Personal Bio
Born and raised in Nanjing, China, Jingshu Yao (she/her) is a writer and community artist based in Toronto. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Information at the University of Toronto Faculty of Information. Her research focuses on community-based approaches to documenting practical and sensory knowledge. Jingshu’s current project investigates the role of recipes in passing down community heritage. Her digital project on East Asian recipe stories, “North York Recipes for Healing,” was completed under Heritage Toronto’s Equity Heritage Initiative in 2023.
PUBLICATIONS
Yao, J. (2026). Knowing not Knowing. Tba: Journal of Art, Media, and Visual Culture, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.5206/tba.v7i1.23139
Yao, J. (2024). Steamed Eggplants Still Purple. Gastronomica, 24(4), 10–18. https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2024.24.4.10
Yao, J. (2025). Oral History in the Digital Age. Heritage Toronto.
https://www.heritagetoronto.org/explore/oral-history-in-the-digital-age/
Yao, J. (2023). Growing Our Future: Commemorating 100 Years of the Chinese Immigration Act. Heritage Toronto.
https://www.heritagetoronto.org/explore/commemorating-chinese-immigration-act/
CONFERENCE PRESENTATION
Yao, J. (2025, July 15-18). Community-Based Digital Storytelling Archive. Digital Humanities Conference 2025, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Yao, J. (2025, June 18-21). Leftover Ingredients: Storytelling through Collage. 2025 ASFS/AFHVS, Association for the Study of Food and Society, Oregon State University.
Yao, J. (2025, June 5). Food as a Community Care Language during COVID. Federation for the Humanities and Social Science, Canadian Communication Association, George Brown College.
Yao, J. (2025, March 15). North York Recipe for Healing: Food, Identity, and Belonging. Intersections | Cross-Sections Conference, Toronto Metropolitan University.
Yao, J. (2024, September 24). Recipes, Identities, and Community Building: Reflect on a community-based research project. Culinaria Symposium, Toronto, Canada.
Yao, J. (2022, August 25). Beyond Words: Language Accessibility and Community Engagement. International Council of Museums Conference, Prague, Czechia.
Toronchuk, N. & Yao, J. (2022, May 10-11). Translators, tools, and two-way-streets, Museums as Spaces of Cultural Translation and Transfer, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Van Ryck deGroote Ausa, S., Delamarter, K., & Yao, J. (2022, April 26-27). Reframing and Reclaiming Diversity in Museum Practise: Stories from Emerging Changemakers. Canadian Museum Association Conference, Virtual.
Lord, G., Wong, L., & Yao, J. (2022, April 6). Time is on My Side: The New Context for Revisiting History Museums, Museums/Musées Canada Conference, Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada.
Kahramanoglu, S., Smolarz, M., Li, H., Yao, J. (2022, November 7). One small step at a time: navigating museum space with mentorship and peer support. Ontario Museum Association Conference (OMA CONF), Hamilton, Canada.
Research Experiences
Research Assistants, Re-Writing National History in Romanian Museums 2026
Supervised by Dr. Irina D. Mihalache, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Graduate Member, Mediated Diaspora Graduate Student Working Group 2026
Faculty Advisor: Sherry S. Yu Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Member, Urban Challenge Grant (UCG) Working Group, School of Cities 2025
Faculty Lead: Dr. Stanka Radovic, Department of English, University of Toronto
Graduate Fellow, School of Cities, UofT 2025
Research Fellowship, U of T Faculty of Information 2025
Reading as Belonging, Supervised by Dr. Nadia Caidi
Project Lead, Heritage Toronto 2023
North York Recipes for Healing, Supervised by Dr. Laura Carlson
Research Assistant, UTSC Department for Language Studies 2020
Supervised by Dr. Rena Helms-Park
Research Assistant, UTSC Computation and Psycholinguistic Lab 2019
Supervised by Dr. Philip Monahan
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Art Educator, Toronto Biennial of Art 2024
Facilitated modern art-themed programs and Tours
Programming Coordinator, Heritage Toronto 2023
Programming support and project development at Heritage Toronto.
Historical Interpreter, Toronto History Museum 2021
Museum Educator at Fort York Historic Site.
Museum Assistant, Canadian Language Museum 2021
Provided website updates, wrote blog posts, and researched for future exhibitions.
Managing Editor, Hart House Review 2021 Planned and organized publications and events.
Graduate Student Reference Assistant, UTSC Library 2020
Supervised by Sue Reynolds, User Services Reference Technician.
Library Assistant, UTSC Library 2018
Supervised by Mary Ann Vernon, User Service Loan Services Team Lead
Campus Farm Coordinator, University of Toronto Scarborough 2020
Supervised the Campus Farm and IC Rooftop Garden
Language Lab Monitor, Department for Language Studies 2020
Helped the students in Chinese language courses with their course material.
Teaching Expereinces
Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Information
MSL1230 Ethics, Leadership, Management Winter’26
MSL2332 The Museum Exhibition: Histories, Practices, Genres Fall’25
INF1321 Representing, Documenting and Accessing the Cultural Record Winter’25
INF2108 Digital Archives for Minoritized Material: Ethics and Praxis Fall’24
Teaching Assistant, New College
IFP100 Themes in World History 2024 and 2025
Teaching Assistant, Department for Language Studies
LGGB60 Intermediate Chinese I Fall’21
LGGC63 Canada, China, and Beyond Fall’21
LGGC65 Reading Chinese and English: Global Perspectives Summer’21
ECTB60 Food, Cultures, and Translation Winter’21
PLID34 The Psycholinguistics of Reading Fall’20