Frank Maracchione (he/him)

Frank Maracchione is a PhD candidate of the Department of Politics and International Relations of the University of Sheffield and co-convener of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI)’s Doctoral Researchers Network. He is a recipient of an ESRC White Rose Pathway Award for his PhD project that investigates Chinese global influence through the case study of Uzbekistan. His work critiques the idea of a unitary and unchangeable Chinese model of international cooperation by focussing on Uzbekistan’s agency and its relations with the People’s Republic of China. His area of interest includes the agency of developing countries in the global political economy, non-Eurocentric (and non-Sinocentric) IR, Chinese foreign policy and foreign aid (particularly in Central Asia and along the Belt and Road), together with Central Asian politics and international relations with a focus on Uzbekistan.

He holds an MA in Social Research from the University of Sheffield, an MA in International Relations from the University of Bologna and a BA in Chinese language, culture and society from the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. He was also a visiting research student at the Renmin University of China in Beijing (Autumn 2016), where he conducted research for his master’s thesis on counterterrorism in Xinjiang and Central Asia, at George Washington University (January-April 2022) in Washington DC where he worked on his PhD with experts from the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, and at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent during fieldwork for his PhD research project. He collaborates with the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs in Washington DC and with Global Partners Governance in London on projects connected with China’s role in Central Asia. He wrote commentaries and reviews for ISPI - Italian Institute for International Politics, Observatory for Central Asia and the Caspian Sea, Eurasian Business Dispatch, Asian Affairs, the SPERI Blog and Geography Directions.