About

About me

I am a PhD candidate at the Department of Politics and International Relations of the University of Sheffield and co-convener of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI)’s Doctoral Researchers Network. I am a recipient of an ESRC White Rose Pathway Award for my PhD project that investigates normative encounters between China and Uzbekistan. My work critiques the top-down dimension of Chinese normative power by focussing on Uzbekistan’s normative agency in its relations with the People’s Republic of China. My research interests include normative power and agency of political actors in the Global South; the political economy of South-South cooperation with a focus on China and Central Asia; political communication and machine learning (Structural Topic Models).

I hold an MA in Social Research from the University of Sheffield, an MA in International Relations from the University of Bologna and a BA in Chinese language, culture and society from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. I was also a visiting research student at the Renmin University of China in Beijing (Autumn 2016), where I conducted research for my master’s thesis, at George Washington University (January-April 2022) in Washington DC where I worked on my PhD with experts from the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, and at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent during fieldwork for my PhD research project. I collaborate with the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs in Washington DC and with Global Partners Governance in London on projects connected with China’s role in Central Asia. I wrote commentaries and reviews for Eurasianet, ISPI – Italian Institute for International Politics, Asian Affairs, and the SPERI Blog. I am a member of the Board of Directors of ASIAC – Italian Association for Studies on Central Asia and the Caucasus, and member of the editorial board of the journal Studies on Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Latest Publications:

– Central Asian Survey, “Central Asian Studies in the People’s Republic of China: A Structural Topic Model”. (With B. Jardine, 2024)

– The International Spectator, “Changing Images? Italian Twitter Discourse on China and the United States During the First Wave of COVID-19”. (With G. Sciorati and C.R. Combei, 2024).

– “Energy geopolitics in Central Asia (La geopolitica delle risorse energetiche in Asia centrale”. In: Dian, M. & Diodato, E. (Eds). East Asian Geopolitics (La Geopolitica dell’Asia Orientale). Roma: Carrocci. (With C. Frappi).

– Observatory of International Politics, Parliament of the Italian Republic. “Energy crises as a structural limit for political agency in Central Asia” (La crisi energetica come limite strutturale all’azione politica delle repubbliche dell’Asia centrale). Energy Security, n. 8, 2023.

– Studies on Central Asia and the Caucasus, “The Localisation of Italian Multilateralism: the Italy-Central Asia 5+1 Format in a Comparative Analysis with China and the United States”. (Forthcoming, With F. Indeo).

– Eurasianet, “Licorice and leather: Spotting Chinese soft power in rural Uzbekistan” (2023).

– Eurasiatica, “Multivectoral? A Quantitative Analysis of Uzbekistan’s Foreign Policy Communication at the United Nations” (2023).