China-Russia Joint Institute 5th Annual International Workshop for Young Academic Elites

The China-Russia Joint Institute is pleased to announce the successful completion of the 5th Annual International Workshop for Young Academic Elites, which took place November 3rd-10th at ECNU’s School of Advanced International and Area Studies. The workshop drew notable faculty, students, and young scholars from China, Russia, Europe, Canada, and the United States. Lectures and discussions focused on important areas of international relations, including major power relationships and diplomacy, China-Russian cooperation, and EU-China relations.

Professor Liu Jun, Dean of the School of Advanced International and Area Studies, commenced the workshop with a welcome to all participants, followed by a lecture from the keynote speaker, Professor Shen Dingli of Fudan University. Professor Shen’s presentation focused on an emerging model of international relations and how this new construct impacts major country relationships and diplomacy.  Building on this theme, Professor Yu Bin of Wittenberg University, lectured on the liberal international order and its implications for China and Russia. Participants also received a lecture from Zhejiang University’s Professor Li Jing on how the Chinese state constructs policy knowledge regimes.

The potential for greater Chinese-Russian Cooperation was first addressed by Professor Timofei Bordachev, Director of both the Valdai Discussion Club and the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics in Russia. He was followed by Professor Sergey Vasiliev, the Director of MGIMO-University at Odintsovo, who provided participants with an overview of the Russian energy sector. Also of note, Professor Andrew Cottey, Senior Lecturer and Jean Monnet Chair in European Political Integration, at University College, Cork, Ireland, offered his analysis of the opportunities and challenges in current EU-China relations.

The workshop also addressed larger trends in international relations, led by Professor Piotr Dutkiewicz, the co-director of the Center for Governance and Public Policy at Carleton University in Canada. Professor Dutkiewicz captivated the audience with a lecture on the root causes of state and non-state hegemonies in the current global system. Professor Zhang Xin, from ECNU’s School of Advanced International and Area Studies, then presented on geographic imagination, territorial rescaling, and the remaking of the Eurasian space.

Professor Frode Mellemvik, from Nord University Business School’s High North Center for Business and Governance, delivered the workshop’s final lecture on Arctic policy cooperation and opportunities for value creation. Professor Liu concluded the workshop with a cultural exchange in which participants shared songs, poems and played musical instruments. This theme of cultural exchange was present throughout the workshop. Participants had the opportunity to get to know the local area, visit the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center, and take a day-trip to Hangzhou as a group.