Dr Yuting Yao (she/her)
Department of Sociological Studies
Research Associate
Full contact details
Department of Sociological Studies
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
- Profile
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Yuting Yao joined the Department of Sociological Studies in 2023 as a Research Associate, working with Dr Warren Pearce on the project Just Futures? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Cultural Climate Models. This project seeks a better understanding of how influential texts, images and actors on social media (re)imagine the impacts and implications of climate change; and offers significant methodological innovation to researchers in the environmental humanities and social sciences by developing an approach to cultural models of climate futures.
Yuting completed her PhD in History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester in 2022. Her primary research settles on integrated social science studies of climate change. In her thesis ‘Talking about a Greenish Red: The State-mediated Climate Change Communication in China’, she covers perspectives and methodologies from STS and communication studies to investigate the intertwining development of human society and the environment. By studying the plurality of climate ‘voices’ in China across political, corporate, public and academic discourses and means of communication, her research raises urgent points concerning the contributions of diverse communities in shaping China’s approach to addressing climate change. She holds an MA in Science Communication from the University of Science and Technology of China.
- Research interests
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The principal focus of Yuting’s research is climate change communication, with a special commitment to furthering dialogues on the representational repertoire of climate change between the global North and China.
Cultural Climate Models
Currently, Yuting is engaged in a collaborative effort with Dr Warren Pearce and Dr Carolin Schwegler (University of Cologne) on an interdisciplinary Cultural Climate Models. This project, funded by the AHRC and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, aims to investigate how cultural forms contribute to modelling climate change. Recognising the significance of cultural modelling alongside scientific modelling in comprehending climate futures across diverse social, geographical, and temporal contexts, the project focuses on social media platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter/X. The investigation delves into how images and texts synergistically articulate ethics and values, moving between ostensibly neutral (climate) facts and normative (social) values. The objective is to enhance understanding of the interactions and mobilities between models of climate futures (‘is’) to models for climate futures (‘ought’).
China on climate/environmental change communication
Yuting is interested in China’s handling of the climate/environmental crisis and development dilemma. Her research explores a seemingly simple conundrum created by a contrast between, on the one hand, a total public and political unanimity on the question of the reality of global warming, and, on the other, the economy’s continuing reliance on fossil fuels as a ‘backstop for energy security.’ Yuting’s doctoral research contributes novel resources and ethnographic data to illuminate how the Chinese state, businesses, public sector and scientific community process information about the socio-economic risks and opportunities associated with a warming climate. Her work has led to an advanced comprehension of the Chinese approach(es) in harmonising (or not) short-term economic interests, political agendas, governmental planning and public communication in the context of climate change.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Cover stories: An emerging aesthetic of prestige science. Public Understanding of Science, 26(8), 925-936.
- Cover stories: An emerging aesthetic of prestige science. Public Understanding of Science, 26(8), 925-936.