Hannah Corbett is Head of Communications and Engagement at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and is responsible for corporate communications, marketing, and policy engagement. Hannah has 15 years of communications, policy, and public affairs experience working with academic institutions as well as organisations in the charitable, public, and private sectors. Hannah was involved with colleagues across the Institute and at the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in organising the high-level event on China’s Belt and Road Initiative held at Wilton Park, West Sussex, UK and which informed this issue of the IDS Bulletin.
Polyxeni Davarinou is a researcher at the Asia Unit of the Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER). Since joining the organisation in 2015, her main research focus is Sino-Greek relations. She has coordinated research teams on topics such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese investment in Greece, and Chinese soft power. She holds an MA in International Relations from Durham University.
Gong Sen is Executive Vice-President (Director-General) of the Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD) and Research Fellow of the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC). He received a PhD from the University of Sheffield, UK. Before joining the DRC in 2002, he worked at the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security as a policy researcher. He has published numerous journal articles in Chinese and English, and is the co-author of five books. His research interests include social security, health care, employment, and governance, as well as domestic and international development.
Jiang Xiheng is Vice President of the Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD). Previously, whilst working at the Development Research Center of the State Council she was engaged in a number of public policy research programmes. Over the last five years, her studies have focused on the Belt and Road Initiative and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She has master’s degrees in Public Policy from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the University of Oxford and is currently a PhD candidate at Peking University.
Jing Gu is Director of the Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development and a Senior Research Fellow at IDS. She has extensive experience in research and advisory work of governance, rule of law, business, inclusive growth, and sustainable development. Jing leads the BRI and Sustainable Development Goals project at IDS. She has also led many interdisciplinary research projects involving multi-country teams, including the ground-breaking pioneering research on China’s outward investment in Africa. Her research and advisory work focus on China’s development policy and strategies, the BRICS, and development cooperation. She is a member of the International Editorial Board of Third World Quarterly.
Namsuk Kim is Projects Coordinator and Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. His main areas of research are concerned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), least developed countries, trade, inequality, conflict, and sanctions. He manages capacity-building projects to support developing countries to enhance the national capacity to achieve the SDGs. Previously, he was a researcher on poverty, labour, and human development issues at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, and the US Census Bureau. He holds MA and BA degrees in Economics (Seoul National University) and has a PhD in Economics (University of Maryland).
Melissa Leach has been Director of IDS since 2014, and a Fellow at IDS since 1990. A social anthropologist and geographer, her research in Africa and beyond links food, environment, agriculture, health, technology, and gender, with interests in knowledge, power, and the politics of science and policy processes. She helps oversee IDS’ engagements and partnerships with China and has attended the last two Belt and Road fora, speaking at related events about the relationship between the BRI and the SDGs. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and was awarded a CBE in 2017 for services to social science.
Li Bingqin is Professor and Director of the Chinese Social Policy Programme at the Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales (UNSW). She has PhDs in Social Policy (London School of Economics) and Economics (Nankai University), and more than 15 years’ research experience in urbanisation, housing, migration, and social exclusion research and teaching. She has started to work on technological innovation and social innovation, exploring the new opportunities that technology change has brought and what the barriers are to prevent people from taking advantage of them. She has published 51 peer-reviewed journal articles in Chinese and in English, and 31 book chapters.
Liu Qianqian is Deputy Director-General of the Finance Center for South-South Cooperation (FCSSC), Hong Kong. Before joining FCSSC, Qianqian worked for the Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD), and the Department of International Cooperation of the Development Research Center of the State Council. She is the author of Regional Cooperation and China’s Strategy towards East Asia (Paths International Ltd, 2012). Her research interests include South–South cooperation, the political economy of East Asia, regionalism, China’s foreign assistance, green aid, and poverty reduction. She holds a PhD in International Relations (University of Cambridge, UK).
Mustafa Hyder Sayed currently serves as the Executive Director of the Pakistan–China Institute and is involved in producing research, conducting bilateral and multilateral dialogues, and giving policy recommendations in partnership with Pakistani, Chinese, and regional stakeholders. Mustafa is also the Information Secretary of the Youth Wing of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP). He recently co-authored the paper ‘CPEC: Where is the Money Going?’ and assisted Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, with her book, Pakistan: Beyond the ‘Crisis State’ (Oxford University Press, 2016). Mustafa also worked as the Special Representative for the Asian Global Group.
Shen Qiu serves as the interim head of the Division of Consulting Services, Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD). He has worked as a coordinator or a researcher for several of CIKD’s projects, including ‘China’s Policy Process of Poverty Alleviation Policies’, ‘China’s Development Zones’ Experience and its Implications to Other Developing Countries’, ‘China’s Path to Poverty Reduction’, and the BRI Case Studies series (in particular on Chinese Overseas Cooperation Zones). He has also been in charge of conducting CIKD’s Demand Survey on China’s development experience.
Zhou Taidong currently serves as Director, Global Development Research Division, Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD) and is a PhD candidate at the China Agricultural University. His work focuses on the developmental impacts of major Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects, the BRI and international rules, South–South cooperation, and development assistance. Prior to joining CIKD, he worked at China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Asia Foundation Beijing Office. He has written extensively in both Chinese and English focusing largely on China and international development cooperation.
* The China-based Chinese authors’ names in this IDS Bulletin follow the Chinese convention of family name (last name) followed by given name.