Tianyao Qu is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Singapore Management University. Her research examines how social relationships shape health, well-being, and social inequality across the life course. Her work focuses on social networks, the sociology of health and illness, aging, gender, and economic sociology, with particular interest in understanding how social connections influence cognitive and mental health. She also studies the social implications of emerging technologies and digital platforms, including how tangible goods are valued and exchanged in virtual economies and the newly emerging market of affection, as exemplified in her research on livestreaming.
Her research has been published in leading international journals, including Social Forces, Social Science & Medicine, Social Networks, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, and American Behavioural Scientist.
Prior to joining SMU, Tianyao was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Irsay Institute for Sociomedical Sciences Research at Indiana University Bloomington. She received her PhD in Sociology from Cornell University, where her dissertation examined social relationships and well-being from a structural perspective.
Her research has been published in leading international journals, including Social Forces, Social Science & Medicine, Social Networks, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, and American Behavioural Scientist.
Prior to joining SMU, Tianyao was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Irsay Institute for Sociomedical Sciences Research at Indiana University Bloomington. She received her PhD in Sociology from Cornell University, where her dissertation examined social relationships and well-being from a structural perspective.
Qualifications
- PhD (Sociology), Cornell University, 2024
- MA (Sociology), Cornell University, 2021
- BA (Distinction, Sociology), Sun Yat-sen University, 2018
Research Interests
- Social Networks
- Sociology of Health and Illness
- Aging and the Life Course
- Gender
- Economic Sociology
- Social Inequality
- Quantitative Methods