Youth Mobilities, Aspirations and Pathways
PhD Students
Current
TSHERING PHUNTSHO
Tshering PHUNTSHO is a PhD candidate at Edith Cowan University’s Program of Research in Migration, Diversity and Care and the Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab. His current research, which is a part of the YFAM project, explores the impact of mobility on transitions to adulthood among the young Bhutanese migrants working in the care sector in Australia. Tshering’s research interests are in the areas of migration, ageing, social work, development, and wellbeing.
Recently completed
ALEX LEE
Alex LEE completed her PhD at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University. Her research project explored young Australians' everyday practices of emplacement and belonging in transnational lives, with a focus on Australians of diverse cultural and migrant backgrounds. She examines how their embodied relation to places, people, and identity labels, can create a sense of place or displacement. Alex completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sociology at the Australian National University. Her research interests include multiculturalism, race and whiteness, gender, mixed identities, family, and place.
Giulia MARCHETTI
Giulia MARCHETTI completed her PhD in Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Western Australia. Her research project examined how transnational mobility can impact on identity and youth-to-adulthood transition among young Italians who have moved to Australia and those who have returned to Italy. Giulia’s research interests centre on migration, refugees, racism, women, youth and ageing population in Italy.
Yan WANG
Yan WANG recently completed her PhD at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS), Western Sydney University. She is a bilingual sociologist with over ten years of research experience across Australia and China. Her research sits at the intersection of migration, ageing, intergenerational relationships, health, care, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Yan brings extensive experience in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research, including ethnography, grounded theory, in-depth interviews, participant observation, focus groups, surveys, policy evaluation, and report writing. Across university- and policy-based projects, she has worked with migrant communities, older adults, government and community stakeholders, and interdisciplinary research teams. She also bring strong academic and professional writing skills in both Chinese and English, including report drafting, translation, transcription, and publication development.
Hao ZHENG
Dr Hao ZHENG is a Research Fellow at the Influencer Ethnography Research Lab at Curtin University. Hao obtained her PhD from Deakin University after graduation from the University of Melbourne with first-class honours. Hao is a Chinese queer female researcher with expertise in sociology, cultural studies, and media studies. Her work focuses on gender and sexuality, transnational mobility, and digital cultures. Hao’s doctoral research explored the experiences of Chinese queer female students in Australia, examining how they craft their queer and adult identities in a transnational context. Her research has been published in The Sociological Review, Journal of Homosexuality, and International Journal of Cultural Studies. Hao is an ad-hoc reviewer for Social Media and Society, Mobilities, and LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal. She has held several editorial roles, including Editor of three Routledge edited volume and handbooks (under review), as well as Guest Editor of a special issue of Inter-Asia Cultural Studies.
