Geoffrey Chun-fung Chen is Associate Professor in the Department of China Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. He co-leads the Urban & Culture Research Group at the University’s Research Centre for Culture, Communication, and Society (CCCS), working alongside Linjia Zhang. His research explores the intersections of environmental protection and economic development, public sector reform, and the politics of climate change and sustainable energy, with a particular focus on China.

Geoffrey is the author of Governing Sustainable Energies in China (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and co-author of Nuclear Power in Stagnation (Routledge, 2021), written with David Toke, Antony Froggatt, and Richard Connolly. His research has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals such as New Political Economy, The Pacific Review, Journal of International Relations and Development, Journal of Chinese Political Science, and The China Quarterly.

He received his PhD from the University of Bath and has held research fellowships at the University of Duisburg-Essen and the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA). At XJTLU, he teaches courses on Chinese political economy, international trade, regional development, and China’s technology and development policy.

Environmental governance

Public sector reform

Industrial policy

Energy politics

Associate Professor, Department of China Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou - 2018 to present

Co-leader, Urban & Culture Research Group, University Research Centre for Culture, Communication, and Society (CCCS), Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou - 2024 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 (GIGA), Hamburg - 2014 to 2015

Module leader: CCS408 'China's Regional Development' (2025 to date)

Module leader: CCS309 'China: International Trade' (2024 to date)

Module leader: CCS207 'China: Entrepreneurship and Development' (2016 to date)

Module leader: CCS407 'China's Economy' (2018 to 2020; 2022)

Module leader: CCS406 'China's Technology and Development' (2019 to 2023)

Module leader: CCS308 'China: The Public Sector' (2018 to 2021)

Module leader: CCS108 'Doing Business in China' (2017 to 2018)

Dissertation supervisor: CCS409 'China Studies Dissertation' (2019 to date)

Module lecturer & dissertation supervisor: CCS305 'China Studies: Final Year Project' (2019 to date)

Module lecturer: CCS901 'Understanding China' (2017 to date)

Module lecturer: 'HSS Learning Practices in the Humanities and Social Sciences' (2018 to 2020)