Julie Yujie Chen

Julie Yujie Chen is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology (ICCIT) at the University of Toronto Mississauga and holds a graduate appointment at the Faculty of Information. She has a PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. Before joining the University of Toronto, she was a Lecturer in the School of Media, Communication, and Sociology at the University of Leicester.

Professor Chen is interested in studying how culture, digital technologies, and the established economic structures shape the experience and perception of work. She has published work examining different types of digital work and the social and cultural implications of emerging information and media technologies. Her recent project explores the changing work conditions, employment patterns, and struggles in the booming platform economy in China, with a focus on the ride-hailing and food-delivery service sectors. It has led to several journal article publications in the New Media & Society, Chinese Journal of Communication, and TripleC. She is the lead author of Super-sticky WeChat and Chinese Society (2018), the first academic book that explored the development of WeChat into a super-app and its social and political impact.