Nazerke Aibar is from Almaty, Kazakhstan. She has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a major in Finance from KIMEP University, where she studied with the support of U.S.-CAEF Scholarship from American Councils for International Education.  During her studies she had the opportunity to explore 3 continents by studying in Asia, Europe and America. Nazerke learnt Corporate Finance at the University of Zagreb through the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship. Afterwards, she had the fortune to work as a venture capital analyst in Washington D.C. through the American Council's Capstone Internship Program.  Her interest in China began when she started learning Chinese, and was nurtured by attending summer school in Xinjiang University and having academic mobility at Hong Kong Baptist University. Currently she is working at PwC in the Advisory Department, with primary responsibilities of conducting Due Diligence and Strategy Consulting. At Yenching Academy Nazerke intends to focus in Economics and Management with further plans to apply the knowledge she has gained to benefit bilateral Sino-Kazakh relations. Her research topic is on the One Belt One Road initiative, its influence and implications on Kazakhstan and rest of the world. Nazerke’s ultimate goal is to make a positive impact on the development of economy of her motherland - Kazakhstan. 

Miryam Amsili is originally from Bogota, Colombia and grew up in Miami speaking Spanish, English, Hebrew, and French. She graduated from Princeton University in 2014 with a degree in History focusing on Latin America. While at Princeton, Miryam spent a summer teaching English in Jishou, China, where she developed a deep interest in the region. Since graduation, Miryam has worked at a software company in New York City in various roles including Business Development, Business Operations, and Product Strategy. At Yenching Academy, she looks forward to concentrating on Politics and International Relations while exploring the growing tech scene and its relationship with the Chinese government and non-profits.

Asma Bachikh, originally from Morocco, holds a Master’s degree in International Commerce and is an alumna of the Global Business Institute at Indiana University. Asma’s passion for entrepreneurship and the environment inspired her to drive many projects and initiatives in France, Malaysia and Morocco, for which she has received recognition. In April 2015 Asma was elected as President of the World Youth Parliament, which advocates for youth participation in decision making in the water sector. Asma has worked in international organisations across a variety of sectors, from developing quality education in Sub-Saharan Africa to freedom of speech and media in the MENA region. However, Asma found her true passion in the water sector, and is currently a consultant for leading water institutions, focusing on developing their civic engagement, with a special focus on youth strategies. She also sits on the board of the International Secretariat for Water, and has an observer status as part of the Global Water Partnership's Steering Committee.

Eduardo Baptista is a 21-year old history undergraduate at Jesus College, Cambridge. Before moving to Cambridge in October 2014, Eduardo studied at St. Julian's International School in his country of birth, Portugal. The son of a Portuguese father and South Korean mother, Eduardo always wanted to live and study in East Asia. After studying China's anti-imperialist struggle between 1895 and 1927, he decided to apply to the Yenching Academy to further his studies. Eduardo plans to choose Politics and International Relations as his research area, and to reassess past research on the relations between the Korean Peninsula and the EU by learning about the past, present and future of China's relationship with the West. As an aspiring diplomat, Eduardo will pay particular attention to China's relations with Portugal. Eduardo has a strong interest in the Chinese language. Like many other Korean children, much of Eduardo's Korean was learnt through the use of Chinese characters, and this exposure has led to his desire of becoming fluent in Mandarin. As a fluent speaker of Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Korean, Eduardo is particularly excited to integrate into the multicultural environment of the Yenching Academy.

Adrian Bazavan, from Romania, is passionate about art, politics, history, and their complex connections. He wants to travel the world to build friendships and mutual understanding, and to transform cross-cultural conflict into beneficial cooperation. In 2014 he was named Valedictorian, earning his B.A. in Political Science at the National School of Political Sciences and Public Administration (NSPSPA), Bucharest. He completed his M.A. in Public Policies and European Integration at NSPSPA in 2016. He has studied Chinese at the Beijing Language and Culture University and at Peking University. Adrian speaks fluent Mandarin and currently works as a translator and representative for a Chinese real estate company investing in Romania. Fluent in English and French, he is currently studying Russian. Adrian has interned with several public and private institutions concerned with governance and policy consultancy, including the Government of Romania. As a national student union leader, Adrian has advocated for students’ rights and negotiated youth policy at all levels. He supports Moldova’s closer ties to Romania and EU integration, and has led many national projects benefiting Moldovan citizens and public administration. As the Project Director of the Romanian League of Students Abroad, Adrian has been a mobilizer of the Romanian-Moldovan community. Adrian’s hobbies include piano, dance and theatre. He also referees football games and participates in academic debate competitions. While studying Politics and International Relations at the Yenching Academy, Adrian will intern at the Romanian Embassy and pursue his PhD at the Romanian Economy Academy.

