The Division of Social Sciences is opening a series of labs encompassing a wide range of topics. These Labs will provide opportunities for students to work with professors on interrelated research projects, develop their research skills in a certain area and foster their general intellectual development. Interested students may contact the lab leaders for further information (see the e-mail addresses below).
1. Global Elections Lab
Prof. Jason Douglas Todd – jason.todd@dukekunshan.edu.cn
The Global Elections Lab exists to advance our understanding of electoral institutions and voting behaviors by studying the world’s more obscure elections. Undergraduates develop research skills by tracking down old election returns and legislative rosters, cleaning and curating datasets, discussing trade-offs to research designs, and summarizing and analyzing data. Ultimately, the Lab aims to connect and train budding researchers, cultivate senior theses and collaborative research projects, and produce public goods in the form of original datasets. Visit us at https://sites.duke.edu/globalelectionslab/ to learn more!
2. SocioTech Futures Lab
Prof. Fan Liang – fan.liang@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Prof. Luyao Zhang – luyao.zhang@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Prof. Charles Chang – charles.c.chang@dukekunshan.edu.cn
The SocioTech Futures Lab is an interdisciplinary research hub examining how emerging digital technologies shape information diffusion, human behavior, social and economic inequalities, urban life, and ethical considerations. By bringing together economics, communication, political science, and computational social science, the lab supports four faculty-led research themes: Social Media and Technology Governance, Digital Innovation and Mechanism Design for the Global Nomad Economy, Computational Technology and the Built Environment, and Digital Claims-Making and Information Diffusion. The lab aims to capture the multi-layered effects of technology on society and to produce academically rigorous, practically relevant insights for policy, ethical frameworks, and societal adaptation.
3. Geopolitics of theTwenty-First Century
Prof. Andrew Cheon – andrew.cheon@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Prof. Paula Ganga – paula.ganga@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Geopolitics has returned to the top of the headlines with wars raging in Gaza, Ukraine, and Iran. It has impeded progress on pressing global challenges, such as climate change mitigation and adaptation. Geopolitics also has profound implications for free trade and the flow of capital—the bedrock of the liberal international order. At the same time, the intersection of geopolitics and emerging technologies is already changing the global landscape of strategy and statecraft. To inform future foreign policies, we seek to train the next generation of researchers and problem-solvers who draw lessons from the past and remain sensitive to changes in the present.
4. Behavioral Decisions for Sustainability (BDS) Lab
Prof. Yanran Yang – yanran.yang@dukekunshan.edu.cn
The Behavioral Decisions for Sustainability (BDS) Lab studies how people make decisions related to sustainability, with a particular focus on energy and climate issues. In 2026–27, the lab will examine how households value thermal comfort and heating services, and how people use uncertain weather and climate information when making household energy decisions. The lab brings together perspectives from behavioral science, decision science, environmental science, and public policy, with undergraduate students contributing to ongoing research activities. The lab is led by Dr. Yanran Yang, Assistant Professor of Sustainability Studies, whose research focuses on decision-making under uncertainty in energy, climate, and health contexts.
5. The NEST Lab: NurturingEcosystems through Social Ties
Prof. Yeshim Iqbal – yeshim.iqbal@dukekunshan.edu.cn
The NEST (Nurturing Ecosystems through Social Ties) Lab examines how relationships and social integration help (or harm!) children and youth’s development. We challenge traditional notions of who constitutes ‘family’ and ‘community’ by focusing on China and the Indian subcontinent and to understand the composition and nature of the social ecosystems that shape early development.
6. Economic History and Development Research Lab
Prof. Camila Saez – camila.saez.muller@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Prof. Peiyuan Li – peiyuan.li@dukekunshan.edu.cn
The Economic History and Development Research Lab at Duke Kunshan University explores how historical economic processes, institutions, and events have shaped contemporary outcomes across different regions and periods. The lab’s primary purpose is to give undergraduate students direct, hands-on research experience, with a strong focus on data collection, cleaning, and analysis. Students will work under faculty guidance, learning to identify and gather historical data, prepare it for analysis, and interpret findings in relation to broader research questions. For more information, please visit the website at https://www.oscarpeiyuanl.com/econ-history-lab or contact Prof. Camila Saez at camila.saez.muller@dukekunshan.edu.cn and Prof. Peiyuan Li at peiyuan.li@dukekunshan.edu.cn.
7. The Urban Lab
Prof. Mengqi Wang – mengqi.wang@dukekunshan.edu.cn
The Urban Lab will function as a hub for the interdisciplinary study of the city at DKU. Broadly speaking, it aims to study the spatial dimension of human activities cutting across disciplinary fields such as urban history, urban anthropology and sociology, urban/regional economics, geography, and the study of smart city and sustainability. It seeks to facilitate interdisciplinary conversations from scholars and students who conduct quantitative and qualitative research. The lab will also aim to attract students who are interested in the study of the city and foster potential signature work projects. Please visit us here to learn more!
8. The Ambition Lab
Prof. Ira Soboleva – irina.soboleva@dukekunshan.edu.cn
The Ambition Lab investigates ambition across a broad range of public contexts: group leadership, career planning, civic and political engagement, and entrepreneurship. The lab’s central research goal is to evaluate how situational contexts, motivational mechanisms, and individual differences shape people’s willingness to pursue positions of responsibility and influence. Through their lab activities, the student members will (1) produce publishable research, (2) analyze existing observational and experimental data on people stepping into positions of power, responsibility, and leadership, and (3) get trained in a robust range of empirical research methods.
9. Robots, Jobs, and Industrial Structure Lab
Prof. Liuchun Deng –liuchun.deng@dukekunshan.edu.cn
The Robots, Jobs, and Industrial Structure Lab, led by Professor Liuchun Deng, examines how early robotization reshaped employment and industries in Japan. Students will digitize historical data and learn quantitative analysis, text-as-data methods, and responsible uses of generative AI. The project uses Japan’s experience to shed light on how new technologies are transforming the economy today.
10. HOME Policy Lab
Prof. Seongkyung Cho –seongkyung.cho@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Prof. Chen Zhang – chen.zhang.cz@dukekunshan.edu.cn
The HOME Policy Lab (Housing, Opportunity, Mobility, and Equity) studies how housing policies, markets, and institutions affect where and how people live, and how these conditions shape their opportunities and life choices. The lab focuses on housing policy and governance, housing markets and policy actors, and social outcomes related to housing, including mobility, fertility, migration, aging, and inequality. Led by faculty PIs Seongkyung Cho and Chen Zhang, the lab will develop and support collaborative research projects in these areas, and students will have opportunities to participate in ongoing research and gain hands-on experience with quantitative and qualitative methods, comparative policy analysis, and research communication.