Yuezhi Zhao (; 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 research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

. 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, in the

Jinyun County Jinyun County () is a county of south-central Zhejiang province, China. It is under the administration of the Lishui City. Administrative divisions Towns: * Wuyun (五云镇), Huzhen (壶镇镇), Xinjian (新建镇), Shuhong (舒洪镇), Day ...

of the Zhejiang Province. 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 ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to pursue her post-graduate education 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 or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

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 SFUs 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 functio ...

. 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 lif ...

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 Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Simon Fraser University faculty Canadian sociologists Simon Fraser University alumni Canada Research Chairs Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Canadian women sociologists 20th-century social scientists 21st-century 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 University of California, San Diego faculty Communication University of China alumni Scientists from Lishui Educators from Lishui