Max J. Zenglein’s research focuses on China’s macroeconomic development, international trade and industrial policies. He has a particular interest in China’s evolving economic system and the economic conditions in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Max has over ten years of professional experience working on China-related economic issues. Before joining MERICS he was an economic analyst for the German Chamber of Commerce in Shenzhen and Beijing. He is an economist by training and has received his PhD from the University of Kassel in 2015.

His research focuses on Germany’s China policy, Sino-Russian relations, geopolitical competition, and China’s role in a changing global order.

Mikko Huotari is the Executive Director of MERICS. His research focuses on China’s foreign policy, China-Europe relations and global (economic) governance and competition. He has published on China’s rise as a financial power, trade and investment relations with Europe as well as on geopolitical shifts related to China's emergence as a global security actor.

Mikko holds a PhD from Freiburg University and was a guest scholar at the University of California in San Diego in 2017/2018. In 2019, Mikko was appointed as one of 15 German representatives to the German-Chinese Dialogue Forum.

Her research focuses on Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature and Society, Chinese Language, Women Studies, Second Language Teaching, and Religion Studies.