Rate My Professor Chang Yu

Dr Chang Yu is a Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Curtin University, a Master of Finance from the University of Technology Sydney, and a PhD in Finance and Economics from Victoria University of Wellington. Prior to his current role, he worked as a data analyst at ESR, one of New Zealand's Crown Research Institutes, where he further developed expertise in public health alongside his background in data programming and statistical modeling.

His research focuses on homelessness and housing subsidies in New Zealand, including the Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant, public housing, and the accommodation supplement. He utilises the Integrated Data Infrastructure to examine the effects of these subsidies on individual wellbeing and government service use, as well as tenure trajectories. As a health economist, he investigates the intersection of economics and public health, particularly government spending, economic policy, and population wellbeing. Key publications include co-authored papers such as 'People with disabilities in emergency housing: An analysis of a national administrative database' (2026) in the International Journal on Homelessness, 'People receiving the Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant in Aotearoa New Zealand' (2026) in the International Journal of Housing Policy, and 'The importance of housing assistance on reducing youth offending in New Zealand' (2025) in Urban Policy & Research.