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Education

• PhD in Communication, University of California, Davis
  Sept. 2025 – present · Expected completion: June 2030
  Advisor: Soojong Kim
• Research Master’s in Communication Science, University of Amsterdam
  Sept. 2023 – June 2025
  Advisor: Anne Kroon
• MSc in Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science
  Sept. 2018 – Nov. 2019
• BA in Journalism, Renmin University of China
  Sept. 2014 – June 2018
  • Exchange Student in Communication, National Chengchi University
    Sept. 2016 – Jan. 2017

Publications

• Kim, S., Kim, H., Kim, K., & Zhu, D. (2026). Algorithmic portrayals of mental health stigma: Quantifying the gap between AI estimations and human perceptions across gender groups. Social Science & Medicine. DOI

Conference Presentations

† denotes the presenting author (including scheduled presentations).

• Kim, H.†, Kim, S., Zhu, D., & Lam, H. (2026). When can multimodal AI support content analysis? Evidence from mental health stories on YouTube.

  • Accepted for presentation at: 60th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Honolulu, HI, USA.

• Kim, S., Kim, H., Kim, K., & Zhu, D.† (2026). Algorithmic portrayals of mental health stigma: Quantifying the gap between AI estimations and human perceptions across gender groups.

  • Presented at: 109th Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), New Orleans, LA, USA.
  • Award: Top Faculty Conference Paper Award, Communication Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division, AEJMC.

• Zhu, D.† (2026). A mirror of reality? Visual representations of female politicians in the EU across search engines and generative AI.

  • Presented at:
    • 76th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Cape Town, South Africa.
    • Comm Horizons 2026, Davis, CA, USA.
    • CSS Escape 2026, Davis, CA, USA.

• Kim, K., Kim, S., Niederdeppe, J., Byrne, S., & Zhu, D.† (2026). Bias in multimodal generative AI evaluations of vaping risk perceptions and willingness: Comparison with human reference data from a vaping warning message effect experiment.

  • Presented at:
    • 76th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Cape Town, South Africa.
    • Comm Horizons 2026, Davis, CA, USA.

• Zhu, D.† (2026). Whose morality? Uncovering ideological asymmetries in how large language models judge political arguments.

  • Presented at: CSS Escape 2026, Davis, CA, USA.

• Zhu, D.†, Khanna, S., Ausloos, J., & Leerssen, P. (2026). Banned from detecting shadowbans.

  • Presented at: Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap 2026, Arnhem, the Netherlands.

• Wirz, D., Schneider, F., Schäfer, S., Zhu, D., & Tan, Y†. (2025). TikTok news and (the illusion of) knowledge: An experiment combining self-reports and physiological measurements.

  • Presented at:
    • 75th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Denver, CO, USA.
    • Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap 2025, Bruges, Belgium.

• Zhu, D.† (2024). Are housewives getting depressed? A machine learning study based on YouTube.

  • Presented at: 74th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) Regional Hub, Beijing, China.

Research Experience

• Research Assistant, the Invisible Lab, University of Amsterdam, May – Aug. 2025. Supervisor: Saurabh Khanna
• Research Assistant, Digital Communication Methods Lab, University of Amsterdam, May – Dec. 2024. Supervisor: Joanna Strycharz
• Research Assistant, ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, Mar. – Dec. 2024. Supervisor: Dominique Wirz

Teaching Experience

• Teaching Assistant, Department of Communication, University of California, Davis
  • CMN 001: Introduction to Public Speaking (Fall 2025, Winter 2026, Spring 2026, Summer Session II 2026), Instructor: Alisa Shubb
  • CMN 161: Health Communication (Fall 2026), Instructor: Soojong Kim
  • CMN 165: Media & Health (Fall 2026), Instructor: Narine Yegiyan

Academic Service

• Panel Chair, “Governance, Extremism, and Regulatory Questions”, Comm Horizons 2026, Davis, CA, USA
• Reviewer, 76th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Cape Town, South Africa, 2026

Professional Experience

• Marketing Specialist, Global Marketing Department, Xiaomi Inc., Beijing, China, Mar. 2020 – Feb. 2023
• Freelancer, Platform and Content Group, Tencent Inc., Remote, Nov. 2017 – Mar. 2020
• Intern, Chinese Weekly, Kylin Prime Group, London, June 2019 – Sept. 2019
• Intern, MSL Group, Publicis Groupe, Beijing, May 2017 – Aug. 2017

Marketing Achievements & Media Articles →

Grants

• Small Grant, Department of Communication, University of California, Davis ($1,000), 2026
• Thesis Grant, Digital Communication Methods Lab, University of Amsterdam (€500), 2025

Honors & Awards

• Top Faculty Conference Paper Award, Communication Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division, AEJMC, 2026. Awarded to “Algorithmic portrayals of mental health stigma” (with S. Kim, H. Kim, and K. Kim).
• National Encouragement Scholarship, Renmin University of China (¥5,000), 2017, 2015
• Outstanding Student Leader Award, Renmin University of China, 2017, 2016
• Second Prize, Undergraduate Research Foundation, Renmin University of China, 2017
• Excellent Works Prize, AD Campus Spring Competition (National Level), 2017
• Third Prize Scholarship, Renmin University of China (¥1,000), 2016

Skills

• Languages: Mandarin (native), English (advanced; IELTS 8.0), French (beginner)
• Programming: Python, R