Zhicong Chen, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow @ NUS
(Teaching & Research)
Block AS6
11 Computing Drive
National University
of Singapore
Kent Ridge Campus
Singapore
117416

I use computational methods to study how communication infrastructures shape dynamics of knowledge, culture, and risk..

My research spans digital environments, from Dark Web and the Tor ecosystem to anonymous and pseudonymous platforms, as well as emerging technologies such as generative AI. Across these contexts, I investigate how communication infrastructures shape knowledge, culture, and risk, with particular attention to platform governance, digital privacy, and the implications for health and political communication.

Methodologically, I combine natural language processing, network analysis, and data mining across diverse digital environments and historical text archives. I also build large-scale cultural analytics pipelines, using diachronic text mining to trace long-term shifts in meaning and discourse across multilingual corpora.

My recent work expands into human-centered online safety, examining how people disclose sensitive information, seek social support, and experience fraud and deception when engaging with emerging media platforms, particularly within rapidly evolving AI-driven environments. My work has appeared in New Media & Society, American Psychologist, EPJ Data Science, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (Nature Portfolio), and a range of international peer-reviewed publications.

Prior to joining NUS, I was an Assistant Professor at Nanjing University from 2022 to 2025. I earned my Ph.D. from City University of Hong Kong in 2022, where I was advised by Prof. Xiaofan Liu and Prof. Jonathan J. H. Zhu at the Web Mining Laboratory. Before that, I received a master’s degree from Nanjing University in 2018 and a B.Eng. in Software Engineering from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2016.

Selected Publications

EPJ Data Sci.

Tales of Twin Forums on the Dark and Surface Web: Social Interactions and User Sustainability in Anonymous Online Communities

Z. Chen and X. F. Liu

EPJ Data Science, 2025

DOI Bib

@article{chen2025twin,
  title = {Tales of Twin Forums on the Dark and Surface Web: Social Interactions and User Sustainability in Anonymous Online Communities},
  author = {Chen, Z. and Liu, X. F.},
  journal = {EPJ Data Science},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00614-1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00614-1},
}

NM&S

Seeking anonymity on the Internet: The knowledge accumulation process and global usage of the Tor network

Z. Chen, E. Jardine, X. F. Liu, and 1 more author

New Media & Society, 2024

DOI Bib

@article{chen2024tor,
  title = {Seeking anonymity on the Internet: The knowledge accumulation process and global usage of the {Tor} network},
  author = {Chen, Z. and Jardine, E. and Liu, X. F. and Zhu, J. J. H.},
  journal = {New Media \& Society},
  volume = {26},
  number = {2},
  pages = {1074--1095},
  year = {2024},
  doi = {10.1177/14614448211072201},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211072201},
}

HSSC

The Dark Web Privacy Dilemma: Linguistic Diversity, Talkativeness, and User Engagement on the Cryptomarket Forums

Z. Chen, X. Meng, and C. J. Wang

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2023

DOI Bib

@article{chen2023darkweb,
  title = {The Dark Web Privacy Dilemma: Linguistic Diversity, Talkativeness, and User Engagement on the Cryptomarket Forums},
  author = {Chen, Z. and Meng, X. and Wang, C. J.},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences Communications},
  volume = {10},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1--11},
  year = {2023},
  doi = {10.1057/s41599-023-02424-0},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02424-0},
}

J. Soc. Issues

Geopolitics in language: A psychological view of Sino-Japanese relations over time

T. Hamamura, T. Kobayashi, Z. Chen, and 2 more authors

Journal of Social Issues, 2025

DOI Bib

@article{hamamura2025geopolitics,
  title = {Geopolitics in language: A psychological view of {Sino-Japanese} relations over time},
  author = {Hamamura, T. and Kobayashi, T. and Chen, Z. and Chen, S. X. and Chan, C. S.},
  journal = {Journal of Social Issues},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1111/josi.70025},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.70025},
}

Am. Psychol.

Individualism with Chinese characteristics? Discerning cultural shifts in China using 50 years of printed texts

T. Hamamura, Z. Chen, C. S. Chan, and 2 more authors

American Psychologist, 2021

DOI Bib

@article{hamamura2021individualism,
  title = {Individualism with {Chinese} characteristics? Discerning cultural shifts in {China} using 50 years of printed texts},
  author = {Hamamura, T. and Chen, Z. and Chan, C. S. and Chen, S. X. and Kobayashi, T.},
  journal = {American Psychologist},
  volume = {76},
  number = {6},
  pages = {888--903},
  year = {2021},
  doi = {10.1037/amp0000840},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000840},
}