Pengyun Lu

Pengyun.lu@warwick.ac.uk

About

I am a fourth-year PhD candidate in Creative Industries and a Snr Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Centre. I hold an MA in International Cultural Policy and Management (with Distinction) from Warwick, and a BA in new media studies from Communication University of Zhejiang. Before pursuing my PhD, I worked as a journalist in the Economic News Department at China Central Television (CCTV). I also spent time as an exchange student in Journalism at Shih Hsin University, Taiwan, where I contributed to establishing a community newspaper in Taipei’s Da’an District. A documentary I directed on influencers on China’s Douyin platform received the Best Documentary Award at the inaugural Mainland China – Taiwan Short Film Competition. My doctoral project is driven by a long-standing interest in the platformisation of creative work and my engagement with online creators. It investigates how creators’ agency and labour are mediated and scaffolded by platform socio-technical infrastructures, drawing on a relational perspective and the concept of affordances. My research is supervised by Prof Chris Bilton and Dr Heidi Ashton

Teaching

I currently co-teach the Research Design module across three MA programmes with Dr Cecilia Ghidotti. At the undergraduate level, I provide support on the module LP304 Media Lab 3, where I guide students in developing their final projects and dissertations

I also supervise MA major projects. I have supervised twelve dissertations on a range of platform-related social, commercial, and political issues, including platform labour, platform feminism, platform marketing, consumers and fans, and platform nationalism

Publications & Conferences

Lu, P., & Guo, Z. (2025). The sound of silence: Chinese Deaf creators’ self-presentation, labour practices and the visibility paradox on Douyin. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251338497

Lu, P. (2025). Navigating the triangular dilemma: re-evaluating professionalism and relational labour among digital product reviewers on China’s UGC platform. 75th Annual International Communication Association Conference (ICA), Denver, United States of America

Lu, P. (2024). Refining platform affordance: Understanding online practices from the perspectives of primary and secondary affordances. 13th International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR), Warsaw, Poland

Lu, P., & Guo, Z. (2024). Echoes in Silence: Navigating the Visibility Paradox of Deaf Creators on China’s UGC Platform. International Association for Media and Communication Research 2024 Conference (IAMCR), Chirstchurch, New Zealand

Professional Memberships and Affiliations

I am an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) and a member of both the International Communication Association (ICA) and the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)