Dickson David Agbaji is Nigerian, and graduated as the top student in the 2015 class of Political Science graduates from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Dickson is a Management Trainee at Champion Breweries PLC and a Fellow of the Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative (CYFI). Dickson is also a climate enthusiast; as Ambassador of Earthplus Africa and founder of Green Earth Sentries, he has undertaken projects with a team of three to improve climate education and resilience in Nigerian schools. He also oversees an enterprise in the footwear industry. Dickson enjoys writing and researching, and he has presented papers at international and local academic conferences and co-authored several published journal articles. As a Yenching Scholar, Dickson is focusing on learning Mandarin and pursuing Politics and International Relations, researching soft power roles in confronting violent extremism in Nigeria and the Sino-Nigerian partnership.

Arushi Aggarwal is from New Delhi, India. She graduated from the University of Delhi with a degree in Political Science. She also pursued the Young India Fellowship. At the Yenching Academy, she explores political economy, digital globalisation, culture, and society vis-a-vis the changing world order . Arushi studies within the Economics and Management research area at the Yenching Academy.

Akosua Adubea Agyepong is a Ghanaian, born and raised in the nation’s capital, Accra. She graduated from the University of Ghana with a bachelor’s degree in Family and Consumer Science in 2018. After her first degree, she leveraged her four years of experience in the areas of population, development and sexual and reproductive health and rights to direct community outreach creation and design at the United Nations Population Fund in Ghana. Akosua’s keen interest in China is inspired by her admiration for the country’s emerging role in world politics and economics. She believes that the African continent can leverage Sino-African relations to better manage its population dynamics and challenges. In her studies at the Yenching Academy, Akosua focuses on exploring China’s foreign policy dynamics and the expansion of these policies on a global scale, especially on the African continent, through the Politics and International Relations research area .

Lukmon Akintola is Nigerian, and holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Obafemi Awolowo University. He resided in Abuja, Nigeria before moving to Beijing. During his undergraduate studies, Lukmon doubled as Editor-in-Chief and a student reporter for P.M. News Nigeria, and volunteered at the Obafemi Awolowo University community radio, Great FM 94.5, as a policy analyst. Upon graduation, Lukmon interned with Ventures Africa, where he was exposed to nuances of Sino-Africa relations. This spurred his interest in studying China’s domestic and foreign policy. Lukmon served as a volunteer teacher for 5 months at an IDP camp in Durumi, Abuja, Nigeria. Lukmon’s passion to promote peace led him to found a nonprofit called ‘Conflict Free Nation’. He was a fellow of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Youth Activists Program, and later worked at FES-Nigeria’s office as a Program Intern. As a Yenching Scholar, Lukmon concentrates in Politics and International Relations, through which he aims to understand China’s domestic and foreign policies and how Sino-African relations will spur development in Africa. He looks forward to exploring the beautiful landscape of China, learning Mandarin and trying Chinese cuisine.

Emilia Alcalá Dyer was born and raised in Mexico City, where she graduated with her B.A. in English Literature with Honors from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She speaks Spanish, English, French, and is improving her Mandarin. As a Yenching Scholar Emilia studies within the research area of History and Archaeology. After she read the Dao de Jing for her dissertation, China took on a significant role in her life. Emilia decided to further study different aspects of Chinese civilization, from its philosophy to its language. Among her interests are writing and filmmaking. Emilia intends to work in the production of documentaries in order to allow people all around the world to come into contact with China’s culture, ethnic minorities, history, and archeological discoveries. Her goal is to promote the idea of embracing different worldviews in order to create a pathway to cultural integration and development.

Madi is originally from Almaty, Kazakhstan, and for the three years leading up to Yenching, was based in Dubai. He graduated with honours from Nazarbayev University with a major in Electrical Engineering. After graduation, his passion for energy and entrepreneurship led him to the Middle East, where he completed a summer research program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, and a one-year professional development program in partnership with ESMT Berlin. He worked as a technology consultant for the Dubai EXPO 2020, and later joined the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority as a project manager for some of the world’s largest energy acceleration programs. As a Yenching Scholar, he is eager to understand more about China’s incredible journey of becoming an innovation powerhouse. After completing his degree with a research focus in Economics and Management, Madi is planning to create a startup out of Beijing, with a long-term vision of transforming the global energy industry.

Helena Juliette Auerswald is a Washington D.C. native with a B.A. in Global Affairs from Yale-NUS College in Singapore. In her studies, Helena has focused on Chinese and U.S. foreign policy in the Asia Pacific, culminating in her capstone thesis on Cambodia’s relations with the U.S. and China since 1997. Helena has interned with the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, MIT Solve, and the U.S. Department of Defense. At the Yenching Academy, she focuses on foreign policy and international relations through the Politics and International Relations research area, particularly pertaining to the U.S.-China competition for influence in Southeast Asia. In the future, Helena hopes to work for the U.S. government on crafting U.S. foreign policy in the Asia Pacific.

Gregor Bauer, a Czech and German national originally from Prague, earned a B.A. in International Relations and Chinese from SOAS, University of London. Since before beginning his studies, Gregor has been working as an actor and musician and was active in the volunteer-based organisation European Youth Parliament, promoting youth political awareness and intercultural understanding, and developing his passion for language-learning. During his time at SOAS and through an exchange year to Beijing Normal University, Gregor was able to critically engage with China in subjects of politics, history, and film studies. As Production Assistant for the Sky-UK channel China Hour, he travelled extensively in both countries to document UK-Chinese relations across a wide range of industries, further developing his interdisciplinarity. At Yenching Academy, his research is based in Politics and International Relations, exploring the political dialogue between China and Central Europe.

Samuel Baureis grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Prior to joining Yenching, he lived in Chicago, Illinois and graduated with honors from the University of Chicago, with degrees in East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Statistics. His interest in Chinese culture and language began in high school, when he attended Mandarin classes at the North American Chinese School. While at the University of Chicago, he studied early Chinese thought and philosophy, and completed a bachelor’s thesis on efficacious moral action in Confucian thought and the Analects. He was awarded a Foreign Language Acquisition Grant to study Mandarin Chinese at the University of Chicago Center in Beijing, and has also studied Mandarin at Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan. At the Yenching Academy, he continues to pursue his interest in Confucian philosophy and its connection to modern Chinese political life  through the Philosophy and Religion research area.

Flavian Berneaga was born in Romania and immigrated to Canada at age 17. He holds an Honours B.A. from the University of Toronto, where he graduated with a double major in European Studies and Criminology. Concomitantly, he performed extracurricular work as compliance analyst for the G20 Research Group and the BRICS Research Group. In the summer of 2018, Flavian interned at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Unit for Preparing the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and prior to joining Yenching, completed the Advanced Master in European Politics and Policies at KU Leuven, Belgium. Flavian’s interest in China was ignited at the KU Leuven, where he became familiarized with the concept of decentred foreign policy, as well as Yaqing Qin’s relational theory of world politics. As a Yenching Scholar, Flavian will pursue the Politics and International Relations stream. His research interests revolve around the harmonization of negotiation strategies between China and the EU, as well as the potential for further integration of the Belt and Road Initiative in the 17+1 summits.