YCW’s Global Editorial Team binds our global chapters together through a common platform of analysis and conversation, with the aim of capturing the diversity of perspectives and disciplines represented across our chapter cities. Our editorial content promotes budding voices from within the YCW network, and has been featured on established China thought forums like the Mercator Institute for China Studies (a YCW Partner), The Diplomat and ChinaFile.
In addition to publishing original essays on China from budding voices within our network under the YCW Features series, the team also discusses China-related issues with leading experts, past speakers, and outstanding young professionals for the YCW Interviews series. Our YCW Conversations series invites different stakeholders to weigh in on a pressing issue concerning China, with the aim of capturing a more balanced view.
GLOBAL EDITORIAL TEAM
Sam Colombie is Head Editor of YCW. He is a digital production journalist with a master’s degree in China Studies. Sam lives in Hong Kong, where he teaches at the University of Hong Kong, and produces content on Hong Kong-China relations and environmental policy.
Madison Plaster is our Print Editor. Madison is a Yenching Scholar at Peking University pursuing a master’s degree in China studies and economics. Her research focuses on Chinese consumer perspectives of the substitutability of plant-based protein. Her writing has also appeared in The Diplomat and Brazilian agribusiness magazine, Notícias Agrícolas.
Joshua Cartwright is our Multimedia Editor. He is a correspondent for SCMP covering U.S.-China relations from Washington DC, and his work has been published by CBS News, CGTN America, and Shanghai Daily. Joshua holds an MA in International Economics and China Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Insa Ewert is Social Media Editor at YCW. She works on development cooperation for the European Union in Indonesia and ASEAN. She was previously a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) where she completed a PhD on EU-China relations. Insa has also worked with the GIZ in Beijing and in the European Parliament in Brussels.
Emily Riddell is our Deputy Social Media Editor. Emily has a degree in Chinese and History from the University of Edinburgh and has spent time studying in Beijing and Taipei. She currently works for the UK Civil Service and volunteers for China Exchange, a charity located in London’s Chinatown that runs heritage and community-focused activities.
Johanna Costigan is a writer and editor based in New York. She graduated from Bard College with degrees in East Asian Studies and Written Arts. Previously, she lived and worked in Shanghai. She has an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from the University of Oxford.
Alice Slevison holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Melbourne, and is a UK Civil Servant. She has previously worked for the Australian government in Canberra and at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Greta Lai is Policy and Research Officer at a Hong Kong-based migrant NGO and a conflict researcher at The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). She holds a master’s degree in International Migration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics, and previously interned at the International Crisis Group’s Northeast Asia office and at the United Nations Development Programme in Beijing.
Mirela Petkova is a researcher based in Sofia, Bulgaria. She has studied at the University of Groningen and has worked at the Clingendael China Centre in The Hague, where she examined the governance of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. Currently, she is working as a researcher and data viz for New Statesman Media Group.
Thang Ha holds a master’s degree in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies at the University of Glasgow. He previously worked and conducted research at the Institute for Strategic Studies, Macquarie University, National University of Singapore, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam.
Attawat Assavanadda is a Ph.D student in Political Science at the University of Hong Kong, and Young Leader at Pacific Forum. HIs interests revolve around China’s domestic politics and foreign policy. Before coming to Hong Kong, Attawat studied at Waseda University in Tokyo, interned at the University of New South Wales, and worked as a political analyst at Government House of Thailand.