Ruoxi Li

Ruoxi's research is guided by a central question: How do individuals sustain or reconstruct autonomy when their bodies, identities, and rhetoric are mediated by powerful technical and institutional infrastructures?
 
Ruoxi is currently a first-year PhD student in Media Studies at UVA. Trained primarily as a qualitative researcher, Ruoxi’s previous research has explored Chinese international students’ embodied communication under mobility restrictions, community-centered journalism on sexual violence, cross-border investigative journalism, and sociotechnical imaginaries of deepfakes in China and the United States. 
 
Ruoxi grew up in Liaoning Province, China, and completed her undergraduate and master’s studies in Suzhou and Wuhan. Outside of research, she enjoys classical music and playing the piano.

Research areas: digital vulnerability, sociotechnical imaginaries, synthetic media, AI ethics, transnational communication

Education:

BA, Soochow University, Suzhou, China, 2023
MA, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, 2026

Publication:

Li, R. (2025). Immunity as a social practice: Chinese overseas students' embodied communication in global mobility. Chinese Journal of Communication, 1-18. doi:10.1080/17544750.2025.2516233.