I am a PhD candidate at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa and also a part-time lecturer at UCT’s Political Studies Department. I hold a Graduate Research Associate position at the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa at UCT, and a Research Associate position at the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (Foundation for Strategic Research), in France. I am also an alumna of Fudan University in China, and was a guest lecturer at Stellenbosch University, in South Africa. Additionally, I am member of the Chinese in Africa/Africans in China (CA/AC) Research Network. My research interests include China-Africa relations, wider Asia-Africa relations, Asian geopolitics, African geopolitics, and Africa’s infrastructure development. My PhD research explores how China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) can be leveraged to contribute to Africa’s developmental regional integration efforts by exploiting its strong focus on infrastructural development, especially transport infrastructure. I have experience working at think tanks and in the corporate sector. I was a research assistant at the Centre for Conflict Resolution, an independent non-governmental pan-African organisation. I have also worked as an Asia-Pacific political and country risk analyst for S-RM, a British risk and intelligence consultancy and provided consulting services for Africa-focused research intelligence companies. I often writes articles for the Diplomatist an India-based foreign affairs magazine and have written thought pieces and discussion papers for the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University. In 2015, I participated in South Africa’s BRICS Academic Workshop, where I, with a group of other South African academics and researchers, explored how BRICS countries can play more of an active role in international peacekeeping. In addition, I also have provided insightful commentary on China-Africa relations for local news outlets and international media outlets.