Ravish Bhatia is a citizen of India and presently lives in New Delhi. He graduated as an Electronics engineer from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi upon which he worked as part of the Business Technology and Business Consulting teams at the management consulting firm, ZS Associates. Presently, he is working as a policy and strategy consultant for Members of Indian Parliament. He has worked extensively on building development strategies for villages located close to the Indo-China border and is passionate about using data science and technology for international development. He founded and presently leads the National Youth Advisory Panel, PLAN International (India Chapter), a 200-member youth body promoting children's rights in India. As a student he served as the President of the Dance and Debating clubs in his university. He enjoys reading, playing football and dancing.

Melike Bilgin is currently studying towards a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations at Bogaziçi University (Istanbul, Turkey). She has been an active member and current co-president of the Center for European Studies Student Forum at the university. In 2015 she was granted the Erasmus scholarship to study Political Science at Helsinki University (Helsinki, Finland). In the following year, she received a travel grant to visit Yerevan, to carry out research on Syrian Armenians. During her final year at university, she started taking Chinese language courses. She became one of the founding members of the Chinese Culture and Language Club (Buzhong) which is funded by the Confucius Institute at Bogaziçi University, where she is taking a Chinese language course. At the Yenching Academy, Melike wants to concentrate in Politics and International Relations, while focusing on China’s foreign policy evolution and its present implementation. Her other goals at the academy are to improve her Chinese and increase her knowledge about Chinese civilization and history. In the future, she would like to contribute to the development of relations between Turkey and China while continuing her academic career. She is looking forward to exploring various aspects of China, including current issues in Chinese political life and foreign policy.

Jacob Bishop, an American from Washington, DC, is a 2017 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He has a Bachelor’s of Science in Chinese Language with a minor in Environmental Engineering. Throughout his studies he has focused on Chinese language, culture, and history with a particular emphasis on the military and political relationships between the United States the People’s Republic of China. At Yenching, he plans to develop deeper insights into Chinese political culture and foreign policy decision making that he will be able to utilize throughout a career of public service.

Gozde Celik completed her undergraduate degree in the field of Economics at Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey. During her undergraduate years, she became fascinated by China’s new leading economic role, and then by Chinese culture, economy, people and language. She wrote her thesis on Chinese Economic Growth in the context of the Middle Income Trap to further understand the “Chinese economic miracle” and its effects. The Confucius Institute, where she studied Mandarin, gave her opportunities to visit different cities in China, further encouraging her to continue studying Chinese society as a whole. With this aim in mind, during her senior year, she applied and was accepted for a Tsinghua CI Scholarship, and is currently studying Mandarin in Beijing. At the Yenching Academy, she intends to do research in economics and business, and to study Chinese economic growth with a focus on the country’s dramatic policy structural transformation from a manufacturing-based, export oriented growth policy into a services-based, consumption oriented policy. Gozde is also very much interested in the current and future relation between China and Turkey.

Chen Weiting, from China, graduated with a degree of Public Management from Renmin University of China majoring in Urban Planning and Management. During her undergraduate period, she showed a great interest in volunteer service. She has been involved in the volunteer teaching program for two years and proposed a new cultivation program as ‘Power of the Seed-Cultivation Program of the Hope School’, which transformed the teaching model from large class teaching to small group discussions, providing pupils with the chance to think independently, express themselves and gain a feeling of being concerned about and understood. In the third year of her undergraduate study, she carried out an exchange to Macquarie University in Australia with a full-scholarship for a whole year, and she volunteered in the Sydney Royal Easter Show, where she was nominated as the Volunteer of Year for her sincere passion in volunteer services. It would be wonderful if she could meet peers with the same passion in Yenching Academy. Sparing no efforts in studying, volunteering and researching programs, she was nominated as the representative of her college as the Principle Scholar in her graduation year. Through her study and internships in the area of economics, she gained an interest in investment and industry analysis. Therefore, she wishes to further her study at the Yenching Academy in economics, deepen her understanding on Chinese TMT industries under the context of Globalization and the bigger picture.