I am a sinologist and political scientist currently studying how China’s scientific development both shapes and is shaped by domestic and international politics.
I founded and lead the Lise Meitner Research Group “China in the Global System of Science” at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, established in 2020. I also hold a part-time position as Professor II in the Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (IKOS) at the University of Oslo, where I contribute to its collaboration with the Norwegian Centre for Geopolitics. Before joining the MPIWG, I was a tenured Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Society and Politics at the University of Oslo, and have also worked at the University of Bonn, Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW, 2013), the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin (MERICS, 2013–2014), Academia Sinica (RoC, 2011–2012), and the University of Chicago (2018–2019).
My research interests include the features of China’s political system, especially local governance and policy implementation, the political sociology of China’s science system, and the transformations of global science in the 21st century, as well as comparative studies of contemporary authoritarianism. Together with Han Cheng (MPIWG) and Hang Zhou (Université Laval), I recently launched the project “China’s Science Silk Road and the New Geopolitics of Knowledge Production,” funded by the Volkswagen Foundation (2026–2030).
My recent book publications include The Great Smog of China: A Short Event History of Air Pollution (with Mette Halskov Hansen and Rune Svarverud) and Democratic and Authoritarian Political Systems in 21st Century World Society (with Damien Krichewsky, Evelyn Moser, and Rudolf Stichweh). I serve on the editorial board of the Environments of East Asia series (Cornell University Press), on the international advisory board of the Routledge Studies on Local China series, and on the executive committee of the European Journal of East Asian Studies (Brill). I am also active at the intersection of science, politics, and the public sphere, for example through my work on the Joint Committee on the Handling of Security-Relevant Research (Leopoldina/DFG) and a collaborative project with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) on “China expertise” in German science organizations.
Learning Empire 