Dr. Min Jiang (Director) is Professor of Communication Studies at UNC Charlotte. She is also CyberBRICS Visiting Professor at FGV Law School (Rio, Brazil) and a secretariat member of the annual international Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC). Her research focuses on the intersections of Chinese Internet technologies, geopolitics and policies She has co-edited Digital Sovereignty in the BRICS Countries (Cambridge University Press, 2024) well as three special journal issues. She has published over 30 journal articles and book chapters. Media outlets including Reuters, Deutsche Welle, Foreign Policy, Financial Times and Al Jazeera English have interviewed her for her work.

Xiaofei Han (Associate Director) is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Journalism and Communication in Carleton University, Canada. Previously working as a digital marketing professional in Beijing, Xiaofei is interested in the shifting business models and growing monopolistic power of the leading internet companies in local contexts, especially their integration with offline manufacturing and agriculture in rural China. Her research on China’s platform economy is published in peer-reviewed journals, such as Internet Histories, Internet Policy Review, and Celebrity Studies. Xiaofei also teaches courses in regional platforms and global internet policy at Carleton.

Dr. Lianrui Jia (Associate Director) is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Digital Media and Society at the University of Sheffield. Lianrui obtained her PhD in Communication and Culture from York University and has worked at University of Toronto as a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow. Her research focuses on the political economies of internet and media, policy and governance, and how financialization intersects with media development in China. She has published various book chapters and journal articles on platform economies, platform governance and data policies. You can find her work in International Communication Gazette, Internet Histories, Internet Policy Review, Media, Culture & Society, and European Journal of Cultural Studies.

Xiaoyue Zhang (Research Assistant) is a first-year PhD student at the School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University. She previously earned her MAdegree from University College London, focusing on platforms from apolitical economic perspective, and a BA degree from ZhongnanUniversity of Economics and Law. Before pursuing her master’s studies,she worked as an editor at Caijing, a liberal financial magazine inBeijing, where her work focused on new business and commercial trendsin China. Now, she is interested in how media infrastructure (e.g.,internet standards) is shaped by multiple actants and, in turn, shapes themedia world.

Shuo Li (Research Assistant) is an MA student in the Department of Communication Studies at UNC Charlotte. He graduated from Zhejiang Industrial & Commercial University with a BA degree in Journalism and Communication. He has a research interest in Chinese Internet platforms, social media, online groups and media industry.

Jing (Kristen) Zhang is a GMICP alum. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. She graduated with an MA from the Department of Communication Studies at University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Fudan University with a BA degree in communication studies. Her research interests include communication technologies and society, social media, and media industry.