Shengqi Ni

Shengqi Ni is an HCI PhD Summer Fieldwork Fellow, and PhD candidate in Economics at Boston University. He holds an MA in Economics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a BA from the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. His research focuses on development economics and organizational economics.

For his HCI Summer Fieldwork Fellowship, Shengqi will evaluate whether a one-week educational travel program can raise migration intentions and human capital investment among disadvantaged students in rural China. His fieldwork involves conducting in-depth interviews and surveys with program participants to assess how exposure to urban environments and higher education institutions shapes students’ aspirations, beliefs about returns to education, and long-term migration decisions. By combining qualitative interviews with quantitative survey data, Shengqi aims to identify the mechanisms through which short-term experiential programs can influence the life trajectories of students from underserved communities.