Shirley Ze Yu

Shirley Ze Yu is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where she serves as Director of the China-Africa initiative. Concurrently, she holds positions as Senior Practitioner Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center, Professor at IE Business School, and Distinguished Foreign Faculty Professor at Pakistan's National Defence University. Her research bridges political economy, business strategy, trade dynamics, geo-economics, China-Africa relations, and fintech innovations.

Education includes:

• Ph.D. in Political Economy, Peking University
• Master's degree, Harvard University

She directs the China-Africa initiative at LSE, focusing on economic and geopolitical engagement. Previously, as Deputy Director of Tsinghua PBoC School of Finance's Xin Fintech Center, she led research on China's financial technology advancements.

Dr. Yu is a prominent media commentator (BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Al Jazeera) and creator of the 'China BIG Idea' newsletter and 'Hey China!' business talk show. She contributes columns to Financial Times and National News, serves as a World Economic Forum Expert on China/5G/geo-economics, and has delivered keynotes at Chatham House, Cambridge, and Harvard.

Publications include the book Huawei Goes Global: Made in China for the World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) and Chinese-language works on diplomacy and currency markets.