Biography
Xiaodong is a PhD candidate in the Department of International Development at King’s College London. She holds a BA from Yuanpei College and an MA from the School of International Studies at Peking University.
Her interdisciplinary research sits at the intersection of United Nations peacekeeping, feminist international relations, and Chinese foreign policy. Her doctoral project examines China’s engagement in UN peacekeeping operations, drawing on both documentary analysis and field-based interviews. Specifically, she focuses on the everyday interactions and internal dynamics among peacekeepers, exploring how gendered, racialized, and geopolitical power relations are negotiated and manifested within these spaces. Beyond her doctoral work, her broader research interests include the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and the politics of international humanitarian field.
She has teaching and professional experience across academic and policy settings. She currently serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of War Studies at King’s. Professionally, she has worked with UN Women and several think tanks, where she focused on issues related to gender, peace, and global governance.
Research
Thesis title: 'Narrating Peacekeeping: The "life-story" of Chinese Women Peacekeepers'
PhD supervision
Primary supervisor: Jelke Boesten
Secondary supervisor: Ye Liu
Further details
See Xiaodong's research profile