Prof. Pengyun LU

Pengyun Lu is a Research Assistant Professor in Creative and Media Industries and a Fellow of the Centre for Film and Creative Industries. He holds a PhD in Creative Industries and an MA (Distinction) in International Cultural Policy and Management from the University of Warwick. He teaches courses related to the cultural and creative industries, new media technologies, and digital culture. Before joining DACI, Pengyun taught at Warwick’s Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies, where he delivered Research Design seminars across three MA programmes in media, arts management and cultural policy, and supervised MA dissertations.

Pengyun’s research explores how media technologies, particularly digital platforms, and the power relations embedded within them are reshaping labour, cultural production, and everyday life. He is especially interested in the complex consequences of platformisation for individuals, communities, and broader society. His doctoral research develops a relational perspective on human and technological agency to examine how the socio-technical architectures of Chinese user-generated content platforms mediate creators’ practices, relationships, and conditions of labour.

His work has been published in leading journals in media and cultural studies, including New Media & Society and European Journal of Cultural Studies. Before entering academia, Pengyun worked as a journalist in the Economic News Department of CCTV-News. His journalistic background continues to inform his research, underpinning a sustained concern with lived experience and everyday realities, as well as a commitment to understanding how people navigate a rapidly changing social world shaped by media and technology.

Digital media and culture; creative industries and platformisation; cultural production and digital labour; disability, digital inclusion, and media accessibility.

• 23/24 Contribution Award for Teaching Excellence, University of Warwick
• Humanities Research Fund 24/25, University of Warwick
• Humanities Research Fund 23/24, University of Warwick

Journal Articles

• 2026. ‘Between “Audience Lords” and “Rich Fathers”: Triadic Relational Labour and Contingent Moral Improvisation among Chinese Tech Creators on UGC Platforms.’ European Journal of Cultural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494261421518

• 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

Media Commentary

• 2025. ‘Real Talk: Why China’s Deaf Creators Feel Pressured to Sell Out.’ Sixth Tone. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1017539

Grants and Research Funding

• 23/24 Contribution Award for Teaching Excellence, University of Warwick.
• Humanities Research Fund 24/25, University of Warwick.
• Humanities Research Fund 23/24, University of Warwick.

• 2025. ‘Navigating the Triangular Dilemma: Re-evaluating Professionalism and Relational Labour among Digital Product Reviewers on China’s UGC Platforms.’ 75th Annual International Communication Association Conference (ICA), Denver, United States.
• 2025. ‘Refining Platform Affordance: Understanding Online Practices from the Perspectives of Primary and Secondary Affordances.’ 13th International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR), Warsaw, Poland.
• 2024. ‘Echoes in Silence: Navigating the Visibility Paradox of Deaf Creators on China’s UGC Platforms.’ International Association for Media and Communication Research Conference (IAMCR), Christchurch, New Zealand.

• Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), UK
• Member of ICA & IAMCR
• Reviewer of New Media & Society, Social Media + Society, Information Communication & Society and European Journal of Cultural Studies.