Director, SOAS China Institute Professor Steve Tsang Twentieth-century Chinese history; Chinese foreign policy; China's 'peaceful rise' strategy; China's rising military might; China's soft power; China-UK relations; China-EU relations; China-US relations; China-Taiwan relations; China-Asia relations; Chinese politics; nature of political system in China; the Chinese Communist Party and democracy; human rights in China; Taiwan politics; Taiwan's external relations; Taiwan's democratisation; Taiwan's security; US-Taiwan relations; Hong Kong politics; Hong Kong's relations with mainland China; colonial history of Hong Kong.
Professor of Sociology Professor Jieyu Liu Chinese society (urban and rural), gender, sexuality, ethnography of organizations, family, migration, ageing and care, inequalities.
Research Fellow, SOAS China Institute Dr Olivia Cheung Contemporary politics of China: The Chinese Communist Party; political ideas; ideology; strategic thinking; elite politics; factionalism; political norms; policymaking; local government innovations; experimental zones; rural collectivism; city-clusters; democracy.
Emeritus Professor, SOAS China Institute Professor Robert F Ash China’s economic development in the 20th and 21st centuries; evolution of ‘Greater China’; economic development of Taiwan and cross-Strait economic relations
Senior Lecturer in Anthropology Dr Jakob Klein China (South); anthropology of food; regional cuisines; local foods; restaurant cultures; urban Chinese society and the urban/rural divide.
Research Associate Dr Kevin Latham China: Hong Kong and Guangdong Province (PRC) Chinese media, newspapers, television, journalism, popular culture, Internet and telecommunications, theatre, anthropological knowledge, practice and performance
Professor of Political Economy of Development; Director of Research and REF Coordinator Professor Carlos Oya Labour, Agrarian change, Sustainability standards, Political economy of development, Research methods, Africa, China-Africa.
Reader in Labour, Social Movements and Development Dr Tim Pringle East Asia, labour relations in China and Vietnam, trade union reform in China and Vietnam, labour and social movements in China, labour migration in China.
Research Associate Dr Frauke Urban Research: low carbon energy transitions, energy policy, climate policy, innovation for sustainability, sustainable development
Emeritus Professor, SOAS China Institute Professor Robert F Ash China’s economic development in the 20th and 21st centuries; evolution of ‘Greater China’; economic development of Taiwan and cross-Strait economic relations
Emeritus Professor of Economics Professor Chris Bramall Economic growth, income inequality, famine and agricultural development in modern China, the political economy of Maoism, The development of the contemporary Chinese empire
Reader in Economics Dr Dic Lo China and globalisation, Industrialisation, Soviet-type economic system and transformation, East Asian economic institutions and development, Comparative political economy. China.
Professor of Economics Professor Ulrich Volz International Finance, Open Economy Macroeconomics, Financial Market Development and Stability, Development and Transition Economics, Global Economic Governance, East Asian Financial Markets
Professor in Financial Economics Professor Hong Bo Firm investment decisions under uncertainty; capital market imperfections; corporate finance; corporate governance; financial economics; China.
Senior Lecturer in International Business & Management (China) Dr Eunsuk Hong Foreign Direct Investment, Emerging-Market Multinationals, Applied spatial econometrics, Chinese management/economy
Professorial Research Associate Professor Gary Schwarz Public management, leadership, performance, innovation, strategy
Reader in International Management Dr Huan Zou International and Chinese entrepreneurship, sustainable entrepreneurship, economic development and international business under climate change, internationalisation of emerging economy firms, creative industry and firm growth.
Professor of Asian and Military History Professor Michael W. Charney The history of Buddhist societies in South and Southeast Asia and of culture, technology, and warfare in colonial Africa and Asia
Senior Lecturer Dr Andrea Janku China, Social and Cultural History; The Early Press and the History of Communication; Environmental History
Senior Lecturer in the History of China Dr Lars Laamann Popular religions in early modern China (16th-20th cc); Christianity in china (18th-20th cc); Opium and other narcotics (18th-20th cc); Manchu history (16th-20th cc)
Percival David Professor of the History of Art Professor Shane McCausland Pictorial arts of China - especially painting and calligraphy; arts of the Mongol world; East Asian narrative art; canons, collecting and connoisseurship; Chinese art and modernity
Professor of the History of Chinese Ceramics Professor Stacey Pierson History and production of Chinese ceramics; history and theory of collecting and display
Professor of Curating and Museology Professor Louise Tythacott Chinese and Buddhist art in museums; history of Yuanmingyuan (or ‘Summer Palace’) collections; museology; colonialism and material culture; post-colonial critiques of museum representations; history and theory of collecting; art and anthropology.
