Her research focuses on the intersection among intergroup relations, social cognition, and human-animal relations. She is especially interested in how social and developmental processes shape our perceptions of humanity and hierarchy. Her teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include evolutionary anthropology, social and developmental psychology, and moral decision making.

She has had papers published in leading academic journals including Behavioral & Brain Sciences, Conservation Biology, Human Nature, Current Research in Social and Ecological Psychology, and Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. She is a member of the editorial board of Psychology of the Human-Animal Intergroup Relations.

Zhou has a Ph.D. in evolutionary anthropology from Duke University. Before joining Duke Kunshan in 2022, she conducted her doctoral and post-doctoral research at Duke University. She also holds secondary appointments with Duke University and Wuhan University.