Yuan Fang's research interests include human-animal relations, rituals, the Silk Road, and the mortuary practices of prehistoric hunter-gatherers and the dynastic period Chinese. Her research focuses on how animals and human-animal relations intersect with ancient societies’ religious and mortuary practices, for example, how living animals, animal skeletons, or animal figures were used at ritual ceremonies and in tombs and burials. Yuan has participated in field excavations at the Yangguanzhai archaeological site in China, researching the mortuary practices of prehistoric Jing River residents and their burials with animal remains. Her master's research focuses on the horse mingqi figures during the Han Dynasty China that were placed as mortuary objects in tombs to aid the deceased in the afterlife.