Name and Surname
Jing Wu
Affiliation
Doctoral student, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
Contact email
jw0822@student.uni-lj.si
Short Biography
Jing Wu is a Ph.D. candidate in the field of Public Relations at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. Her academic background is rooted in strategic communication and the analysis of digital public opinion. Before focusing on environmental issues, she established a strong track record in researching social media phenomena, employing semantic network and sentiment analysis to understand public discourse during health crises and uncertain times.
Building on her expertise in digital narratives and data-driven communication, her current research pivots to the climate crisis. Specifically, she is conducting a comparative digital ethnography on youth climate narratives in Slovenia and Serbia, investigating how digital platforms serve as arenas for constructing “green futures” in transitional political contexts.
Jing holds a Master of Marketing Communications from the University of Melbourne. Prior to her doctoral studies, she served as a Public Relations Director in the art and cultural enterprise in China, a role that grounded her academic inquiries in substantial industry practice.
Research abstract
This research project investigates the divergent manifestations of global youth climate activism in the post-socialist Balkans, focusing on the comparative cases of Slovenia and Serbia. Despite sharing a Yugoslav socialist heritage, these nations now navigate distinct political trajectories: Slovenia as a consolidated EU member and Serbia as a candidate country facing protracted accession negotiations. This divergence provides a unique lens to analyze how differing political ecologies and relationships with the European Union shape the narratives of the “green transition” on Europe’s periphery.
The research focuses on two movements, Mladi za podnebno pravičnost in Slovenia and Ekološki ustanak in Serbia. It analyses their official websites, Facebook pages and hashtag ecosystems (for example #FridaysForFuture, #NeDamoJadar, #EkološkiUstanak), treating these digital traces as sites where climate narratives are produced, circulated and contested. Combining digital ethnography with narrative analysis and critical discourse analysis, the project investigates how activists define problems and responsibilities, imagine “green futures,” and position themselves in relation to the state, corporations and the European Union.