Dr Geoffrey Chun-fung Chen is Associate Professor at the Department of China Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. His research focuses on political economy, environmental politics, and public sector reform. His scholarly work on these topics appeared in New Political Economy, The Pacific Review, Third World Quarterly, and other peer-reviewed outlets. He is the author of Governing Sustainable Energies in China (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and co-author with David Toke, Antony Froggatt, and Richard Connolly of Nuclear Power in Stagnation (Routledge, 2021). Dr Chen gained his PhD from the University of Bath and has held research fellow positions at the University of Duisburg-Essen and the German Institute of Global and Area Studies. At XJTLU he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on Chinese political economy.
Qualifications
PhD, University of Bath – 2015
Experience
Associate Professor, Department of China Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou - 2018 to present
Head of Department, Department of China Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou - 2020 to 2023
Assistant Professor, Department of China Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou - 2016 to 2018
Research Fellow, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg - 2015 to 2016
Research Fellow, German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg - 2014 to 2015
Research interests
China studies
Political economy
Public sector reform
Environmental governance
Articles
Chen, Geoffrey C. (2023) 'The United States–China race for green transformation: institutions, incentives, and green industrial policies', Journal of Chinese Political Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-023-09875-x
Chen, Geoffrey C. and Charles Lees (2022) 'Greening the Chinese leviathan: China’s renewable energy governance as a source of soft power', Journal of International Relations and Development, 25, 79–106.
Chen, Zhiting and Geoffrey C. Chen (2021) 'The changing political economy of central state-owned oil companies in China', The Pacific Review, 34(3), 379–404.
Chen, Geoffrey C. and Charles Lees (2019) ‘Political recentralisation and the diffusion of solar energy in China’, Europe-Asia Studies, 71(7), 1162–1182.
Chen, Geoffrey C. and Charles Lees (2018) ‘The new, green, urbanization in China: between authoritarian environmentalism and decentralization’, Chinese Political Science Review, 3(2), 212–231.
Nem Singh, Jewellord and Geoffrey C. Chen (2018) ‘State-owned enterprises and the political economy of state–state relations in the developing world’, Third World Quarterly, 39(6), 1077–1097.
Chen, Geoffrey C. (2017) ‘Renewable energy development in East China’, Current Sustainable/Renewable Energy Reports, 4(2), 33–37.
Chen, Geoffrey C. (2016) ‘The forging of state-led ecological modernisation: renewable energy in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces, China’, China: An International Journal, 14(2), 23–43.
Chen, Geoffrey C. and Charles Lees (2016) ‘Growing China’s renewables sector: a developmental state approach’, New Political Economy, 21(6), 574–586.
Books, monographs, compilations and manuals
Toke, David, Geoffrey C. Chen, Antony Froggatt, and Richard Connolly (2021) Nuclear Power in Stagnation: A Cultural Approach to Failed Expansion. Routledge.
Chen, Geoffrey C. (2016) Governing Sustainable Energies in China. Palgrave Macmillan.
Chapters, cases, readings and supplements
Chen, Geoffrey C. (forthcoming) ‘Rethinking China’s clean energy transitions: eco-security and authoritarian sustainability’. In: Xiaowei Zang and Xiaoling Zhang (eds.) Handbook on Climate Change and Environmental Governance in China. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Chen, Geoffrey C. (2022) ‘Securitizing new energy amidst the global pandemic: the Chinese state and the politics of climate change’. In: Chi Zhang (ed.) Human Security in China: A Post-Pandemic State. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 77–105.
Grants
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Research Enhancement Fund (REF Ref No. REF-22-01-001), 'Ecological Security and Green Industrial Policy in China'. Grant awarded: CNY 49,826; Serving as Principal Investigator; January 2023 – December 2025.
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Research Development Fund (RDF Ref No. 17-01-03), 'China and the Political Economy of Climate Technology Policies'. Grant awarded: CNY 69,850 and a PhD scholarship; Serving as Principal Investigator; July 2018 – June 2022.
Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, General Research Fund (GRF Ref No. 12600718), 'Decentralized Climate Governance and Policy Implementation in China: Unraveling a Paradox'. Grant awarded: HKD 757,920; Serving as Co-Investigator, in collaboration with Kevin Lo (HKBU) and others; January 2019 – December 2021.
HS340(SIP Campus-Humanities & Social Sciences Building) Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District Suzhou Industrial Park Suzhou P.R.China 215123