Kerry Brown

Kerry Brown is the Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London. He is an adjunct of the Australia New Zealand School of Government in Melbourne, and co-editor of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, which runs from the German Institute for Global Affairs in Hamburg. He is President of the Kent Archaeological Society and an Affiliate of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at Cambridge University.

From 2012 to 2015, Brown was Professor of Chinese Politics and Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia. Prior to that, he worked at Chatham House from 2006 to 2012, as Senior Fellow and then Head of the Asia Programme. He directed the Europe China Research and Advice Network (ECRAN) and provided policy advice to the European External Action Service between 2011 and 2014. From 1998 to 2005, Brown worked at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Beijing, and then as Head of the Indonesia, Philippine and East Timor Section. Brown lived in the Inner Mongolia region of China from 1994 to 1996.

A highly respected expert in history and international relations particularly on issues around contemporary China, Brown has been interviewed by every major news channel and his written work featured widely on international news publications. He is the prolific author of almost 20 books on modern Chinese politics, and his latest book, “China Incorporated” provides an objectively sober account of what Chinese power is and is not. According to Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist, Brown did “a marvellous job of demythologising China”.

Kerry Brown has a Master of Arts from Cambridge University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Mandarin Chinese (Distinction) from Thames Valley University, London, and a PhD in Chinese politics and language from Leeds University.