Download CV (PDF)

Education

• PhD Student, Department of Communication, University of California, Davis, Sept. 2025 – June 2030 (Expected). Supervised by Soojong Kim
• Research Master, Communication Science, University of Amsterdam, Sept. 2023 – June 2025. Supervised by Anne Kroon
• MSc, Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, Sept. 2018 – Nov. 2019
• BA, Journalism, Renmin University of China, Sept. 2014 – June 2018
  • Exchange Student, 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. [Under Revision]

Conference Presentations

• [7] 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.

  • 109th Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), New Orleans, LA, USA
  • 🏆 Top Research Paper Award

• [6] Zhu, D. (2026). A Mirror of Reality? Visual Representations of Female Politicians in the EU Across Search Engines and Generative AI.

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

• [5] 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.

  • 76th Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA), Cape Town, South Africa
  • Comm Horizons 2026, Davis, USA

• [4] Zhu, D. (2026). Whose Morality? Uncovering Ideological Asymmetries in How Large Language Models Judge Political Arguments.

  • CSS Escape 2026, Davis, USA

• [3] Zhu, D., Khanna, S., Ausloos, J., & Leerssen, P. (2026). Banned from Detecting Shadowbans.

  • Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap 2026, Arnhem, Netherlands

• [2] 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.

  • 75th Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA), Denver, USA
  • Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap 2025, Bruges, Belgium

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

  • 74th Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA) Regional Hub, Beijing, China

Research Experience

• Research Assistant, the Invisible Lab, University of Amsterdam, May – Aug. 2025. Supervised by Saurabh Khanna
• Research Assistant, Digital Communication Methods Lab, University of Amsterdam, May – Dec. 2024. Supervised by Joanna Strycharz
• Research Assistant, ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, Mar. – Dec. 2024. Supervised by Dominique Wirz, Svenja Schäfer, Frank Schneide

Teaching Experience

• Department of Communication, University of California, Davis
  • Teaching Assistant, CMN 001: Introduction to Public Speaking (Fall 2025, Winter 2026, Spring 2026, Summer Session II 2026), Instructor: Professor Alisa Shubb (amshubb@ucdavis.edu)

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

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

• 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 (Fluent, IELTS: 8.0)
• Programming: Python, R (Data Cleaning, Visualization, Machine Learning)
• Tools: LaTeX, SPSS, Gephi (Network Analysis), Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro