I am a sociologist and anthropologist working on issues related to medical sociology (health inequalities), migration, and science and technology studies. My research trajectory bridges the social and life sciences. I hold a PhD in Sociology (Chen 2019) from Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU) and studied migration (Chen 2022), ethnicity and nationalism (Chen 2025a), formations of boundaries and categories with a focus on Northeast China, South Korea and North Korea. While working and living with migrants, I developed a keen interest in tackling healthcare inequalities and conducted postdoctoral research in medical sociology and medical education (Chen et al. 2022; Chen 2025b) at the Imperial College London-NTU joint medical school and Nanyang Centre for Public Administration at NTU. My current research project at Erasmus University Rotterdam focuses on the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research infrastructures (Chen and de Jong 2026) that facilitate academic work to tackle urgent societal challenges in the fields of inequality, diversity and inclusion.

I took this photo in Pyongyang, North Korea during my PhD multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in June 2017. The state’s presence is constant here, from the towering propaganda billboard to the loyalty pins on everyone’s lapels. Despite the official idea of a classless society, social status is still easy to spot—just look at the contrast between the woman’s tailored pink suit and white heels, and the man on the left in everyday workwear.

The overarching aims of my research are twofold: (1) to help reduce social inequalities by investigating how individuals become members of a community and how these processes intersect with identity politics to create social stratification; and (2) to identify and dismantle structural barriers, ultimately inspiring social and policy changes that foster a more inclusive society where disadvantaged populations have equal opportunities to aspire, achieve, and feel at home.

I take a broad approach to defining and studying social inequality and diversity. I explore these themes through research on ethnic minorities and migrants, as well as within the healthcare sector with a focus on health equity. My work can be summarized into three overlapping research streams:

Stream #1: sociology and anthropology of migration

Stream #2: medical anthropology, sociology of health and illness, medical education

Stream #3: science, technology and society

Reference:

Chen, S. and de Jong, S.. 2026. The sand in the gears of large-scale interdisciplinary research: uncovering bottom-up rearrangements of university infrastructure. Science as Culture, online first: 1–22. doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2026.2637131

Chen, S.. 2025a – Performative State Presence Shapes Citizenship in the China-North Korea Borderland – ed. Zhonghua Guo and Tianlong You, special issue, Citizenship Studies. doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2025.2558415

Chen, S.. 2025b – Alienation During Crisis: Experiences of COVID-19 Vaccine Sceptics in Singapore – ed. Annika Lems, Danaé Leitenberg, Biao Xiang (Max Plank Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle), special issue, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies. doi.org/10.1080/14649373.2025.2549649

Chen S., 2022. Mobility–ethnicity nexus in the China–North Korea borderland of Yanbian: Migration infrastructure and multi-directional flows. China Information, 36(3), pp.344-362. doi.org/10.1177/0920203X221118201

Chen S., Smith, H., Bartlam, B., Low-Beer, N., Chow, A., Rosby, L.V., Shelat, V.G. and Cleland, J., 2022. Role of social comparison in preparedness for practice as a junior doctor in Singapore: a longitudinal qualitative study. BMJ open, 12(9), p.e061569. Open access: dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061569

Chen, S., 2019. Nation in action: Making Chinese in the rural borderland between China and North Korea (Doctoral dissertation).