The Irish Asia Strategy and Its China Relations ~ About the authors

Fan Hong
Fan Hong is Professor of Chinese Studies at University College Cork (UCC) (2010). She received her BA and MA in China and PhD at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. She was Chair in Chinese Studies at De Montfort University in UK before becoming the first director of the Irish Institute of Chinese Studies (UCC) since its funding in 2006 and first Head of School of Asian Studies since its founding in 2009. She has published extensively on Chinese historical and social issues.

Jörn-Carsten Gottwald
Dr. Habil. Joern Gottwald held positions at Free University Berlin and University of Trier before joining the UCC in 2006. He has published internationally on political and economic reform in China, European China policies and the politics of financial services regulation in Europe and China.

Sha Hailin
Dr. Sha Hailin is the former Ambassador of the People’s Republic to Ireland. He is now the Deputy Secretary General of Shanghai Municipal Government.

Martin King Whyte
Martin King Whyte is Professor of Sociology, Harvard University. He held positions at University of Michigan in Ann Arbour and George Washington University. He has published widely on China’s social and political transformation in comparative perspective and is considered one of the leading experts on modern Chinese society.

Geir Sigurdsson
Geir Sigurdsson is Professor at the School of Humanities, University of Iceland, and Head of the Icelandic Centre for Asian Studies. His internationally acclaimed research covers issues in Chinese philosophy, contemporary Chinese society and education.

James Cuffe
James B. Cuffe is currently a PhD student with the IICS (UCC). He wrote his MSc thesis on Irish-Chinese relations and conducts research on social change in China.

Sean Gorman
Mr. Sean Gorman is Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. In this function, he has been a key organiser of the creation and implementation of the Irish Asia Strategy.

Peter Ryan
Mr. Peter Ryan was the Director of Intellectual Exchange at the Asia Europe Foundation and had been posted at Irish embassies in Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore. He has just returned to Ireland and is now working on European Union Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Tom Hardiman
Dr. Tom Hardiman has been a leading civil servant of the Republic of Ireland and has held various top positions at RTE, Bank of Ireland and IBM. He is the Governor for Ireland at the Board of the Asia Europe Foundation and the Chairman of the Board of Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.

Michael Garvey
Michael Garvey was the Head of Enterprise Ireland, Shanghai, and is now Head of Enterprise Ireland in Kuala Lumpur. Michael witnessed the evolution and implementation of the Asia Strategy working ‘on-the-ground’ in Asia.

Pat Ledwidge
Pat Ledwidge is the Director for Docklands Development, Cork City Council, and a leading member of the Shanghai-Cork Group overseeing the cooperation between the twinned cities of Shanghai and Cork.

John Armstrong
Dr. John Armstrong was a lecturer with the China Foreign Affairs University, China’s leading college for the training and education of future diplomats, and is now an assistant professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, one of China’s top five universities in the field of international relations. His research focuses on issues of EU-China relations and Chinese foreign policy.

Niall Duggan / Deirdre Cody/ Benedikt Seemann
Niall Duggan is a PhD student with UCC who has researched and published on Chinese foreign policy. Deirdre Cody worked on Chinese foreign policy before joining a major Swiss enterprise. Benedikt Seemann is working for a major political party in the Federal Republic of Germany. He has published on German China policies and has been involved in the drafting of the new Asia strategy of the CDU.

Neil Collins
Prof. Neil Collins is the Head of Department of Government at UCC. He has published broadly on issues in public administration and regulation and is currently co-writing a book on China’s political system.

Andrew Cottey
Dr. Andrew Cottey is Senior Lecturer with the Department of Government at UCC, and Jean Monet Chair in European Integration Studies. He has published widely on European Foreign and Security Policy and EU-China relations.

Natasha Underhill
Natasha Underhill is a PhD student with the Department of Government at UCC specialising on issues in international relations and security.