I research and teach policy analysis and policy processes at Duke Kunshan University, an innovative Chinese-American liberal arts college just outside Shanghai.

My research analyzes the process by which public policy is made and implemented in China, including how different people and groups influence decisions, how policymakers respond to crisis events, what causes policies to change, and what the policies actually say and do—for example, whether they are feasible, strict, and predictable.

The focus of my research is on health and environmental policy. In health, I analyze how governments in China respond to disease outbreaks and to antibiotic resistance. In the environmental field, I analyze how different stakeholders in China advance urban sustainability and how they respond to environmental pollution.

As an assistant professor of environmental policy (equivalent to lecturer in the UK or universitair docent in the Netherlands), I have experience teaching courses on policy analysis, policy processes, crisis management, plastic pollution, and global challenges such as climate change, AI, and pandemic prevention.

At DKU, I also co-direct the Center for the Study of Contemporary China, which supports excellence in research on contemporary China by providing grants, organizing academic events, and training the next generation of China experts.

I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Languages and Cultures of China (2007) from Leiden University in the Netherlands; a Master of Science in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (2010) from the University of Manchester, Lund University, and Central European University (joint degree called MESPOM); and Ph.D. in Law (2019) from the University of Amsterdam, where I was based at the Netherlands China Law Centre.

During my PhD, I was a visiting researcher at the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) in Beijing and at Harvard Law School. Prior to coming to DKU, I taught comparative public administration, public policy, and crisis management at Mid-Sweden University.

Before academia, I was a high school teacher in Sweden and a fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) (an American environmental non-profit organization) in Beijing.

Outside of work, I enjoy (trail)running, biking, hiking, walking, and kayaking.