Currently Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) of Gender and Politics in Politics and International Relations at the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh , I hold a dual Ph.D. in Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the Pennsylvania State University.
I am the Associate Editor and the Book Editor for Representation: Journal of Representative Democracy and Coordinating Editor for Politics, Groups, and Identities while sitting on the advisory board of Political Behavior. I have been recognized as one of the 50 most influential scholars by Apolitical Foundation and as an Emerging Diversity Scholar by the University of Michigan’s National Center for Institutional Diversity.
Currently, I am co-organizing the Women and Politics section program for the 2023 American Political Science Association annual conference and serve as an invited member of the Equality, Inclusion, and Access in the Discipline Taskforce of the Western Political Science Association. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, I taught in the Department of Politics at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K. and the Department of Government at Smith College in Northampton, MA. In 2021, I was awarded the Sir Bernard Crick Prize for Outstanding Teaching by the U.K. Political Studies Association.
My research focuses on the cross-national comparison of gender and politics, specifically the ways contexts shape the gender gap in political attitudes and activities. Utilizing multilevel modeling approaches, my work examines the influence of female political leaders on women’s political participation. Particularly, my research investigates the role model effect of cabinet ministers in democracies, a previously ignored political arena, and the role model effect of legislators in Asia, a grossly underexplored area in extant studies. I also evaluate how social movements affect adolescents’ attitudes toward gender roles and influence their propensity to protest. Since the world has been confronted with the pandemic, my latest research also examines the gendered and raced impact of COVID-19.
I have published in Political Research Quarterly, International Political Science Review, Politics & Gender, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Politics, Groups, and Identities, Feminist Media Studies, and Journal of Open Humanities Data, and more and have been featured in The ConversationUK: Why Are Asia’s Women Politicians Facing a Backlash?, The Washington Post Monkey Cage: Three surprising facts about the protesters at the Republican National Convention, Who were the protesters at the Democratic National Convention this week?, Taiwan’s First Female President Easily Won Reelection: Are Asian Women Taking Note?, and IRPP‘s Policy Options podcast: Do Female Ministers Affect Women’s Civic Engagement? I have appeared on BBC World and France 24 to discuss the political status of women in Asia. I am also a regular guest on programs on BBC Radio London and BBC Radio Scotland.
In Gendering Immigration: Media Framing of Immigration and Public Opinion on the Huddled Masses, I analyze gender in media framings of immigration and immigrants and the varying media framings’ impacts on citizens’ attitudes about immigrants. Employing cross-national content analysis and survey experiments, I investigate the gender/gendered differences in the media constructions of immigration and their effects on native citizens’ acceptance of male and female immigrants in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
I have had the pleasure to design and teach Gender and Politics, Comparative Politics of Immigration, Chinese Politics, East Asian Politics Seminar, Government and Politics in East Asia, Global Feminisms, Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies, Politics of Immigration, and Research Methods in Politics translating my analysis of gender in my research into course materials that engage students’ interests in exploring critical questions about gender in political institutions and social structures.
I co-founded and currently chair the Staff BAME Network at the University of Edinburgh. In the past, I have co-convened the 2020 Political Studies Association Undergraduate Conference and numerous workshops, panels, and talks. I obtained an M.A. in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management at the World Learning SIT Graduate Institute in 2010. I received a B.A. in American Studies and Studio Art with a minor in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame in 2006.
When I am not at school, I enjoy reading fiction, watching indie films, running, and traveling, especially backpacking. Traveling to most of Asia, Europe, the Americas, and South Africa have propelled my interest in gender and politics in a transnational, comparative context. My traveling experiences inspire my constant questioning of existing structures and institutions. As I continue to be amazed by the beauty in the world, it is my dream to backpack around the world one day.