Professor Shirley Ze Yu is Director of the China-Africa Initiative at the LSE Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, the LSE, and a Senior Practitioner Fellow at the Ash Center, Harvard Kennedy School. She is also a Professor at the IE Business School and a distinguished foreign faculty Professor at the National Defence University, Pakistan. Shirley is the creator of a daily intelligence and insights newsletter on China for Fortune Global 500 stakeholders – China BIG Idea.

Shirley is a frequent commentator and contributor on China’s strategic and economic affairs for the BBC News, FT, Bloomberg, CNN, Al Jazeera, PBS Frontline, S&P Global, among others. She is a columnist for the National News, South China Morning Post, and the Financial Times. Shirley is also an independent non-executive director for several corporations and a World Economic Forum Expert on China, 5G, and geo-economics.

She is a former China Global TV Network News anchor.