Lecturer in the Arts and Visual Cultures of Modern China Dr Panpan Yang Arts and visual cultures of China and the Sinophone world; cinematic arts; animation and digital media; art theory; medium and materiality; cultural flows.
Lecturer in Chinese (Education) Zhaoxia Pang Teaching Chinese as a foreign language; Norms and practice in translation
Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice Dr Grace (Yu) Mou Criminal justice; criminal law; comparative criminal justice; criminal evidence; Chinese law; criminology; Asian legal systems; socio-legal studies.
Emeritus Professor of Law Professor Carol G. S. Tan Contract, legal history, British overseas rule and the law especially in relation to the leased territory of Weihaiwei and to ethnic Chinese communities in Hong Kong and South East Asia, law and society in South East Asia, traditional Chinese law
Reader in Chinese Literature Dr Cosima Bruno Contemporary Chinese poetry; translation studies; Chinese language art; Sinophone literatures
Emeritus Professor of Sinology Professor Bernhard Fuehrer Classical Chinese philology, rhetoric, philosophy and literature; the history of Sinology in Europe; reception of the canon with specific reference to the Analects
Emeritus Professor of Chinese Professor Andrew H-B Lo Chinese language (Cantonese and Mandarin); fiction and prose from the Ming-Qing periods; cultural activities of Ming and Qing scholars, especially games; export paintings; traditional horticulture
Reader in Modern Chinese Culture and Language Dr Xiaoning Lu Chinese film history and criticism; modern Chinese popular culture; visual culture and media technology; cultural governance; socialist modernity
Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature Professor Wen-chin Ouyang Classical and modern Arabic literature and culture, with emphasis on narrative and storytelling, comparative narratology and critical theory, and gendered thinking and discourse.
Professor of Ethnomusicology Professor Rachel Harris Ethnomusicology; musics of China and Central Asia, especially Uyghur; Silk Road narratives; cultural and heritage policy, Islamic soundscapes; gender; minority rights and identity politics
Research Associate Dr Hwee-San Tan Ethnomusicology, Buddhist music in China, Taiwan, diaspora studies, intangible cultural heritage preservation, music in Singapore and Malaysia.
Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Iranian Studies Dr Seyed Ali Alavi MA Iranian Studies, Critical Perspective on Palestine Studies, Re-mapping Area Studies, Decolonising Otherness. Cultural, economic and political dynamics underpinning China's relations with the Middle East, with a special emphasis on nations such as Iran and the Arab States in West Asia.
Senior Teaching Fellow in Taiwan Studies Dr Bi-Yu Chang Cultural politics; identity politics; spatial construction and cartographic representation; nationalism in Taiwan.
Research Fellow, SOAS China Institute Dr Olivia Cheung Contemporary politics of China: The Chinese Communist Party; political ideas; ideology; strategic thinking; elite politics; factionalism; political norms; policymaking; local government innovations; experimental zones; rural collectivism; city-clusters; democracy.
Senior Lecturer in Politics of Central Asia Dr Bhavna Davé Geopolitics of Eurasia, Labour migration regulatory regimes in Russia and Kazakhstan, China's Belt and Road Initiative and effects on Central Asia, Politics in Central Asia, Development strategies in the Russian Far East
Professor in Comparative Politics (with special reference to Taiwan) Professor Dafydd Fell Contemporary Taiwanese Politics: Elections, Parties, Democratization
Lecturer in China and International Politics Dr Yuka Kobayashi Human Rights, WTO, Environment, with reference to China and East Asia
Reader in Comparative Politics and Development Studies Professor Tat Yan Kong Comparative Political Economy (East Asia): varieties of capitalism; socialist to market transitions; Security on the Korean Peninsula, Development Theory
Lecturer in Global Politics Dr Yanan Song Dr Yanan Song is a Lecturer in Diplomacy and Public Policy at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy (CISD). Prior to joining SOAS she was a Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of Politics at University of Exeter. She had her PhD degree in Politics at Durham University, and completed her MSc in International Public Policy at University College London (UCL).
