Prof Duoduo Xu
Assistant Professor
9.05, 9/F., The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus
3917 2062
Dr. Duoduo Xu is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong. She joined HKU in 2019, jointly appointed by the Department of Sociology, Department of Geography and Faculty of Arts (China Studies). Previously, she was a Research Assistant Professor of Social Science and Junior Fellow of Institute for Advanced Study at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
As a stratification researcher and social demographer, Dr. Xu’s research centers on child development and youth employment issues in urban China, intersecting the fields of urban sociology, sociology of education, and sociology of work. In particular, she is interested in understanding: 1) impacts of various family, school and neighborhood factors on children’s educational and developmental outcomes; 2) young people’s experiences of school-to-work transition, precarious employment and skills mismatch; and 3) socio-spatial factors (e.g. migration, segregation, location) that shape urban residents’ attitudes, wellbeing, and life chances. In this endeavor, she has published widely in leading academic journals including British Journal of Sociology, China Quarterly, Chinese Sociological Review, Demographic Research, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Work, Employment and Society, among others.
Dr. Xu has been awarded approximately HK$17 million in research funding as PI or Co-PI. She has extensive experience in conducting large-scale data collection projects in Chinese metropolitan cities, including the first-ever city-wide representative household panel study in Hong Kong (HKPSSD). Recently, she and her collaborators have received generous funding support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council’s Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) for a comprehensive longitudinal study on about 3,000 preschoolers in Hong Kong (HK-CHILD).
Dr. Xu is currently serving as the Vice-President of the Hong Kong Sociological Association, the Associate Director of the HKU Social Science Research Center (SSRC), and an incoming editorial board member of the journal Chinese Sociological Review.
Ph.D.
Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science & TechnologyM.Phil.
Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science & TechnologyB.A.
Sociology, Shandong UniversitySocial Stratification and Mobility
Migration and Immigration
Urban Sociology
Sociology of Education
Child and Youth Development
Survey and Quantitative Methods
Grants
PI, “Tracking Effect or Selection Effect? Social Origin, Track Choice, and Status Attainment in China”, HKU Seed Fund for Basic Research (109000256, HK$79,000, 2023-2025)
PI, “Educational Expansion, College Premium and Social Mobility: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong and Taiwan Youth,” Hong Kong Research Grant Council Early Career Scheme (ECS) (27604821, HK$ 610,312, 2022-2024).
PI, “A Broken Social Ladder in Hong Kong and its way out: The Panel Survey of the Youth’s Job and Income Mobility between 2011 and 2019,” Oxfam Hong Kong Project (20034-HKG-A1094-01-2020A-H21, HK$171,288.40, 2020-2021)
PI, “The Over-educated Generation: College Expansion and Social Mobility in Hong Kong and Taiwan,” HKU Seed Fund for Basic Research (104005605, HK$ 150,000, 2020-2021)
PI, “Socioeconomic Segregation, School Choice, and Geography of Educational Inequality in Hong Kong,” Hong Kong Research Grant Council General Research Fund (GRF) (16600218, HK$ 599,440, 2019 – 2021).
PI, “Migration, Risk Preference, and Entrepreneurship in Urban China: A Mixed-methods Study,” HKU Start-up Fund, (006029001, HK$ 506,497, 2019-2022).
PI, “Education, Location, and School Choice in Hong Kong,” HKUST Initiation Grant (IGN17HS02, HK$ 100,000, 2017-2019).
Co-I, “Early Childhood Development in Hong Kong: A Longitudinal Study”, HKU Seed Fund for Collaborative Research” (PI: Dr. Ming Wen, HK$599,932, 2023-2026).
Co-PI, “Neighbourhood Factors and Social Integration of Diverse Hong Kong Families in the Time of COVID-19: An Extension of the Hong Kong Panel Study of Social Dynamics (HKPSSD) [HKPSSD-D],” Hong Kong Research Grant Council Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) (PI: Dr. Lucy Jordan, HK$1,926,870, 2022-2023).
Co-I, “Consultancy Study on Considerations and Difficulties of Women in Choosing Whether or Not to Work,” Consultancy Project, Labour and Welfare Bureau, HKSAR (PI: Dr. Lucy Jordan, HK$3,369,405, 2020-2021).
2023 Best Paper Award, Hong Kong Sociological Association
2016 Kerckhoff Award, Research Committee on Social Stratification and Mobility (RC28), International Sociological Association (ISA)
2015 Oversea Research Award, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
*: Xu is corresponding author
#: post-doc/graduate student coauthor
Song, Xinmiao# and Duoduo Xu*. Forthcoming. “More Graduates, Fewer Skills? Vocational Education Expansion and Skilled Labour Shortages in China.” The China Quarterly, In Press.
Xu, Duoduo*, Jiao Guo#, Karen Ka Han Li#, and Lucy P. Jordan. Forthcoming. “Who Cares? Childcare Support and Women’s Labor Supply in Hong Kong.” Chinese Sociological Review, Online First.
Xu, Duoduo* and Jiao Guo# (equal authorship). 2023. “In Sight, In Mind: Spatial Proximity to Protest Sites and Changes in Peoples’ Political Attitudes.” British Journal of Sociology, 74(1): 83-104
Xu, Duoduo*, Shuheng Jin#, Ngai Pun, Jiao Guo#, and Xiaogang Wu. 2022. “The Scarring Effect of First Job Precarity: New Evidence from a Panel Study in Hong Kong.” Work, Employment and Society, Online First.
Best Paper Award, Hong Kong Sociological Association, 2023
Xu, Duoduo* and Xiaogang Wu. 2022. “Separate and Unequal: Hukou, School Segregation, and Educational Inequality in Urban China.” Chinese Sociological Review, 54(5), 433-457.
Jin, Shuheng#, Tianzhu Nie#, Ngai Pun, and Duoduo Xu*. 2022. “Spatial Mismatch, Different Labor Markets and Precarious Employment: The Case of Hong Kong.” Social Indicators Research, 161(1): 51-73.
Xu, Duoduo* and Xiaogang Wu. 2021. “From Political Power to Personal Wealth: Privatization and Elite Opportunity in Post-Reform China.” Journal of Contemporary China, 30(132):993-1013.
Chen, Juan, Duoduo Xu and Xiaogang Wu. 2019. “Seeking Help for Mental Health Problems in Hong Kong: The Role of Family.” Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 46(2):220-237.
Zhang, Zhuoni, Tianzhu Nie# and Duoduo Xu. 2019. “Family Background, Parenting Practices, and Child Outcomes: Chinese Immigrants’ Offspring in Hong Kong.” Chinese Journal of Sociology, 5(3), 263-282.
Xu, Duoduo*, Xiaogang Wu, Zhuoni Zhang and Jaap Dronkers. 2018. “Not A Zero-Sum Game: Migration and Child Well-being in Contemporary China.” Demographic Research, 38(26), 691-726.
Xu, Duoduo*. 2018. “From Poverty to Prosperity: College Education, Non-cognitive Abilities, and First-job Earnings.” Chinese Sociological Review, 50(1), 53-82.
Kerckhoff Award, International Sociological Association Research Committee on Social Stratification and Mobility (ISA-RC28), 2016
Xu, Duoduo and Xiaogang Wu. 2017. “The Rise of the Second Generation: Aspirations, Motivations and Academic Success of Chinese Immigrants’ Children in Hong Kong.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(7), 1164-1189.
Xu, Duoduo* and Jaap Dronkers. 2016. “Migrant Children in Shanghai: A Research Note on the PISA-Shanghai Controversy.” Chinese Sociological Review, 48(3), 271-295.