I am a political economist with an interest in the structures of global capitalism and long run historical processes of uneven development. 

I have three current research projects:

• On the relationship between geopolitics and development space, with an historical comparison of constraints and options open to third world/global South states during the Cold War and in the current period of rising US-China rivalry;
• Another comparative-historical project looking at cycles of critical mineral extraction, production and trade over the past century, in terms of (i) great power competition to secure supplies;  and (ii) efforts by peripheral states to leverage critical mineral resources towards developmental and geopolitical goals; 
• A study of recent shifts in development finance, sovereign debt, and debt restructuring. This examines the contradictory impacts of an increasing concentration and privatisation of western/northern development finance, combined with the emergence of state-owned Chinese banks as major development lenders. 

My previous work examined the connections between China-driven transformations in global commodity markets and shifting state-society relations in resource-exporting states, culminating in my book In China's Wake (Columbia University Press).  

I am currently a senior lecturer in global development and previously held Hallsworth and Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships at GDI. 

I lead the working group on energy and extraction for CHERN (China in Europe Research Network) and am a founding member of the Second Cold War Observatory. 

• The global political economy of the rise of China and US-China rivalry
• Critical minerals, development and geopolitics in comparative-historical perspective
• Sovereign debt and the global development finance architecture in the context of a shifting world order
• Commodity markets and natural resources
• State-society relations
• Historical capitalism and the temporality of development
• Comparative and historical methods 

2015- PhD Global Political Economy- University of Bristol (UK)

2021 Immanuel Wallerstein Memorial Book Award (honorable mention)- In China's Wake

2021 BISA IPEG Prize (shortlisted)- In China's Wake

2024 Outstanding Teaching Award (digital)

I am programme director for BSc Global Development and deputy programme director for MSc Global Development.

I convene the Global Political Economy (Postgraduate) and Political Economy of Globalisation (Undergraduate) units. 

I also teach on:

MGDI 60411 Development Fundamentals

MGDI 70982 Understanding Development Research

I welcome PhD supervision inquries broadly relating to the global political economy of development. Some example topic areas:

•  Critical and strategic minerals, extractive industries, energy transition and green capitalism
• Development and geopolitics
• Poltitical economy of sovereign debt, development finance and global financial goverance
• Global China (Chinese capitalism, China in Europe/Latin America/Africa)
• Uneven temporal and spatial development/development in the longue durée

Current Supervisees:

Marvin Lee Cheuk Him (with Shamel Azmeh and Abu Yekini)- China-Saudi trade and legal relations

Umesh Moramudali (with Elisa Gambino)- Sri Lanka's debt crisis and restructuring

Gilead Teri (with Seth Schindler)- Transport infrastructure projects in Tanzania and Kenya