Professor Shirley Ze Yu is a leading voice in China’s political economy. She is the Director of the China-Africa Initiative at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, the LSE, and a Senior Practitioner Fellow with the Ash Center of Harvard Kennedy School. She is also a professor at the IE Business School and an Honorary Distinguished Foreign Faculty Professor at the National Defence University, Islamabad.
Shirley Yu is a member of the Davos Expert Network on China, 5G, and geo-economics. She has contributed to Op-Eds in the FT, WSJ, and South China Morning Post, among others. She is also a frequent commentator and contributor to global news outlets, including the BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, and Al Jazeera.
She frequently speaks at leading global think tanks and research institutions, including the Chatham House, Asia Society, Harvard University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, the LSE, and others.
Shirley serves on the non-executive board of directors for a diverse portfolio of global companies. She is uniquely positioned to advise Fortune Global 100 companies and multilateral institutions on the economic and strategic risks/opportunities associated with the central thesis of China's modern economy, public policy, and techno-geopolitics.
She has a Ph.D. in political economy from Peking University in China and a Master’s degree from Harvard University. She looks forward to engaging with leading global stakeholders on the global impacts of China.