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Ying Zhang

Profile

Ying is a research assistant at Leeds University Business School for the research project Understanding human rights: implications for management of supply chains. Prior to this, she completed the Master of Business Administration at Leeds University Business School. She has also more than twelve years of industrial working experience in business development and marketing development at SMEs and multinational companies in the life science sector.

Her industrial and academic experience strengthened her interests in sustainability and innovation, from research to industry and frontline business. And her current reseach will develop her contribution related to private companies’ social responsibilities and supply chain risks. Prior to all the above experiences, she got her undergraduate and master degree in Biology. Therefore, she transitioned from a pure science background to one in business management, from wet-lab experiments to qualitative research. This special experience motiviated her to support individuals who are experiencing a similar shift.

Responsibilities

  • Research Assistant

Research interests

Ying’s research interests lie in the areas of forced labour, migration, labour supply chains, the intersection between labour supply chains and product supply chains. Her research focuses on answering a research question: How are migrants made victims of forced labour in the UK via a supply chain perspective? In attempting to answer this question, she is researching the following topics:

  • the implications of the latest Human Rights legislations relating to supply chains

  • the modern slavery trends in the UK

  • companies’ understanding of human rights regulations

  • the production process of forced labour

  • workers’ vulnerabilities to labour exploitation

Qualifications

  • MBA, Business Administration, University of Leeds, UK
  • MSc, Biology, Northwest A&F University, China
  • BSc, Biology, Northwest A&F University, China

Research groups and institutes

  • Centre for Operations and Supply Chain Research