Much of Christina Ho’s research of Asian migrants and the Australian education system draws upon her experience as a migrant to Australia.

An Associate Professor in Social and Political Sciences at UTS researching cultural diversity, equity and education in Australia, Christina has always been interested in how a migrant background can affect someone’s life chances.

She sometimes describes her work as “the study of tiger mothers” because of her special interest in Asian migrant parents' approaches to education.

Her research reflects the conversations, concerns and anxieties around different approaches to education and to that end, she works closely with educators, professional bodies, parents, students and specific communities, such as Asian students at selective schools.

Christina’s approach to her work was recognised in 2021 with the UTS Medal for Excellence in Teaching and Research.

Underpinning that approach is her desire to understand how changes to Australian migration and changes in our education system are having a profound affect on young people, who are experiencing increased pressure and anxiety about their education.

The debate about migrant parents pushing their children too hard, combined with a lack of understanding in the broader community about Asian education attitudes, prompted Christina to write Aspiration and Anxiety, Asian Migrants and Australian Schooling (2020).

Her co-edited books include Asian Migration and Education Cultures in the Anglosphere (2019); 'For those who've come across the seas': Australian Multicultural Theory, Policy and Practice (2013); and Beyond the Hijab Debates: New Conversations on Gender, Race and Religion (2009).

In 2020, The Australian named Christina as one of Australia’s leading researchers in humanities, arts and literature, and a field leader in Ethnic & Cultural Studies; in 2019 she won the UTS FASS Award for Research Impact; she has twice won the FASS Dean’s Quiet Achiever Award, and; in 2017 she won the UTS Teaching and Learning Award (Learning Futures).

Christina’s other research interests include multiculturalism, diversity politics and cosmopolitanism; migration policy and migrant experiences; cultural and national identity formation among migrants; Chinese migration to Australia, including Chinese international students; Muslim diasporas and gender, and; cultural citizenship and community.