Professor Julia C Strauss State and society in China and Taiwan; Comparative Political Sociology; theatrical and performative dimensions of politics, interpretive methods, China-Africa, China-Latin America
Director, SOAS China Institute Professor Steve Tsang Twentieth-century Chinese history; Chinese foreign policy; China's 'peaceful rise' strategy; China's rising military might; China's soft power; China-UK relations; China-EU relations; China-US relations; China-Taiwan relations; China-Asia relations; Chinese politics; nature of political system in China; the Chinese Communist Party and democracy; human rights in China; Taiwan politics; Taiwan's external relations; Taiwan's democratisation; Taiwan's security; US-Taiwan relations; Hong Kong politics; Hong Kong's relations with mainland China; colonial history of Hong Kong.
Professor T H Barrett History of Chinese religion, notably Taoism and Buddhism; pre-modern Chinese history, especially the Tang period
Seiyu Kiriyama Professor in Buddhist Studies Professor Ulrich Pagel History of Buddhism in Tibet, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Kanjur Studies, Vinaya, Religions of Central Asia, Tibetan, Sanskrit.
Dr Antonello Palumbo Ideological history of pre-modern China; Chinese religions, notably Taoism and Buddhism; history of the Buddhist canon in China; Manichaeism and Iranian influences in medieval China; Chinese cultural relations with Central Asia
Professor of Sociology Professor Jieyu Liu Chinese society (urban and rural), gender, sexuality, ethnography of organizations, family, migration, ageing and care, inequalities.
Professorial Research Associate, SOAS China Institute Professor Brian C. H. Fong Great power competition, democratization, and identity politics.
Professorial Research Associate Professor Katherine Morton China and International Relations; Chinese Foreign Policy; Global Governance; Security Studies; Environment and Climate Change.
Emeritus Professor of Law Professor Michael J E Palmer Chinese Law & Society, Comparative Dispute Resolution, Chinese Family Studies, Chinese Legal Professions and Administrative Justice in China.
Professorial Research Associate, SOAS China Institute Professor Terry Sicular Household Incomes and Income Distribution in China: Causes and Consequences.
Research Associate, SOAS China Institute Mr Duncan Bartlett Editor & Presenter “China In Context” podcast (SOAS China Institute) Analysis of news and current affairs from China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Formerly presenter of World Business Report on the BBC.
Research Associate, SOAS China Institute Dr Jane Du Agricultural Economics; Labour Economics; Economic History; Applied Economics (Macro).
Research Associate, SOAS China Institute Mr Jonathan Fenby History of modern China: end of the 19th century up to the present day.
Research Associate, SOAS China Institute Mr John Gittings US-China-Soviet relations; popular art and politics; Chinese perception of peace
Research Associate, SOAS China Institute Mr Nigel Inkster China's cyber power, intelligence and security policies and military modernisation
Dr Frances Wood Dunhuang studies, Chinese export paintings, Chinese domestic architecture, Chinese history, Chinese bibliography.
Research Associate, SOAS China Institute Dr Verna Yu 20th century Chinese intellectuals and the history of modern and contemporary China. Editor of the SOAS China Institute's blog.
Visiting Scholar, SOAS China Institute Professor Hongping Lian Research area: Mutual Transformation of State and Society under New Institutionalism: Women’s Participation in Grassroots Governance of China Date of appointment: August 2024 - February 2025
Visiting Scholar, SOAS China Institute Professor Wing Hung Carlos Lo Research Area: Criminal Control of Industrial Pollution in China Date of appointment: September 2024 - October 2024
Visiting Scholar, SOAS China Institute Dr Ding Qi Research area: The Evolution of Commercial Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in China and Beyond Date of appointment: September 2023 - August 2024
Visiting Scholar, SOAS China Institute Professor Xiaoxia Zhao Research area: Trend and Channels of Intergenerational Income Mobility of China —Based on CFPS Data from 2008-2020 Date of appointment: June 2024 - June 2025
