I was born in Minsk (Belarus) and studied International Relations at the Belarusian State University. I came to Manchester in 2000 as a Chevening student with the scholarship from the Open Society Institute and Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and have grown into this city. I received PhD in International Relations from the University of Manchester in January 2006 and joined Politics in September 2006.  

I am a member of the Critical Global Politics research cluster and also work closely with colleagues in Chinese Studies. My research on the role of overseas Chinese and ethnic minorities in the Chinese state's pursuit of modernisation-driven national project was published as Overseas Chinese, Ethnic Minorities and Nationalism: De-Centering China (Routledge 2012, 2013 in paperback).

I was an elected member of the British Association of Chinese Studies governing board from 2011 to 2014. I currently serve on the editorial board of the Asian Ethnicity Journal (Routledge).

I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in pursuing projects in an area related to my research interests

Current PhD students
Choen Yin (Helen) Chan (with Richard Fay) 'An Intercultural Study of Intergenerational Relations and Cultural Identities within Chinese-British Families', from September 2017.

Completed PhD theses
David Tobin (with William A. Callahan) ‘Nation-building and ethnic boundaries in China’s Northwest’, completed July 2013. David is currently a Hallsworth Fellow in Chinese Political Economy at the University of Manchester.

Malgorzata Jakimow (with Japhy Wilson) ‘Imagining space for change? The negotiation of internal migrant workers’ citizenship in China’, completed July 2015. Gosia is a Lecturer in Chinese Politics at the University of Durham.

Diane Tang (with Roger Mac Ginty) 'Socialisation from below - the role of Myanmar civil society in China's adoption of public participation norms', completed in July 2016.

Muhammad Rakhmat (with Stuart Shields) 'Examining the Implications of the Silk Road Initiatives and the Asian Infrustructure Investment Bank activities on China-Gulf Cooperation Council Relations',  Sept 2015-Dec 2018.