Born and raised in Manchester, England, Jack Allen studied Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University, with minors in Chinese, Eurasian Studies, and Journalism. Before joining Princeton, Jack spent a year in Kunming, Yunnan Province, where he studied Mandarin and volunteered at an after-school centre. At Princeton, his studies focused on the visual culture of the former Soviet Union and documentary nonfiction and the politics and culture of migration. Also, Jack served as president of the Princeton U.S. China Coalition and senior writer and food critic for The Daily Princetonian. At Yenching, he will specialise in the Literature and Culture track as he hopes to further his studies of Soviet influences on Chinese visual culture.

Lilli Ambort graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with her B.A. in Global Studies and a minor in Chinese Language and Literature. Lilli's interest in the Chinese language and culture began when she started taking Chinese language courses in high school, quickly completing the courses offered at her school and moving on to distance learning courses offered by the University of Iowa. While at the University of Minnesota, she researched the relationship between climate change and interprovincial migratory adaptation on China's Loess Plateau. During her undergraduate years, Lilli was awarded a Chinese Flagship scholarship and a Freeman-ASIA scholarship to study Mandarin Chinese at Capital Normal University in Beijing. At the Yenching Academy, Lilli plans to further her research by examining the societal impacts of intra-provincial climate-related migration on migrants and their families through the Law and Society research area.

Originally from Rockville Centre, New York, Patrick Beyrer graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 with bachelor's and master's degrees in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. While an undergraduate, he interned at a China-focused investigative research and risk advisory firm and participated in various US-China collaboration programs through Georgetown and Stanford. Patrick has studied abroad in China twice through the US Department of State's National Scholarship Initiative for Youth and Critical Language Scholarship programs, in addition to being selected as a two-time Foreign Languages and Area Studies fellow through the US Department of Education. With a keen interest in biotechnology exchange between the US and China, Patrick will pursue the Law and Society concentration at Yenching Academy, where he plans to study the legal dimensions of Chinese pharmaceutical exports to international markets.

Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from PUC Rio, focusing her academic research on the BRI and the South China Sea. As an undergraduate, Manuela interned at the external affairs department of Vale S.A, Brazil’s largest mining company, and was awarded a scholarship by the Brazilian Ministry of Education to research Chinese investments in Latin America at the BRICS Policy Center. Manuela spent a semester in Shanghai, where she primarily studied Chinese business and political economy and gained first-hand Chinese culture experience. Manuela has been working in intelligence and global risk consulting since her graduation from PUC Rio. As a Yenching Scholar concentrating in International Relations and Politics, Manuela aims to combine two of her passions: the BRI, and political and security risk analysis.

Hannah Brock is from Cambridge and holds a degree in History and Politics from the University of Oxford. Coming from a mixed-heritage background and having lived in Beijing for seven years as a child, she has always had a deep-rooted connection to China. Before attending Oxford, Hannah spent half a year studying at Peking University in 2017 and interned at Gender Development Solution, an NGO in Xi’an where she collected data on early childhood development. At Oxford, she was involved in various student organisations including as Co-President of the Oxford Society for International Development. Outside of academic work, she enjoys travelling, salsa, and drama. Hannah has always valued the importance of connecting her studies with practical experience and is looking forward to the Yenching Academy’s exciting blend of theory and fieldwork as she pursues her masters in Law and Society.

James Bromley is originally from Liverpool, United Kingdom and graduated with a B.A. in Political Economy from NYU Shanghai, where he served as Student Body President. Inspired by his time as an intern with the World Bank, James wrote his undergraduate thesis on anti-corruption mechanisms in BRIC countries. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, James split his time between China and Nigeria, working to establish a cross-border e-commerce platform on behalf of V-LOGIC Ltd. As a Politics and International Relations student at the Yenching Academy, James plans to further explore Sino-Africa relations, looking specifically at the socioeconomic and development outcomes of BRI infrastructure projects in West Africa. James aspires to become a leader in international commerce, advocating for sustainable global trade and helping to bring a more nuanced understanding of China to the West.

Sarah Brooker comes from the United States and graduated from New York University Shanghai with a Bachelor’s in Global China Studies, minoring in Art History and Chinese Language. While studying the Silk Road’s history, Sarah became fascinated with seals – by their design and importance in politics, religion, and social interactions. After studying at Lingnan University for a summer, she developed an interest in how China interacts with neighbouring nations around it, both past and present, mainly through seals and seal images. Her undergraduate thesis used Daoist seals as a case study for developing effective methods and terms to study seals as a field. As a Yenching Scholar, Sarah will concentrate on History and Archaeology. She plans to continue exploring how pre-modern China used and interacted with seals, expanding on her previous research.

Simon Büschges was raised in Germany and the USA. He studied Psychology with a focus on Business Psychology and Entrepreneurship at Leuphana University Lüneburg and Work & Organizational Psychology at Maastricht University. He has also taken several courses on business informatics and technology. Simon is passionate about the good that innovative businesses can achieve globally and has gained experience working on a social startup in the educational sector and a sustainability project for a multinational IT company. During his travels through East and Southeast Asia following his bachelor’s, Simon became especially interested in education technology’s potential and China as one of the industry’s leaders. At the Yenching Academy, he focuses on Economics and Management to learn more about entrepreneurship and the prerequisites for business success and cooperation with China.

Ann Chen (陈安冉) was born in Fuzhou, China, but she moved to Toronto, Canada, when she was three. She obtained a B.A. from Yale-NUS College in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). Ann has interned at Deloitte's think tank - Center for the Edge - to develop a sustainable transformation strategy for multinationals and advise governments on building robust, sustainable finance sectors. She has also worked at SURF Capital, a Singapore-based private equity firm, and HSBC’s Global Banking division. Her academic interests include climate diplomacy, integrating renewable energy into electricity systems, and sustainable transformation policy. At the Yenching Academy, Ann focuses on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Pier Ferdinando Cinotto was born and raised in Torino, Italy. He is a graduate of SOAS University of London, holding a Bachelor’s in Development Economics focusing on Chinese Language and Culture. He also obtained a Master’s of Philosophy in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, where he has focused his research on Chinese investment practices in Ethiopia under the supervision of Professor Ha-Joon Chang. Throughout his years in academia, Ferdinando has concentrated on the global ramifications of Chinese economic development, examining in detail the effects of China’s rising economic engagement on the industrialising economies of East Africa and Central Asia. At the Yenching Academy, he aims to advance his research interests on the expanding China-Africa economic ties through the Economics and Management research area. Going beyond academics, Ferdinando wishes to contribute to the Yenching community by helping the university football team win its next championship.