my DPhil research tries to explore how drivers live their lives and earn a living from digital platforms. In addition, I am also doing a contrasting case study on food delivery riders, hoping to reveal that these platforms may be similar from a technical point of view but the social relationships as they mediate are likely to be very different.
Research interests: work and labour, digital technologies, platform society, gig economy, Southeast Asia, China
Co-supervisor: Dr Di Wu.
