York Frerks is a research associate and PhD researcher at the Institute of Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS) at the University of Bremen, and a fellow at the Bremen Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS). Within the framework of the project “China’s Raw Materials Empire,” he is conducting research on Chinese learning in the expansion of control over its rare earth industry (his dissertation project) and on a comparative analysis of Chinese and US strategies for incorporating deep-sea mining into their expanding spheres of influence (together with Tim-Frederik Hahn and Wiebke Rabe).

York completed his bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies at Heidelberg University and his master’s degree in Sinology at the University of Würzburg, with research stays in Taipei, Beijing, and Tokyo.