Wei Zhuang
About 01
Wei Zhuang
RolePhD Candidate
InstitutionThe University of Manchester
FieldSocial Statistics
GraduationSep 2026

I am a PhD candidate in Social Statistics at The University of Manchester, working on time use, gender, and the division of labour within couples and families.

My doctoral research uses UK longitudinal and time-use data to examine how paid work, domestic work, and parenthood structure the daily lives of dual-earner couples. I draw on multi-channel sequence analysis, multilevel modelling, and structural equation modelling.

I am currently a Research Assistant on the GenTime project (PI: Prof. Man-Yee Kan, Oxford) and the PIECE project (PI: Dr Helen Norman, Leeds). I also teach statistics and data science at Manchester.

Research 02

Research Interests

  • Time use
  • Gender inequality
  • Division of labour
  • Work & family
  • Parenthood
  • Longitudinal methods
  • Sequence analysis
  • Computational social science
  • AI literacy
  • NLP

Ongoing Research

Alongside my doctoral work, I am developing a new strand of research on AI literacy and computational social science. One project examines the social stratification of generative AI literacy, use frequency, and workplace acceptance across eleven European countries. In parallel, I use Natural Language Processing to trace how gendered language around everyday spaces developed in American English discourse over the twentieth century.

Publications

Journal Articles

The Division of Labour and Female Partners' Relative Pay Across Phases of Parenthood: Evidence from UK Couples

Zhuang, W., Elliot, M., Fagan, C., & Morosow, K. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. Accepted, forthcoming.

Can Teleworking Improve Workers' Job Satisfaction? Exploring the Roles of Gender and Emotional Well-Being

Lu, Z., & Zhuang, W. (2023). Applied Research in Quality of Life, 18(3).

DOI

Supervertex Sampling Network: A Geodesic Differential SLIC Approach for 3D Mesh

Zhuang, J., Zeng, P., Zhuang, W., Guo, X., & Liu, P. (2023). IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 30(8), 5553–5565.

Revise & Resubmit

Exploring Physical and Mental Health in the Sandwich Generation Dual-Earner Couples: A Couple-Level Analysis

Wen, Y., Zhuang, W., & Ma, Y. Co-first authors.

Mapping Couples' Daily Rhythms: A Multi-Channel Sequence Analysis of Time Use in UK Dual-Earner Couples

Zhuang, W., Elliot, M., & Morosow, K.

Under Review

Return-to-Office, Back to the Past? Working On-site and Gendered Division of Labour among UK Couples

Zhuang, W., Lu, Z., He, Y., Xiao, S., & Deng, G.

Working Papers

Gendered Daily Time-Use Rhythms and Subjective Time Pressure among Working Adults in the UK, 2016 to 2023

The Social Stratification in Generative Artificial Intelligence Literacy, Use Frequency, and Workplace Acceptance in 11 European Countries

The Gendered Linguistic Geometry of Everyday Spaces in American English Discourse, 1900–2009: Domain-Conditional Feminisation and the Asymmetric Emergence of Private Vocabulary

Reports & Public Writing

What influences fathers' involvement at school, and why does it matter?

Norman, H., & Zhuang, W. (2025). Project Report, PIECE Study.

Project site

Dads and school involvement: could do better?

Norman, H., Zhuang, W., & Davies, J. (2025). Parentkind Blog.

Read

Fathers' work-life balance: why occupational class matters in the UK

Norman, H., Zhuang, W., Jones, R., & Davies, J. (2026). Fatherhood Institute Blog.

Read

Selected Presentations

  • 20267th International Conference on Social Computing — The Gendered Linguistic Geometry of Everyday Spaces in American English Discourse, 1900–2009
  • 20267th International Conference on Social Computing — The Social Stratification in Generative Artificial Intelligence Literacy, Use Frequency, and Workplace Acceptance in 11 European Countries
  • 2026Work and Family Researchers Network Conference — Mapping Couples' Daily Rhythms: A Multi-Channel Sequence Analysis of Time Use in UK Dual-Earner Couples
  • 2025BSA Annual Conference — The Division of Labour and Couple Pay Gap Across Four Phases of Parenthood
  • 2025BSA Annual Conference — Dads and School Involvement: Could Do Better?
  • 202446th IATUR Conference — Quantity or Quality of Time Use
  • 2023BSA Work, Employment & Society Conference — Can Homeworkers Have More Stable Work Schedules?
Curriculum Vitae 03

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Education

  • 2022–2026PhD, Social Statistics · University of Manchester
    Supervisors: Prof. Mark Elliot, Prof. Colette Fagan, Dr Kathrin Morosow. Funded by ESRC NWSSDTP.
  • 2021–2022MSc, Social Research Methods & Statistics · University of Manchester (Distinction)
  • 2020–2021MSc, User Experience Engineering · Goldsmiths, University of London (Distinction)
  • 2016–2020BA, Media Arts & Design · Hong Kong Baptist University (2.1 / First Class Scholarship)

Research Experience

  • 2025–2026Research Assistant · GenTime, Gender inequality in time use across East Asian and Western societies
    PI: Prof. Man-Yee Kan, University of Oxford. Funded by the European Research Council (Horizon 2020, award 771736).
  • 2024–2026Research Assistant · PIECE, Parental Involvement & its Effects on Children's Education
    PI: Dr Helen Norman, University of Leeds. Funded by Leeds University Business School and the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative. Collaboration with Parentkind, the Fatherhood Institute and Working Families.
  • 2025Visiting Researcher · Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)
    COORDINATE / Generations and Gender Programme. Funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme.

Teaching

Teaching Assistant, University of Manchester (2023–2026): SOST20131 Answering Social Research Questions with Statistical Models; DATA70121 Statistics and Machine Learning; SOST70033 Data Science Modelling.

Service to the Discipline

Peer reviewer for Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, Social Indicators Research, and Applied Research in Quality of Life.

Technical Skills

Stata · R · Python. Longitudinal data analysis, multilevel modelling, SEM, multi-channel sequence analysis, survival analysis, latent growth curves, complex survey design, multiple imputation, principal component analysis, multivariate imputation by chained equations.

Contact 04

Get in touch.

I welcome enquiries about collaboration, teaching, and research.