PhD Candidate

Kobe University

Biography

I’m a PhD candidate at Graduate School of Law, Kobe University. I specialize in international relations and political communication, focusing on China. I also work in quantitative research methods, especially quantitative text analysis.

I received a BA in Japanese Studies from Shanghai Maritime University in 2009. Motivated by the interest to understand China’s rapid rise and its global implications, I decided to pursue an academic career. I studied in Xinjiang Normal University from 2014 to 2017 and obtained an M.A. in International Relations. I came to Kobe University in October 2017 as a research student, and started my PhD in Political Science from April 2018.

My work has appeared or will soon appear in peer-reviewed journals such as Social Science Computer Review, Asian Journal of Communication, and Journal of Human Rights.

Interests

  • International Relations
  • Political Communication
  • Text Analysis
  • Game Theory
  • Network Analysis
  • Bayesian Modeling

Education

  • PhD in Political Science

    Kobe University

  • M.A. in Political Science, 2020

    Kobe University

  • M.A. in International Relations, 2017

    Xinjiang Normal University

  • B.A. in Japanese Studies, 2009

    Shanghai Maritime University

Skills

R

STATA

Python

LaTeX

Git

MongoDB

Publications

Journal Articles

Yuan Zhou, Ghashia Kiyani, and Charles Crabtree. Forthcoming. “New Evidence that Naming and Shaming Influences State Human Rights Practices.” Journal of Human Rights.

Yuan Zhou. 2022. “China’s Mediated Public Diplomacy towards Japan: A Text-as-Data Approach.” Asian Journal of Communication, 32(4): 327-345. Link

Kohei Watanabe and Yuan Zhou. 2022. “Theory-Driven Analysis of Large Corpora: Semi- Supervised Topic Classification of the UN Speeches.” Social Science Computer Review, 40(2): 346-366. Link

Yuan Zhou and Kaoru Kurusu. 2021. “How Major Powers Diverge on Global Governance? Evidence from the UN General Debate.” Kobe University Law Review, 54: 63-80. Link

Naoko Matsumura and Yuan Zhou. 2020. “Googling the World Health Organization during the COVID-19 Crisis.” Kobe University Law Review, 53: 51-71. Link

Yuan Zhou and Jing Shi. 2016. “Japan’s Official Development Assistance towards Central Asian States” (in Chinese). Journal of International Economic Cooperation, 371(11): 86-91. Link

Yuan Zhou and Jing Shi. 2015. “The Evaluation System of Japan’s Official Development Assistance and Its Implications” (in Chinese). Journal of International Economic Cooperation, 358(10): 86-91. Link

Book Chapters

Yuan Zhou, Sandrine Boudana, and Elad Segev. 2021. “Provocation Narratives in Chinese and US Newspapers.” In Semantic Network Analysis in Social Sciences, ed. Elad Segev (Routledge), 53-71. Link

Current Research

Under Review

Yuan Zhou. “A Formal Theory of Authoritarian Foreign Propaganda.”

Xiaoyu Pu, Chengli Wang, and Yuan Zhou. “Censor and Sensibility: How Beijing Manages the US Embassy’s Social Media in China.”

Duancheng Yang, Yuan Zhou, and Yun-han Chu. “What Kind of Democracy do Chinese People Want? Chinese Perceptions of Democracy Reconsidered.”

Working Paper

Yuan Zhou. “An Empirical Study of China’s Foreign Propaganda during COVID-19.”

Ghashia Kiyani, Yuan Zhou, and Charles Crabtree. “Naming and Shaming and Women Rights Practices: Evidence from Human Rights Texts.”

Haichun Yu and Yuan Zhou. “Russia-Ukraine War on Chinese Social Media.”

Teaching

  • Teaching Assistant and Lab Instructor for Prof. Naofumi Fujimura, Political Research Design, Kobe University, Spring, 2022.

  • Teaching Assistant for Prof. Jaehyun Song, Macro Political Data Analysis, Kansai University, Fall, 2021.

  • Teaching Assistant for Prof. Jaehyun Song, Micro Political Data Analysis, Kansai University, Spring, 2021.

  • Teaching Assistant and Lab Instructor for Prof. Stefan Müller, Introduction to Quantitative Text Analysis, Kobe University, August, 2019.

  • Teaching Assistant for Prof. Naoko Matsumura, Introduction to Social Research, Kobe University, Spring, 2019.

Links

Below are some useful links for learning quantitative research methods.

Contact