Salvatore Barillà is a PhD candidate in Politics at the School of Social and Political Science of the University of Edinburgh. He obtained a combined Bachelor and master’s degree in Law at LUISS University (Rome) and a double master’s degree in European Studies at LUISS University and in International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University (Beijing). He is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AdvanceHE). He has served as a reviewer for Oxford University Press (OUP). His current research investigates the EU and China in the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement, focusing on the role of ideas in international trade. In particular, it investigates the role of economic and legalistic programmatic beliefs in the EU and China's trade officials' approaches to the WTO dispute settlement. He worked as a legal intern in multiple law firms in different countries, and as an intern at the commercial office of the Italian Embassy in Belgium. He is interested in International Political Economy, International Trade and Investment Law, and EU-China studies.