School of Social and Political Science

Background

Research

As a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sheffield, I worked on the Horizon Europe funded 'Co-Creating Inclusive Intersectional Democratic Spaces Across Europe' (CCINDLE) project. I looked at how activists in the UK resist the far-right and anti-gender campaigns, using an intersectional approach to data collection and analysis. Prior, I did my PhD in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh (2025). My doctoral dissertation explores the production of masculinity in Singapore through a decolonial intersectional perspective, focusing on the intersections between citizenship, masculinity, and race. For my Masters, I explored the embodiment of Japanese masculinity by conducting interviews and body-mapping with Japanese men. 

Honours and awards

Feminist Studies Association Small Grant Scheme, May 2024

Gilchrist Educational Trust Study Grant, February 2023

Sue Grant Service Award, December 2021

Tan Ean Kiam Postgraduate Scholarship, August 2021

Tweedie Research Fellowship, March to August 2021

Publications

Journal Articles:

• Lai, A and Emejulu, A. 2027. “A Community of Contradictions: Feminist Activism and Boundary-Marking in England and Scotland.” European Journal of Women Studies, Special Issue: Laboratories for Liberation: Feminism, Activism and the Future.
• Decolonial Intersectionality as Methodology: Reflections from the Field. (under review: Identities)

Edited Volumes:

• Christoffersen, Ashlee, Lai, Aerin and Meer, Nasar (eds). 2023. Advancing Racial Equality in Higher Education. RaceED and Identities.

Book Chapters:

Lai, Aerin. 2023. “A Study of the Fudanshi Identity in Singapore” in Kaori Fushiki and Ryoko Sakurada, eds. Anthropology Through the Experience of the Physical Body. Singapore: Springer. 

---. 2022. “Docile BL Bodies – Boys Love under State and Societal Censorship in Singapore” in James Welker, ed. Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia. HI: University of Hawai’i Press.

Book Reviews:

---.2020. Decolonizing Universalism: A Transnational Feminist Ethic by Serene J. Khader. LSE Review of Books.

Public Engagement 

• 2026. “Repression and Alienation on Campus: Reflecting on Student Juries.“ CCINDLE. 
• 2025. “Researching for CCINDLE: Navigating interpersonal relationships in political organising“ CCINDLE. 
• 2021. "Nomadland: The blurred lines between nationalistic and ethnic identities in Singapore." The Sociological Review, October 15. https://doi.org/10.51428/tsr.islx6612
• 2020. "The Phenomenology of a Global Pandemic." Edinburgh Decameron: Lockdown Sociology at Work. July 2.
• 2020. Review of Decolonizing Universalism: A Transnational Feminist Ethic by Serene J. Khader. LSE Review of Books. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
• 2020. "The Hypervisibility of Chinese Bodies in Times of Covid-19 And What It Says About Being British." Discover Society, April 12.

Teaching

Since 2020, I have taught a variety of courses such as Understanding Race and Colonialism, Introduction to Queer Studies, and Social Theory. 

Lectures

• 'What have masculinities to do with feminism?' Contemporary Feminist Debates 
• 'Queer Studies through a Postcolonial / Decolonial Lens' Introduction to Queer Studies 

Tutoring 

Undergraduate:

• Understanding Race and Colonialism, Sociology
• Social Theory, Sociology
• Empires, Social Anthropology
• Introduction to Queer Studies, Edinburgh College of Art
• Designing and Doing Social Research, Sociology
• Social Anthropology 1A: The Life Course, Social Anthropology

Postgraduate:

• Research Skills in the Social Sciences: Data Collection 
• Research Design for Societal Challenges 
• Key Concepts in Global Social Change

Conference presentations

• “There’s no way you can be friends with all those people”: Understanding ‘community’ in political organising among activists in the UK.” European Conference for Politics and Gender, University of Newcastle, United Kingdom, June 2026.
• “Fathering as Citizenship-making Practice: Narratives of Fatherhood in Singapore.” British Journal of Sociology conference, London School of Economics, United Kingdom. April 2024.
• “This is how we do things in Singapore” – A decolonial intersectional analysis of men and masculinities. British Sociological Association annual conference, "Sociological Voices in Public Discourse". Manchester, United Kingdom. April 2023.
• "Thinking in the Dire Straits: Creolised Chinese Philosophy in the Straits Philosophical Society” Doing Theory in Southeast Asia, Centre for Cultural Studies and MA in Intercultural Studies Program, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). May 2021. (Co-presented with Dr Lilith Lee, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)