Originally from a public health background, Zhaoxi completed a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree with a major in Public Health (UQ) in 2018. Gradually transitioning into sociology, he obtained a Bachelor of Health Sciences Honours (Class I) degree (UQ) in 2019 by qualitatively investigating Australian terminal cancer patients’ cannabis use identities and self-presentations. With his expertise in qualitative methods and social theories, Zhaoxi has worked on a range of research projects mostly within the field of early childhood education and care as a senior research technician at UQ Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR). Zhaoxi commenced his Ph.D. in 2021 with the UQ School of Social Science, in which he also works as a teaching academic.

Mostly adopting a critical perspective, Zhaoxi investigates children’s involvement in late modern societies in his Ph.D. research. More specifically, guided by critical post-humanist and new materialist theories, his thesis uses post-qualitative inquiry to explore children’s everyday socio-material encounters with death, dying and loss. Departing from the traditional childhood and death research that prioritises human-centric ‘experiences’ and ‘understandings’, his research also seeks to make methodological contributions by deconstruct the well-established meanings and dichotomisations of child/adult and living/death. Empirically, this project advocates for young children’s active participation in complex social affairs and integration into adult human landscapes.

Zhaoxi’s advisors are Associate Professor Rebecca E. Olson, Dr Sally Staton (ISSR), and Dr Jenny Setchell (HaBS).