Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography, University of Sussex (United Kingdom) and a Visiting Professor, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, China).

He is the Managing Editor of the journal Area Development and Policy and has served as Editor of Regional Studies (1997 – 2002). He is an Elected Fellow, Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences (AcSS), UK (2000), a Winner of the Edward Heath Award, Royal Geographical Society (2003) and a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow for “Cities, regions and the sustainable transformation of the Chinese earth.” His interests are in global development (at multiple geographical scales and with special reference to Europe, China, Eurasia and the wider world system) drawing on theories of uneven development, regulation and geopolitical economy.

His most recent publications deal with the Chinese social model, Chinese poverty alleviation, common prosperity, Chinese economic development since 1949, the Belt and Road Initiative and China’s international engagement. He has also written on global economic evolutions and the emergence of a new multipolar world order. He has published widely in leading journals: Regional Studies, Journal of Economic Geography, European Urban and Regional Studies, Applied Geography, Geoforum and more.