Meet the 2024 Global China Fellows
The Boston University Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center) is pleased to present the 2024-2025 cohort of Global China Research Fellows. These six outstanding scholars from a multitude of universities, including the Ohio State University, American University and the University of Oxford, have or will have completed doctoral degrees in disciplines ranging from international business to public policy.
The Global China Fellows Program, a flagship program of the Global China Initiative (GCI) at the GDP Center,
Staring in August 2024, the Global China Fellows will spend nine months in Boston participating in a variety of GCI research projects
Below, meet the 2024 Global China Research Fellows:
Bowen Gu is a Global China Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center. Her research concerns the political ecology of coal and transition minerals in China and “Global China,” and explores the intersection of environmental governance, energy transition and climate justice.
Bowen holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Technology from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB). She has been a member of the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas) team and her Ph.D. research focused on the environmental justice implications of the coal sector in China and “Global China.” Bowen has over ten years’ experience in ESG and sustainable investment across non-profit and private sectors. She previously worked with organizations such as the Access to Medicine Foundation, CSR Asia and Sustainalytics in ESG research and investor engagement. She holds a Master’s degree from the Erasmus Mundus program in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management (MESPOM) and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics from Tsinghua University.
Jyhjong Hwang is a Global China Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, where she leads research for the Chinese Loans to Africa Database for the 2021-2023 research cycles. Hwang is also a PhD Candidate in the Political Science Department at the Ohio State University, specializing in international relations, international development and Chinese loans in Africa.
Her current research focuses on the interaction between African political institutions, political time horizons and foreign sovereign loans. Hwang was a 2019 SAIS-CARI Fellow at the China-Africa Research Initiative in the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, conducting interviews and fieldwork in Zambia on Chinese military aircraft sales. She was the Senior Research Assistant at SAIS-CARI from 2015 to 2018 and a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia from 2010 to 2012. She holds an MA in International Development and International Economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS and a BA in International Relations from Tufts University.
Nafisat Olabisi is a Global China Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center and a lecturer (associate professor) in International Business at Loughborough University. She earned her PhD in International Business at the University of Leeds where she focused on Sustainable Development Impacts of FDI into Africa and Policy Design Effectiveness.
Prior to her PhD, she worked as an analyst at Economic Associates in Nigeria, where she oversaw economic strategy plans and reports writing for states and federal governments. Nafisat also contributed to the development and recommendation of the new minimum wage introduced in Nigeria in 2019. Her research interests are in the areas of international business activities into Africa, sustainable development, governments’/political priorities, policy design effectiveness and institutional schism.
Julie Radomski is a Global China Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center. She holds a PhD in International Relations from American University School of International Service. Her research concerns the politics of development in Latin America and the geopolitical, ecological and historical dynamics of Global China in the region. Her book project explores the multi-scalar politics of Ecuador’s Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project via ethnography.
Prior to joining the GDP Center, she was a Research Fellow at Research on International Policy Implementation Lab (RIPIL) and Lecturer at George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs. She has several years’ experience in the non-profit sector working on advocacy relating to social and environmental issues in international development. She holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and a BPhil in Anthropology, Economics and International Studies from the University of Pittsburgh.
Hanjie Wang is a Global China Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center and a political scientist with research and teaching interests in international and comparative political economy, environmental politics and Chinese politics.
Her current work focuses on the comparative analysis of electric vehicle (EV) policies in China, the US and India, alongside the underlying politics of global EV trade and investment policies. She has a broad interest in the role of governments in facilitating green technological transitions and in the interactions between trade and environmental policies. She earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of Washington.
Tianyi Wu is a Global China Pre-doctoral Research Fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center. She is pursuing a DPhil (PhD) in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. With a background in International Relations and Development Economics, Tianyi has developed her expertise on international infrastructure financing and governance. Her work and research center on if and how infrastructure financing within China-Africa context can be better leveraged for financially, environmentally and socially sustainable projects.
Previously, she has contributed to research and project development on impact investment, sustainable finance and public-private partnerships at Oversea Development Institute, UCL-IIPP, China-Africa Development Fund, UNIDO and the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic. Tianyi holds a MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a LLM from Fudan University.
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