X. (Zhou) Zhou

Xiaoyu is a PhD student in the Computational Linguistics (CL) group at the Center for Language and Cognition (CLCG), University of Groningen. Her research interests include computational narratology, multimodality, and digital humanities.

In October 2025, she began her PhD at CLCG, supervised by Prof. Federico Pianzola and Prof. Janina Wildfeuer. Her doctoral research focuses on empirical studies of multimodal narratives, exploring cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences as well as reader responses, currently with webtoons as the primary material. In addition, she is involved in the GOLEM project (Graphs and Ontologies for Literary Evolution Models , funded by the European Commission (ERC StG)), where she further develops her expertise in computational narratology and ontology modeling, exploring the application of these methods to multimodal materials.

Previously, Xiaoyu obtained a BA in Translation Studies (2022), an MA in Digital Humanities (2024), and worked as a research assistant in the GOLEM lab (2025).