Research Students

Current PhD Students

Althubaiti Haytham (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

haytham@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Business, Organisations, Humour, Middle East, Saudi Arabia

Amiel Jansen Demetrial (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

ajdemetrial@u.nus.edu

Research Interest: 
Death, Linguistic Anthropology, Visual Ethnography

Cai Zuqi (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

cai_zuqi@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Ageing and Health; Inequality; Family; Social Policy; Quantitative Methods

Cheng Yueqi (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

yueqicheng@u.nus.edu(opens in new tab)

Research Interest:
Care for people with Parkinson’s Disease, disability, embodiment, phenomenology

Dejna Daulagupu (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

dejnadaulagupu@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Agrarian Shifts in the Autonomous Hill-frontiers of Northeast India

Ethel Wee (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

ethel.wee@u.nus.edu(opens in new tab)

Research Interest:
Gender, work and family; social inequalities; governance and citizenship

Huazhi Qin (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

hqin@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Education; Migration; International Student Mobility

Hu Junhan (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

junhan.hu@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Indigenous environmental politics; more-than-human; religion and ecology; conservation and tourism; Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau

Lee Chen En (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

e0446041@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Lived Experiences of Transnational Commuting: Malaysian Cross-Border Workers and the Co-Production of Urbanism in Johor Bahru and Singapore

Lilas Cassar-Aubert (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

lilas.cassaraubert@u.nus.edu(opens in new tab)

Research Interest:
Hawker Centres, Social Mixing and Belonging in Singapore

Liu Jinhan (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

jinhanliu@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Homeownership, Family Formation, Youth, Education, China

Liang Yichen (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

liangyichen@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Child Development, Family, Community, Gender, China

Lim Rachyl (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

rachyl.lim@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Organized Crime, Deviance, Trust, Gender, Singapore, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Pedagogy

Liu Yuanying (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

e1154500@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Ageing and Health; Population Studies; Cognition; Lifelong Learning; Inequality

Low Qing Ying Timothy (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

timothylow@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Sociology of Health and Illness, Life course and Aging, Social Demography, Sociology of Family, Southeast Asia

Mardiana Dwi Puspitasari (Diana) (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

mardiana_puspitasari@u.nus.edu(opens in new tab)

Research Interest:
Aging, Population Health, Family, Social Demography

Mok Wing Hung Ringo (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

ringomok@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Nationalism, Migration, International Student Mobility, China

Ni Anni (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

anni.ni@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Gender and migration, Motherhood, China

Ng Jia Han Bernard (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

bernard.ngjh@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Infrastructure and Sustainability Transformation in Sabah

Pakeezeh (Padmini) Buruah (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

pbaruah@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Migration, Statelessness, Gender Studies, Land Rights.

Priyasha Choudhary (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

priyashachoudhary@u.nus.edu(opens in new tab) 

Research Interest:
Disability Anthropology, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Critical Disability Studies, Care

Singal Reddy Devi Divija (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

divija_d@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Cities, Urban transportation and infrastructure

Su Yaxuan (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

yaxuan.su@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Borders and Borderlands, Gender and Mobility, Transnational Relatedness, Digital Labor, Human Trafficking

Sunaer (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

sonra@u.nus.edu(opens in new tab)

Research Interest:
Pastoralism and mobility; Environmental governance and land use; Inner Asia (Inner Mongolia); Infrastructure and spatial practice

Sun Mingqian (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

mingqiansun@u.nus.edu 

Research Interest:
Social Policy; Inequality; Work and Family; Population Studies  

Sun Yi (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

sun_yi@u.nus.edu(opens in new tab)

Research Interest:
Aging and Health, Family and Household Demography, Marriage and the Life Course

Tan Yeow Hui Brian (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

e1448147@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Religion, Catholicism, Education, Social Networks, Social Histories

Tinnaphop Sinsomboonthong (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

e1154483@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Queer Theory, Sociology of Human Rights, Sociology of Humor, Postcolonial/Decolonial Theory, and Internet Culture

Yang Biying (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

yangbiying@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Ageing, Retirement, Population Health; Intergenerational Relationship

Yap Way Shen Russell James Jr (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

russellyap@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Why we work: an anthropological investigation into the lived experiences of gay men in Singapore

Yukisato Azai (opens in new tab)

PhD (Anthropology)

yukisato.azai@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Militarization, Colonialism, Tourism, Knowledge production

Zhang Yuxin (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

yuxin.zhang@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Aging and Health, Demography, Gender

