Xin Zhan

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Xin Zhan is an anthropologist at SOAS University of London, where she is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA). Her current research explores the growing use of AI chatbots and conversational agents in mental health support, examining both their clinical applications and the reasons people increasingly turn to digital technologies for companionship, emotional support, and care.

More broadly, her work investigates how emerging technologies are reshaping everyday life, from work and social relationships to mental health and wellbeing. She is particularly interested in how digital technologies influence people's aspirations, identities, and experiences of care in contemporary societies.

Xin holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge, where her doctoral research examined how digital skills and coding education shape social mobility and future-making. She has also taught social anthropology and digital sociology at the University of Cambridge.

Experience

  • 2026–present
    Research fellow, SOAS, University of London
  • 2025–present
    Teaching associate , Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge
  • 2024–2025
    Postdoctoral associate, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Education

  • 2025 
    University of Cambridge, PhD Social Anthropology

Publications

  • 2025
    Hacking the Future: The Magical Allure of Coding, Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology

Grants and Contracts

  • 2025
    Cambridge Humanities Research Grant
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    University of Cambridge
  • 2021
    University Fieldwork Funding
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    University of Cambridge
  • 2020
    Wyse Studentship in Social Anthropology
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    University of Cambridge

Contact Xin for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision