Biography
Miaofang (Miao) is a PhD candidate in the joint programme between King's College London and the University of São Paulo. She holds an MSc in International Relations from the University of São Paulo (2021) and a BA in International Affairs from Sun Yat-sen University (2018).
Miao's research interest lies in understanding how citizens perceive, understand, and act politically, and how these can vary across national or regional contexts. Her PhD project explores the role of psychological factors and information environments in the rising political polarisation across the globe, adopting interdisciplinary perspectives in comparative politics, political psychology, and communication. During her Master's, she investigated the relationship between political ideology and Brazilian youth perceptions of China, as well as the influence of Chinese and American soft power projection through cinema on Brazilian public opinion. Methodologically, her work involves original survey fieldwork and cross-national survey analysis using secondary data.
Her future research agenda will continue to pursue questions in comparative political behaviour, with strong interests in applying survey experiment and mixed-method approaches.
Research
Thesis title: 'Insecurity and belonging in a polarising world: Exploring terrorism fear, social media, and patriotism based on global survey evidence'
During her PhD, Miao has developed three research papers based on statistical analyses of large-scale survey data from over 60 countries across the globe (N≈140,000).
In the first paper, she examines how subjective perceptions of terrorist threats relate to ideological extremism and support for populist parties. In her second paper, she investigates how exposure to social media amplifies perceived polarisation and political conflict. Her third paper explores the rationality and affect behind patriotism, comparing democratic and non-democratic contexts.
Across all three papers, she integrates individual-level and country-level analyses, combining attention to broad global patterns with sensitivity to specific national and regional contexts to better understand how political behaviour varies across societies.
PhD supervision
- Principal supervisor: Dr Raluca Pahontu
Further details
Research
Quantitative Political Economy Research Group
The Quantitative Political Economy research group gathers economists and political scientists that are committed to bridging the two disciplines. The common ground is the study politics and policies with advanced quantitative methods and formal modeling.
Features
Winning hearts and minds: how cinema shapes Brazilian views of the US and China
PhD student Miaofang Guan examines the effectiveness of efforts by the US and China to extend their influence in the region through cinema.
Research
Quantitative Political Economy Research Group
The Quantitative Political Economy research group gathers economists and political scientists that are committed to bridging the two disciplines. The common ground is the study politics and policies with advanced quantitative methods and formal modeling.
Features
Winning hearts and minds: how cinema shapes Brazilian views of the US and China
PhD student Miaofang Guan examines the effectiveness of efforts by the US and China to extend their influence in the region through cinema.