Dr. Troy Chen's interdisciplinary research interests span digital and social media, the cultural and creative industries (CCIs), media and cultural policy—including copyright and privacy law—journalism, and experience design. He is widely published and recognised as an accomplished international speaker. His research has received support and recognition from numerous internal and external funding bodies, including the AHRC (UK), Newton Fund, Ministry of Higher Education (PRC), Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education (Education Transformation Project; Major Planned Project), Ningbo Social Sciences Academy, Curtin University, City University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tencent, Sina Weibo, University of Nottingham (China and UK), and XJTLU. 

His research articles have appeared in prestigious journals (AHCI, SSCI, and CSSCI-indexed), such as Journal of Consumer Culture, International Journal of Cultural Policy, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ethics and Information Technology, Social Semiotics, Global Media and China, and the China Studies Journal (Nanjing University). 

He has published three books, including two co-edited volumes entitled Chinese News Discourse in the Digital Era: Intersections of Political Communication and Translation (Routledge, 2026), Identity, Space, and Everyday Life in Contemporary Northeast China (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), and a monograph, China's Music Industry Unplugged: Business Models, Copyright and Social Entrepreneurship in the Online Platform Economy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). 

Over the years, he has co-edited special issues in media and cultural studies, including a special issue on Chinese fandoms in Transformative Works and Cultures and a special issue on the manosphere and networked misogyny in the Nature portfolio journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 

His recent publications explore the intersection of digital social media, platform studies, and cultural studies. He uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods for his critical, cultural, and sociological investigations of contemporary societies. Drawing on theories from established disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, and economics and beyond, he uses grounded and ethnographic approaches to generate insights with depth and warmth, to inform policy and practice, and to tinker with new theories. 

He has held various leadership roles, such as Senator-elect, Director of Teaching, and Course Leader (Programme Director). In his Senior Tutor for Research (PGR Director) role, he has extensive experience supervising PhD students (with completions), examining, and chairing PhD vivas in areas such as Chinese media and literature, arts and music industries, and global gender studies at universities including City, Leeds, and Southampton, among others. However, he is not accepting PhD students at this time as he is currently at capacity. 

Before entering academia, Dr. Troy Chen (he/they) was an award-winning communication and marketing professional in international higher education, specialising in advertising, strategic communication, and marketing. He has extensive professional experience across the media, consultancy, IT, and finance industries, which has continued to inform and nurture his research. 

Troy has worked for several leading institutions, including RMIT (Ho Chi Minh City), City, University of London, University of the Arts London, University of Liverpool's China campus, and City University of Hong Kong, before rejoining the University of Nottingham. He obtained his PhD at the AHRC Centre for Digital Copyright at the University of Nottingham, fully funded by its China and UK campuses, the AHRC, and the Newton Fund. Additionally, Troy is an alumnus of QUT's Digital Research Methodologies summer doctoral programme and 3 cohorts of the U40 Cultural and Creative Industries Network.  

He holds an MA in International Communications (Nottingham), a PgLaws from UCL-Queen Mary, a PGCHE from Liverpool, and a BSc in Management in e‑Commerce, as well as a certificate of completion from Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU). 

Over the years, Troy has built a rich portfolio of publications and expert media commentaries, including numerous articles, reports, and media productions featured in leading mainstream and digital media outlets such as CNA (Channel News Asia), Politico, South China Morning Post, CCTV, CETV, Xinhua News, People's Daily, The Paper, China Science News, and Sina Sports.