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Dr Jiayi Zhou
Researcher
Dr Jiayi Zhou
Dr. Jiayi Zhou is a Researcher in the Conflict, Peace and Security Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Her research places particular focus on the intersection of great power competition and sustainable development. With a background studying the former Soviet Union, she has conducted research on and fieldwork in several countries across the post-Soviet space, including the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as in Europe and China. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science, and Masters’ degrees in both International Relations and International Development. Before joining SIPRI, she worked as a policy analyst on US–China nuclear relations, and was also a Research Assistant at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
Subject expertise
International and regional security, strategic nuclear relations, development and security nexus, agrarian transformation and food security, minority issues
Regional expertise
China, Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Transatlantic
CONTACT Dr Jiayi Zhou
Languages
English, Chinese, Russian
Education
PhD in Environmental Science, Linköping University; M.A. International Development, Erasmus University Rotterdam; M.A. International Relations, Syracuse University; B.A. History, UC Berkeley
SIPRI COMMENTARY
- Mineral spoils in Ukraine: A poor foundation for peace and recovery (Essay, )
- China, Russia and the future of peacebuilding (Topical backgrounder, )
- Climate finance and geopolitics: The China–US factor (Essay, )
- Environmental accountability, justice and reconstruction in the Russian war on Ukraine (Topical backgrounder, )
- Afghanistan and its neighbourhood: A stocktaking of regional cooperation since the Taliban takeover (Topical backgrounder, )
SIPRI AND PARTNER PUBLICATIONS
- Security Cooperation between Japan and the Nordic States in Uncertain Times (SIPRI, Stockholm: June 2025)
- De-risking: The EU’s and Japan’s Approaches to Managing Economic Relations with China (SIPRI, Stockholm: February 2024)
- Critical Minerals and Great Power Competition: An Overview (SIPRI, Stockholm: October 2024)
- Climate, Peace and Security Fact Sheet: Afghanistan (2023) (SIPRI, Stockholm : February 2023)
- Climate, Peace and Security Fact Sheet: Afghanistan (2022) (SIPRI, Stockholm : February 2022)
- Treading Lightly: China’s Footprint in a Taliban-led Afghanistan (SIPRI, Stockholm: November 2022)
- China–EU Connectivity in an Era of Geopolitical Competition (SIPRI, Stockholm: March 2021)
- EU Security Perspectives in an Era of Connectivity: Implications for Relations with China (SIPRI, Stockholm: February 2020)
- The Geopolitics of Food Security: Barriers to the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger (SIPRI, Stockholm: November 2020)
- Conference Report: 2017 Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development (SIPRI, Stockholm: August 2017)
- National Climate-related Security Policies of the Permanent Member States of the United Nations Security Council (SIPRI, Stockholm: December 2017)
- The Silk Road Economic Belt: Considering Security Implications and EU–China Cooperation Prospects (February 2017)
- China–Russia Relations and Regional Dynamics: From Pivots to Peripheral Diplomacy (March 2017)
- Afghanistan's Private Sector: Status and Way Forward (SIPRI and NIR, Stockholm: October 2015) 6pp
External publications
- Zhou, J. 'Agricultural Land in Russian Territorial and Geopolitical Ambitions', New Security Beat (Aug. 2022)
- Zhou, J., 'Sino–Russian Geopolitical Rapprochement in Agri-Food Trade Relations,' Russian Analytical Digest (RAD), No. 275 (Jann 2022)
- Zhou, J., ‘Naturalizing the state and symbolizing power in Russian agricultural land use’ Political Geography 93(1) (2022)
- Zhou, J., ‘The (universal) human: constituting security objects in theory and practice’ Critical Studies on Security (2021)
- Zhou, J., ‘Prospects for Agri-Food Trade between Russia and China’ in (eds.) Wegren, S.K. and Nilssen, F., Russia’s Role in the Contemporary International Agri-Food Trade System, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2021)
- Zhou, J., ‘Chinese Agrarian Capitalism in the Russian Far East,’ in (eds.) Ben M. McKay et al., Rural Transformations and Agro-Food Systems, New York: Routledge (2018) (reprint)
- Zhou, J., 'Beyond Natural Pressures: Chinese Agriculture in the Russian Far East', in (eds.) Horstmann, A., Saxer, M., Rippa, A., Routledge Handbook of Asian Borderlands, New York: Routledge (2018)
- Zhou, J., Sullivan, K. and Milante, G., Towards pathways for peacebuilding and development to reduce violent extremism, Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, Vol 12, No 2 (2017)
- Zhou, J., 'Chinese Agrarian Capitalism in the Russian Far East' Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal (2017)
- Zhou, J., Hallding, K. and Han, G., The trouble with China's 'One Belt One Road' Strategy, The Diplomat (2015)
- Zhou, J., 'Do National Interests Extend Past the Atmosphere?' Small Wars Journal (2013)
- Zhou, J., 'Soviet Central Asians in the Soviet-Afghan War' Journal of Slavic Military Studies Vol. 25 (3) (2012)
- Zhou, J., ' Counter-radicalization: Local Solutions and Community-Oriented Policing' Center for First Amendment Studies (2012)
- Zhou, J., ' Chinese in (the republic of) Georgia' European Centre for Minority Issues, Working Paper No. 54 (2012)