Zhou Xiaoyu (opens in new tab)

PhD (Sociology)

e1632489@u.nus.edu

Research Interest:
Gender, Migration, Civic Participation, Qualitative Methods

Recent PhD Graduates

Hideki_phd

Hideki Kitamura

PhD (Sociology)

Research Interest:
Economic sociology; anthropology of Islam; historical sociology; Malaysia; Islamic finance

Hideki Kitamura

Research Interest: Economic sociology; anthropology of Islam; historical sociology; Malaysia; Islamic finance

Hideki Kitamura is a recipient of the President's Graduate Fellowship. His research interest lies in economic sociology, historical sociology, and anthropology of Islam. He has published on Islamic finance and banking in Malaysia in international journals. 

Hideki Kitamura's dissertation will describe a social history of Islamic finance in Malaysia.

Publications:

  1. Kitamura, Hideki. 2022. "The historical contingency of religious normativity: Local practices in Malaysian Islamic banking." HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 12(2): 513-524. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/720511.
  2. Kitamura, Hideki. 2021. “Policymakers’ Logic on Islamic Banking: Islamic Banking as an Ethno-Political Tool in Malaysia.” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 40(2): 245-265. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1868103420972406.
  3. Kitamura, Hideki. 2021. “Islamic Finance as an Ethno-Political Agenda in the 1980s: An Inquiry into the Role of Islamic Finance Pioneers.” Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 36(1): 98-123.
  4. Kitamura, Hideki. 2020. “A Reconsideration of Middle Eastern Islamic Bank Practices in Malaysia.” Journal of Business Anthropology, 9(1): 66-87. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22439/jba.v9i1.5967.
  5. Kitamura, Hideki. 2020. “Who Pioneered Islamic Banking in Malaysia? The Background of the Pioneers of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad.” Contemporary Islam, 14: 75-93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-019-00443-w.
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HoZhiWei

Ho Zhi Wei

PhD (Sociology)

Research Interest:
Social structure of the city and its neighbourhoods and communities

Ho Zhi Wei

Research Interest: Social structure of the city and its neighbourhoods and communities.

My research focuses on the social structure of the city and its neighbourhoods and communities.

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mo yan

Mo Yan

PhD (Sociology)

Research Interest:
Ageing and Health, Population Studies, Research Methods

Mo Yan

Research Interest: Ageing and Health, Population Studies, Research Methods

Mo Yan is a dedicated PhD student at the National University of Singapore, specializing in the field of demography and sociology, with a keen focus on aging and health. Her passion for research is driven by the desire to unravel the complex dynamics of population trends and their implications on society. She aims to employ quantitative research methods to produce reliable and actionable insights, which contribute to the betterment of public health and welfare.

Research:

Currently, she is actively engaged in various research activities, exploring the intersections of aging, health, and social factors.

 

Publications:

Mo, Y., Feng, Q. & Gu, D. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on life expectancy at birth in Asia. BMC Public Health 23, 1508 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16426-9

Education:

Jul. 2022 - present
National University of Singapore, Singapore
PhD in Sociology National University of Singapore, Singapore

Jan. 2021 - Jan. 2022
Master of Science (Statistics) Shanghai University, Shanghai

Jul. 2015 - Jun. 2018
Master of laws (Sociology) Shanghai University, Shanghai

Jul. 2011 - Jun. 2015
Bachelor of laws (Sociology)

Teaching Experience:

2023
GES1035/GESS1025 Singapore: Imagining the Next 50 Years

2022
SC2204 Social Inequalities : Who Gets Ahead?

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yanwen2

Wang Yanwen

PhD (Sociology)

Research Interest:
assortative mating, social mobility, family relationships, gender inequality, fertility

Wang Yanwen

Yanwen Wang graduated with a Ph.D. in Sociology in 2025 under the supervision of Zheng Mu. He is currently a Postdoctoral Associate in the Division of Social Science at New York University Abu Dhabi. A quantitative sociologist and demographer, he works at the intersection of family demography, social stratification, and race/ethnicity in multiethnic societies across Asia and beyond. His research examines ethnic and caste boundaries through intermarriage, the ways individuals sort into partnerships — long structured by education and status, and increasingly by values, beliefs, and life orientations — and changing patterns of family life, including pathways to childlessness, parenting norms, and the consequences of family arrangements for subjective well-being. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Demography, Social Science Research, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Chinese Sociological Review, Advances in Life Course Research, amongst others.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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