Research interests
Social mobility & inequalities; Migration; Sociology of education; Quantitative research methods
Yang Yu
Dr Yang Yu joined ODID in July 2025 as a Postdoctoral Quantitative Researcher at the Choosing Islamic Conservatism project. He also holds a researcher position at Nuffield College, where he is affiliated with the Centre for Social Investigation (CSI).
Yang's research focuses on social mobility and inequality, sociology of education, and geographic mobility in the UK. His work combines advanced quantitative methods, including geo-mapping techniques and spatial analysis, with large-scale survey and administrative data to investigate how socio-economic inequalities emerge and persist across generations.
His recent publications appear in sociology journals such as The British Journal of Sociology, Socio-Economic Review, and Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. His work has also contributed to policy-focused outputs for the UK Government Social Mobility Commission.
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Journal articles and special issues( ) Where are inequalities produced? Comparing the variations of graduate employment between the UK’s districts and universities . Socio-Economic Review 23 (1) 283-307( ) Levelling up’ social mobility? Comparing the social and spatial mobility for university graduates across districts of Britain . British Journal of Sociology 75 (4) 379-399( ) Comparing the social and spatial mobility across UK regions–evidence from the 1958 and 1970 birth cohorts . Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 83 100767( ) Spatial and Social mobility in England: The persistence of the ‘Escalator’ effect for the millennial generation . Population, Space and Place 29 (3) e2625( ) The graduate Atlas: Visualizing the spatial inequality of employment outcome for university graduates of Britain . People, Place and Policy 15 (3) 169-172
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Reports( ) Childhood Origins of Social Mobility: Revised and Updated . , Social Mobility Commission