On October 2, 2021, the China Times Cultural Foundation announced the 10 recipients of this year’s Young Scholar Award.

Center on Digital Culture and Society (CDCS) doctoral fellow and PhD candidate in sociology Mengyang (Zoe) Zhao won the top award in recognition of her dissertation research on platform game work in China.

Established in 1986, the China Times Cultural Foundation is committed to supporting and promoting academic research that centers Chinese culture and related studies. The Young Scholar Award is granted annually to doctoral candidates in North America whose dissertation research focuses on the study of Chinese cultures in the humanities and the social sciences. This year’s award committee comprises seven prominent China scholars, including David Der-wei Wang of Harvard University and Wen-hsin Yeh of the University of California Berkeley.

As a recipient of the Young Scholar Award, Ms. Zhao will receive a scholarship of $10,000 to support her dissertation research.

Ms. Zhao’s research has been published in Critical Sociology and Social Science Quarterly. She is a frequent commentator on contemporary social issues for media outlets such as the U.S.-based Protocol and the Singapore-based Initium Media. As a CDCS doctoral fellow, she helps to lead a CDCS working group on platform studies and digital labor.