Dr. Yu Song is Director and Professor of the XIPU Institution (Think Tank). Her current research interests include ageing and the life course, gender and social development, industrial development and local governance, urbanization and migration in China. She has secured multiple national and international top-level research grants, many government-commissioned projects, served as guest editor of a couple of prestigious journals, and published numerous articles and monographs which have had significant social impact and been widely cited. She has also published numerous influential policy documents that have been well received by government and industry alike. She is serving as a member of numerous associations, including Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK), Member of Chinese Social Security Association, and Member of Chinese Sociology Association, and Council Member of Jiangsu Provincial Women’s Studies Association in China.
Qualifications
Fellow of Higher Education Academy (UK)
Ph.D. , Zhejiang University, 2008
Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education，University of Liverpool, 2019
Experience
Professor and Director, XIPU Institution, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool Univeristy-2022-Present
Senior Associate Professor and Diretor, XIPU Institution, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University-2020 to 2022
Senior Associate Professor and Director of Diploma in China Studies (Year in China) Programme, Department of China Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University-2016 to 2020
Associate Professor, School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University - 2010 to 2016
Lecturer, School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University - 2008 to 2010
Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University - 1997 to 2004
Research interests
ageing and the life course, gender and social development, industrial development and local governance, urbanization and migration in China
Articles
Yu, Shiwang, Guo, N., Zheng, C., Song, Yu. & Hao, J.L. (2021). Investigating the Association between Outdoor Environment and Outdoor Activities for Seniors Living in Old Residential Communities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 7500.
Song, Yu*, Qian, Chenfei. & Pickard, Susan. (2021). Age-related digital divide during the COVID-19 Pandemic in China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (21), 11285.
Wang, Shixiong & Song, Yu (Corresponding author) (2019). Chinese online public opinions on the two-child policy. Online Information Review, 43(3): 387-403. doi:10.1108/OIR-07-2017-0217
Song, Yu (2017). Women’s political participation in rural China: Agency, power distribution and inheritance. Journal of China Women’s University, 29(6): 44-50. （中国农村妇女参政：能动性、权力分配与传承. 中华女子学院学报，人大复印资料2018年2月“妇女研究”全文转载
Song, Yu (special issue guest editor) (2017). Introduction: Women and political participation in Asia. Asian Women, 33 (2): i-ii.
Song, Yu (2016). Institutionalizing rural women's political participation in China: Reserved seats election for women. Asian Women, 32 (3): 77-99.
Song, Yu (2015). The sexuality education and attitudes of college students in China. Health Education, 115 (1): 93-104.
Song, Yu (2014). Losing an only child: One-child policy and elderly care in China. Reproductive Health Matters, 22(43): 113-124.
Huang, Zuhui, Lu, Jia, Sun, Huaping, Hu, Jifei and Song, Yu (2011). Sticky factors in the industrial relocation of a cluster: A case study of Zhili children’s garments cluster in China, The Social Science Journal, 48 (3):560-565.
Sargeson, Sally and Song, Yu (2010). Land expropriation and the gender politics of citizenship in the urban frontier. The China Journal, 64: 19-45.
Song, Yu, Zheng Jianmin and Qian Wenrong (2009). To be, or not to be: Rural women’s migration decision, The Chinese Economy, 42(2): 63-74.
Song, Yu (2009). Clusters of leading agricultural enterprises and rural urbanization. Rural Economy, 7: 40-42.
Huang, Zuhui and Song, Yu (2008). Determinants of rural women’s migration in the Yangtze Delta. Journal of Southwest Agriculture and Forestry University, 8(1): 89-92.
Zheng, Jianmin and Song, Yu (2006). An empirical study of promoting rural urbanization by agricultural industrialization. Rural Economy, 12: 50-52.
Huang, Zuhui, Wang, Min and Song, Yu (2005). Income gap among rural residents, Management World, 3:75-84.
Huang, Zuhui and Song, Yu (2005). Investigation and analysis of employment of female labour migrants: A case study of Hangzhou. China Rural Economy, 9: 33-41.
Books, monographs, compilations and manuals
Song, Yu and Zhu, Xiaoxi (2023) Social, Economic, and Cultural Development in Suzhou: Policies and Practices, Liverpool University Press and XJTLU-Imprint
Song, Yu 2020. Family planning policies and fertility changes in China: a historical review, in Xiaowei Zang and Hon S. Chan (Eds), Handbook of Public Policy and Public Administration in China, Edward Elgar, 277-289.
Song, Yu 2016, 'Women's social mobility in China: Marriage and class' in (eds) Handbook of Class and Social Stratification in China, Edward Elgar, pp.
Sargeson, Sally & Song, Yu 2011, 'Gender, citizenship and agency in land development' in (eds) Women, Gender and Rural Development in China, Edward Elgar, pp.
Grants
CI: Agglomeration level and causes, and policies for medical talents: A perspective from regional balanced development, National Foundation of Natural Science of China, 01/2022-12/2025.
PI: Migrant children in Suzhou: Adaptation and inclusion, XJTLU SURF, 06/2021-08/2021.
PI: Major measures for building a highland for digital cultural industry in Suzhou, Suzhou Social Science Fund, 05/2021-10/2021.
CI: Social Worlds: China’s Cities as Spaces of Worldmaking, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), 01/2020-10/2023.
PI: Development and application of smart elderly care technology under the integration of the Yangtze Delta, KSF, XJTLU, 01/2020-12/2022.
PI: Gendering and aestheticizing rurality in China: Li Ziqi and her foreign audiences on Youtube, XJTLU HSS China Outside Project, 01/2020-12/2020.
PI: Rural women’s political participation: institutional arrangement and capability building, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, 08/2019-08/2021.
PI: Transformative learning experience for undergraduate students: building a research-led learning environment through SURF projects, XJTLU TDF, 07/2019-06/2022.
PI: Migrant grandparents: Care arrangements and identity (re)formation, XJTLU SURF, 06/2019-08/2019.
CI: Women’s mobility: negotiating work and family spheres in Asia, Worldwide Universities Network Research Development Fund (WUN RDF), 03/2019-12/2020.
PI: Women and political participation in rural China: a tempo-spatial perspective, XJTLU PGRS, 01/2019-12/2022.
PI: Women’s political participation in rural China: agency and power redistribution, XJTLU RDF, 01/2019-12/2022.
CI: Marketized ecological compensation mechanism for the key ecological function areas, National Social Science Fund of China, 07/2015-06/2018.
CI: Construction of a dynamic analytical framework of transaction cost: a theoretical research based on agricultural organizations, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 01/2013-12/2016.
Professional memberships
Specially Appointed Adjunct Research Fellow, Suzhou Municipal People’s Government, PRC
Member of Chinese Sociology Association, PRC
Member of Chinese Social Security Association, PRC
Council Member of Jiangsu Provincial Women’s Studies Association, PRC
Awards and honours
2021 First Prize for Excellent Paper of the Fifteenth Academic Conference of Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Philosophy and Social Sciences (Southern Jiangsu Region)
