Yuezhi Zhao (; born 1965) is a Canadian sociologist. She is a

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

in Communication and Media Studies and the founder of the Global Media Monitoring Laboratory at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

(SFU). Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the relationship between communication and policy in US-China relations, which she regularly publishes research in both English and Chinese, and she is a noted commentator on the policies pursued by the People's Republic of China.

Early life and education

Zhao was born in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, in the

Jinyun County Jinyun County is a county of south-central Zhejiang province, China. It is under the administration of the Lishui Lishui (; Lishuinese: ''li⁶ syu³'' ) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Zhejiang province, People's Republic o ...

of the

Zhejiang Province ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

. She completed BA in journalism from the Beijing Broadcasting Institute in 1984. In 1986, she migrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to pursue her

post-graduate education Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

at Simon Fraser University. There, she earned her MA in communication in 1989 and Ph.D. in communication in 1996.

Career

After earning her PhD, Zhao earned a position at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

in 1997. She left the University of California three years later and returned to SFU in 2000. She joined SFU as a tenure-tracked assistant professor in Communication and Media Studies. As an associate professor of communications at SFU, Zhao was appointed a Tier 2

in the political economy of global communication in 2005. As a result of her research, she also earned the Chang-Jiang Scholar Award from the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education in 2009. The next year, she was renewed as a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair and by 2011 was appointed to Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Global Communication. While teaching at SFU, Zhao created the Global Communication Double MA Degree program, which would win the 2014 gold prize in the Educational Excellence Award category at the Canada-China Business Council's 4th Canada-China Business Excellence Awards. In 2013, she received SFU's C. Edwin Baker Award for "the Advancement of Scholarship on Media, Markets and Democracy." She was also appointed a Senior Fellow at the

Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada), created by an Act of Parliament in 1984, is an independent, not-for-profit think-tank on Canada's relations with Asia. Based in Vancouver, with a secondary office in Toronto, APF Canada funct ...

. Two years later, Zhao was the recipient of the 2015 Award for Leadership. In 2019, Zhao was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Canada judges to have "made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public life" ...

Works

* Author: ''Communication and Society: Political Economic and Cultural Analysis'' (2014) Communication University of China Press, * Author: ''Communication in China: Political Economy, Power and Conflict'' (2008) Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, *Co-author: ''Global Communications: Toward a Transcultural Political Economy'' (2008) Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, *Author: ''Media, Market, and Democracy in China: Between the Party Line and the Bottom Line'' (1998) University of Illinois Press,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Yuezhi Living people Academic staff of Simon Fraser University Canadian sociologists Simon Fraser University alumni Canada Research Chairs Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Canadian women sociologists 20th-century Canadian social scientists 21st-century Canadian social scientists 20th-century Canadian women scientists 21st-century Canadian women scientists Chinese emigrants to Canada Chinese women sociologists 20th-century Canadian scientists 21st-century Canadian scientists 20th-century Chinese scientists 21st-century Chinese scientists 21st-century Chinese women scientists University of California, San Diego faculty Communication University of China alumni Scientists from Lishui Educators from Lishui 1965 births