Biography
Dr. Marina Rudyak studies how China defines its role in the world and how its concepts of order, development, and international cooperation translate into concrete policies.
The focus is on the phenomenon of "Global China" and the strategies the country is using to expand its political and ideological influence.
Particular emphasis is placed on China’s development cooperation and its relations with the Global South—especially in Africa and Central Asia—its relations with Russia, as well as the political narratives and communication strategies of the Communist Party of China.
Current Position
Marina Rudyak is a research associate at the Institute of Sinology at Heidelberg University, where she currently leads the project “CHINAGLOBAL – How China Shapes Global Governance,” which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space.
She is also Co-Managing Director and co-founder of the Decoding China Project, which analyzes how key terms related to international cooperation are used in official Chinese discourse. Since 2025, she has been a member of the editorial team for the academic journal Pluriversal International Relations.
Academic Background
Marina Rudyak studied modern and classical Sinology as well as public law in Heidelberg and Shanghai. After graduating in 2009, she worked for the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Beijing, where she managed programs focused on regional economic cooperation.
In 2014, she returned to Heidelberg University to pursue a Ph.D. on China’s development aid, combining her practical experience with academic research. Her dissertation on the development of China’s foreign aid system was awarded summa cum laude in 2020.
Her research stays have taken her to, among other places, the College of William & Mary (2022), Jagiellonian University in Kraków (2025), and the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School (2026).
Public Engagement and Consultation
In addition to her academic work, Marina Rudyak regularly comments on Chinese politics in leading German and international media outlets. She writes the column “World Power Games” in the Geoeconomics section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and advises German and European institutions as well as nongovernmental organizations on issues related to Chinese foreign and development policy.
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