Zi YAN 晏 子

I am a mixed-methods researcher working at the intersection of public policy, sociology, and public health. I am currently affiliated with the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS), Waseda University, Japan.

My research centers on how sociocultural contexts and institutional arrangements shape the effectiveness of public policies, particularly those aimed at promoting social justice and enhancing the well-being of older adults, persons with disabilities, and marginalized populations.

My current research investigates how individuals and families build resilience in an era of profound social and demographic transformation through four interconnected themes:

1. Family Caregiving and Resilience in Aging Societies: A Comparative Perspective (focusing on individual experiences, social networks, and the role of community-based integrated care systems)
2. Intergenerational solidarity and family relations in times of transformation (with particular attention to Chinese families and Chinese migrants in Japan, and their transnational caregiving arrangements)
3. Productive Aging: Volunteering, Family Care, and Later-Life Contributions (examining volunteering, grandparenting, and family caregiving among older adults in Japan, China, and Europe)
4. Policy network & Social welfare policy process (grounded in policy network theory)

This line of inquiry has become particularly urgent in the context of rapid population aging, declining fertility, and the reconfiguration of family and care arrangements across societies. My work approaches these transformations through a life-course and cross-national lens, integrating longitudinal quantitative analyses with qualitative methods to examine how care arrangements and family systems are structured, enacted, and maintained within specific cultural and institutional contexts.

Rather than treating these issues as isolated phenomena, I conceptualize them as embedded within broader social, demographic, and policy shifts. My research aims to generate empirically grounded insights that inform more adaptive, context-sensitive approaches to care, aging, and social policy.