About

Core team

The core team’s training spans economics, econometrics, computing, and finance, across China, Canada, the United States, and India.

Jingliang Xiao

Economic modeling, trade, and investment

Canada and China

PhD in economics and CFA charterholder; an SSRN top-10% author. Supervised by Professor Peter Dixon, his doctoral work embedded a dynamic financial module in a CGE model to study exchange-rate effects on the Chinese economy. He taught and researched at Monash University (2006–2010), served as an economic analyst at PineBridge in Hong Kong (2010–2012), and is a senior economist at ISM and a visiting fellow at Ciuriak Consulting (Ottawa).

Yun Wen

Industrial economics and corporate strategy

Canada and China

PhD in Communication from Simon Fraser University. Research interests include science and innovation policy, the information industry, outbound investment, and firm internationalisation, with a parallel practice in economic writing.

Deepika Wadhwa

Econometrics and policy analysis

United States and India

MA in economics with about a decade of policy consulting, especially on trade and development. She has worked at ICRIER in New Delhi. Interests include regional integration, FTAs, agricultural trade policy, and employment, with skills in STATA, survey research, and international coordination.

Krishna Srinivasan

Economics and mathematics

India

MSc in econometrics and mathematical economics from Tilburg University, with a focus on behavioural and experimental economics. Skilled in R, Python, and STATA.

Kavita Dwivedi

Analytics

India

More than twelve years as an analytics lead, covering pre-sales, partner management, delivery, and team leadership for large institutions.

Pankhuri Manoj Bansal

Finance and global value chains

India

MSc in International Finance and Economics from the University of Warwick; undergraduate studies in economics and finance at the LSE and the University of London. She has been a researcher on SMEs and GVCs at UN ESCAP and a financial analyst at MSCI.

Mingzhi Xiao

Macro analysis and real estate

China

PhD in economics. In 2010 he worked in Accenture’s Deutsche Bank practice as research assistant to Dr Ma Jun on macro trends, investment strategy, and the national balance sheet. In 2014 he joined the Shanghai Development Research Foundation, collaborating with the PBoC Research Bureau.

Shenghao Feng

Energy, environment, and climate

China

PhD in economics, working on energy, environment, and climate policy. In 2013 he helped organise a China–Australia youth forum on energy and climate, and has represented the firm at regional exchanges. Member of the Golden Key Society.

Yu Hao

Artificial intelligence

China

PhD in computer science from Tsinghua University. A researcher at Tsinghua and the State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems, working on machine learning and natural language processing.

Tong He

Machine learning and data science

Canada and China

MSc in computer science, with a focus on statistical analysis and algorithms. Data scientist at SupStat in 2013–2014. Creator and maintainer of the R package for XGBoost.

Minhong Feng

Financial strategy and capital operations

China

PhD in finance, senior accountant, with fund and securities qualifications. Senior adviser at ISM and deputy general manager at Guangzhou Yue Nianlun Asset Management. Previously held finance and asset-management posts at Guangdong Guanghong, Hengjian Venture Capital, Hengjian Investment Holdings, and Hengjian Asset Management.

Rufei Ma

Strategy and industrial development

Canada and China

PhD in business administration; visiting student at the University of Cambridge; postdoctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University. Work covers urban strategy, industrial development, and firm strategy. He has led an NSFC Young Scientist project and published in Management World, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and Industry and Innovation.