Ye (Catherine) Cao received a PhD in Education Research from King’s College London. She is interested in young people’s engagement with science and wider social justice in education. Her PhD research applies the lens of science capital to understand student engagement in China. Her recent studies delve into social inequalities in science education within the fluctuating social scenario in China, considering factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the ‘double reduction’ policy. She harbours a particular interest in gender disparities and rural–urban inequalities prevalent in China’s science education. Additionally, she worked as a research assistant for the research project ‘Sustaining teacher quality and retention post-pandemic’. She obtained a master’s degree from Boston University and worked in the Chinese education industry for two years. She welcomes fellow academics and professionals interested in this area to connect and collaborate on future research projects via email at ye.cao@kcl.ac.uk.