Rujun (Ruth) Zhang
张儒君

2024—2025 | MA thesis project

My MA thesis project, "Pursuit of Permanent Status and Career Choices for International Students in Canada", seeks to understand how the pursuit of permanent legal status affect international students’ career choices and trajectory. My study builds on existing research on immigrant insecure legal status and school-to-work transitions and is guided by theories of precarious work. To collect empirical data, I conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 17 international student graduates from Canadian universities who had experiences using post-graduation work permit (PGWP) to work in Canada and intended to gain permanent legal status.
My findings reveal that PGWP holders frequently engage in trade-offs to strategically prioritize their immigration goals. These trade-offs involve but are not limited to career decisions, education plans, and taking on more uncertainties regarding their future. Additionally, PGWP holders face obstacles at various stages of their labour market experiences due to the temporary nature of their status, and lack institutional support and sufficient information as they navigate their own status and when they go through the process of applying for permanent residency. My research has yielded valuable insight into international students’ experiences with the PGWP. It shows that, even though the PGWP greatly enables the formation of people’s immigration intention to Canada, the prospect of having an open work permit for up to three years does not always play out as ideally as hoped, and the PGWP policy does not give international student graduates a direct and smooth pathway to gaining permanence in Canada.

You can read the full thesis here.

2023—ongoing | Research assistantship

I am currently working as a research assistant for the project “Algorithmic and intersectional? Gender, race, and automation in hiring processes”, mainly under the supervision of Dr. Nicole Denier. This project examines algorithmic labour markets through a novel intersectional and multi-method approach, focusing on Canada. It aims to study how supply-side (e.g., job seekers, employees) and demand-side (e.g., employers) actions contribute to intersectional inequalities. 

2020—2022 | Undergraduate thesis project

In summer 2020 I initiated a Student Research Training project “Cost and reward for female beautification practice: Investigation of eating disorders among Chinese female college students”, which later turned into my undergraduate thesis project. I worked on this project for two years, during which I conducted semi-structured interviews with 32 informants, analyzed the qualitative data, and wrote several drafts based on two different theoretical frameworks. This project was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Tianhan Gui. An abstract of this research project was accepted by SWS (Sociologists for Women in Society) 2021 Winter Meeting. I therefore participated and presented this project in one of the round table panels, as the only undergraduate student from a Chinese institution among the round tables.  

2024 August

Presenter & roundtable presider @ 119th ASA (American Sociological Association) Annual Meeting

>> Section session “Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Section Roundtable Session - Open Topic”
>> Presented paper “Immigrant Selectivity for Chinese Immigrant Workers in Canada and the U.S.: A Comparative Study”

2024 June

Panelist @ WFRN (Work and Family Researchers Network) 2024 Conference

>> Session “Artificial Intelligence and Intersectional Inequalities in the Labor Market”
>> Co-presented paper “Between the Supply and Demand Sides: How Employers and Job Seekers Navigate Intersectional Inequalities In AI-Automated Hiring”

Montréal, 2024 summer	WFRN panel group

2021 January

Roundtable presenter @ SWS (Sociologists for Women in Society) 2021 Virtual Winter Meeting

>> Presented abstract “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Investigation of Binging and Purging Syndromes among Chinese Female College Students”

2024 Sept.-2025 Apr.

Teaching Assistant, SOC 210 "Introduction to Social Statistics"

2024 Jan.

Guest Lecturer, SOC 260 "Inequality and Social Stratification"

>> Delivered guest lecture "Domestic Work in Contemporary Taiwan & Ecuador".

I love musicals and music and theatre in general. In retrospect it seems that I have developed a habit of planning short trips with almost the sole purpose of seeing musicals and plays. I spent two days in Stratford-upon-Avon in England and saw Richard III the play in Shakespeare’s hometown; I went to Vienna twice, for three days and one day respectively, and saw the Rebecca musical as well as the Elisabeth musical concert; in August 2023 I visited London for one night to see Next to Normal in theatre; in November 2023 I visited New York and Minneapolis in the US to see two Sondheim musicals, Merrily We Roll Along and Company. I also love choral music and I've been singing in choirs for seven consecutive years now. It's a simple, pure and beautiful source of consolation and joy.

I enjoy literary reading and writing immensely. During my undergrad study I took a minor degree in English language & literature, just so that I could spend more time reading literary works in a fully justified manner.

I enjoy gaming selectively, and I have a limited but growing list of games that I find enjoyable. Some items on the list: overcooked; bananagrams; minecraft; it takes two.

I'm slowly learning Polish (Duolingo Polish course graduate!) and I have a small wooden beaver on my bookshelf.

I like front-end web development but find it really hard to keep as a hobby. I built this website by myself.