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Prof. Dr. Anja D. Senz

Contact:

Centre for East Asian Studies (Chinese Studies),  
Voßstraße 2, Bldg. 4120
Room 120.03.20
69115 Heidelberg  

+49 (0) 6221 54 15 324
anja.senz@zo.uni-heidelberg.de 

 

Anja Senz

Vita

Anja Senz studied political science, sociology and anthropology at the University of Trier (Germany) and Chinese language and history at Sun Yatsen University in Guangzhou (China). For several years she worked as Research Fellow and Assistant Professor at the Institute of East Asian Studies and the Institute of Political Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Since 2014, she has been Professor of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the Institute of Chinese Studies at Heidelberg University. Between 2019 and 2023 she served as Vice-Rector at Heidelberg University.

Working on her different research projects provided her with broad fieldwork experience in Asia, in particular China and India. She is member of the editorial board of the European Journal of East Asian Studies, as well as member of the advisory board of the Journal Alternative Perspectives, the University Paris Science et Lettre (PSL), co-convener of the EMERGE Research Group, co-founder of the Myanmar-Europe Research Network and co-editor of the East Asia Today Working Paper Series and the Echowall research platform. 

Selection of Recent Talks

  • China’s growing influence in its Asian neighbourhood: analysing the agency of regional actors (Prag, 21.05.2025)
  • Auf dem Weg in eine neue globale Ordnung? Chinas zunehmender Einfluss in der Welt (Bammental, 30.04.2025)
  • Chinese CO2 Emission: Current Challenges and Debates (Duisburg, 16.01.2025)
  • Chinas Entwicklung und innere Funktionslogik (Berlin, 06.09.2024)
  • US-China competition and the Global South (Rijeka/Kroatien, 18.06.2024)
  • Einholen und Überholen – zur symbolischen Bedeutung der chinesischen Elektromobilität (Duisburg, 13.06.2024)
  • Forschungssicherheit im Austausch mit China (Duisburg, 25.04.2024)
  • Können wir auf China verzichten? Von gegenseitigen Abhängigkeiten und neuen Notwendigkeiten (Hamburg, 30.11.2023)
  • Von Gürteln, Straßen und Ambitionen: China und die neuen Seidenstraßen, (Tiflis/Georgien, 24.11.2023)
  • Limits of (E-Mobility) growth? Geo-economics, critical resources and sustainability (Wuhan/China, 22.09.2023)
  • China as a development model? (Guwahati/Indien, 31.03.2023)
  • Large infrastructure, international investments and development models: the case of China and Bangladesh (Dibrugarh/Indien, 23.03.2023)
  • China on rise or decline? Academic debates of political, socio-economic and cultural aspects (Chittagong/Bangladesh, 05.03.2023)
  • China-Kooperationen in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften: Chancen, Herausforderungen, rote Linien? (Berlin, 19.10.2022)
  • Zwischen Idealisierung, Verfremdung und Realität – Mythen über Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft des heutigen China (Berlin, 15.10.2021)
  • Die Belt and Road Initiative im globalen Kontext (Berlin, 14.10.2021)

Selected Publications in English

Table

Greening the Red Giant: China's Quest for a Sustainable Future, European Hub for Contemporary China (EuroHub4Sino), Policy Paper 2025/11, Brussels
Reevaluating the 'China Model': The Carbon Emission Burden of China's Infrastructure Overinvestment, European Hub for Contemporary China (EuroHub4Sino), Policy Paper 2024/15 (mit Belinda Uebler).
Public Predictions about China's Emissions Peak: Dynamics and Impacts, Echowall Series on China, Heidelberg, 07.10.2024, (mit Belinda Uebler).
China’s Environmental and Climate Change Policies, in: IDEES, No. 52 China before a World in crisis, 22/07/2021
Unmaking China's Myths, Echowall Series on China, Heidelberg, 02.09.2019.
The Role of Local Governance for China's Political Stability, in: Jing, Men; Link, Annika (eds.), EU and China. Reform and Governance, London: Routledge, 2017, S. 33-48.
Streamlining Local Behaviour Through Communication, Incentives and Control: A Case Study of Local Environmental Policies in China, in: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, No.3, 2011, S. 77-112 (mit Th. Heberer).
China’s Significance in International Politics. Domestic and External Developments and Action Potentials. Bonn: DIE, 2007 (mit Th. Heberer).

Course repertoire for BA and MA programmes (selection of seminar topics):

  • Introduction to Chinese economy
  • Politics in the Chinese-speaking world
  • Comparative regionalisation in East Asia and Europe
  • China's regional diversity
  • China and the Global South
  • Environmental and resource management in China
  • Dynamics in China's Border Regions
  • Everyday Culture and Changing Lifestyles in China
  • Brothers, Rivals, Enemies? The Intertwined History of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China
  • China, Europe and the New Silk Roads
  • Introduction to Chinese Foreign and Security Policy
  • Chinese Migration and Mobility

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