Dr. Yiyang Gao

Computational Social Scientist | Population Geographer

Using AI/ML to understand & address spatial health inequalities

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About Me

Dr. Yiyang Gao

I am now working as the Quantitative Social Science Research Associate at the University of Sheffield's Methods Institute.

My research journey began with studying educational segregation during my PhD at the University of Exeter (2018-2023), where I developed novel multi-group, multi-scale analytical frameworks. This work revealed how spatial inequalities create cascading disadvantages across education, transport, and health domains.

I am now pivoting toward computational health geography, focusing on using advanced quantitative methods and AI/ML to understand and address spatial health inequalities. My current work explores the intersection of ethnicity, space, and social outcomes through innovative applications of MAIHDA (Multilevel Analysis of Individual Heterogeneity and Discriminatory Accuracy).

Research Interests: Spatial Inequalities, Computational Social Science, Health Geography, Intersectionality, Advanced Quantitative Methods, Population Geography

Research Areas

Educational Segregation

20-year analysis of ethnic school segregation patterns in England, developing novel multi-scale decomposition methods to understand how residential and school segregation interact.

  • Multilevel modeling of clustering patterns
  • Spatial analysis of school choice
  • Teacher retention disparities

Spatial Accessibility

Examining how transport infrastructure shapes educational equity and social mobility, with focus on multimodal accessibility analysis and policy simulation.

  • School accessibility mapping
  • Transport inequality measurement
  • Agent-based modeling

Computational Health Geography

Developing innovative applications of MAIHDA for understanding how place, identity, and health intersect, with focus on methodological advancement.

  • Spatial-MAIHDA development
  • ML-enhanced intersectionality
  • Environmental health equity

Current Focus: MAIHDA Innovation

I am developing cutting-edge extensions of MAIHDA methodology, including Causal-MAIHDA (combining with DID, RDD, IV), ML-MAIHDA (feature discovery), Spatial-MAIHDA (geographic random effects), and LLM-MAIHDA (narrative generation). This work aims to move intersectionality research from description to causation and prediction.

Selected Publications

Multilevel analysis of ethnic clustering across local schools: Exploring group dynamics

Gao, Y. (2025).

British Educational Research Journal.

Evolving Patterns of Ethnic Segregation in English Schools: A Decomposition Analysis

Gao, Y. (2025).

Population, Space and Place, 31(5), e70060.

View All Publications

Academic Journey

2025–2026: Research Fellow

University of Sheffield, Sheffield Methods Institute

Quantitative Social Science Researcher focusing on MAIHDA methodological development

2023–2025: Postdoctoral Fellow

Durham University, Evidence Centre for Education

ESRC-funded project on ethnic minority teacher recruitment and retention

2018–2023: PhD in Advanced Quantitative Methods

University of Exeter, Centre for Computational Social Science

Thesis: Ethnic School Segregation in England

Teaching

Quantitative Methods

  • R and Python Programming
  • Social Statistics (all levels)
  • Multilevel Modeling
  • Spatial Analysis & GIS
  • Survey Methods

Core Courses

  • Introduction to Sociology
  • Sociology of Education
  • Urban Sociology & Spatial Analysis
  • Migration Studies
  • Applied Social Data Science

Research Methods

  • Secondary Data Analysis
  • Longitudinal Data Analysis
  • Mixed Methods Research
  • Systematic Reviews
  • Reproducible Research with R

Get in Touch

I'm always interested in collaborations on spatial inequalities, computational methods, and health geography research.

📧 Email Me 🏫 Sheffield Profile

Current Address:
Sheffield Methods Institute
University of Sheffield, UK