Shirley Yu

Professor Shirley Ze Yu is a leading voice on China’s political economy, Director of China-Africa Initiative at the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa, the LSE, a Senior Practitioner Fellow with the Ash Center of Harvard Kennedy School. She is also an MBA professor at the IE Business School and an Honorary Distinguished Foreign Faculty Professor at the National Defence University, Islamabad.

She is a member of the Davos Expert Network on China, 5G, and geo-economics. She is the creator of a daily intelligence and insights newsletter on China for Fortune Global stakeholders-China BIG Idea by Yu & Partners, and a NY-based business talk show Hey China!

Shirley Yu is a frequent commentator and contributor to the BBC News, Bloomberg, CNN, Al Jazeera, PBS Frontline, SP Global, Channel News Asia on China. She is an Op-Ed contributor to the FT and is appointed as a South China Morning Post Expert. She is also a keynote speaker at leading global think tanks, including the Chatham House, Asia Society, the Wilson Center, Harvard University, Cambridge University, and the LSE.

Shirley has served a diversified portfolio of global senior corporate executive and board governance roles. She is uniquely positioned to advise Fortune Global 100 companies and international multilateral institutions on the economic and strategic risks/opportunities in China and Chinese companies’ globalization strategies.

She has a Ph.D. in political economy from China’s Peking University and a Master’s degree in Government from Harvard University.