Peters Shanghai Research Visit

Dr. Susanne Peters, a faculty member in the International Relations Department at Webster Geneva, recently returned from a research trip to Shanghai, China. Following the invitation of Prof. Maximilian Mayer she had the opportunity to stay for six weeks as a research fellow at the German Studies Center of Tongji University in Shanghai. The German Studies Center was interested in her research on energy security policy with focus on the European Union and EU-Russian energy relations.

During her stay, she held two seminars, one at the German Studies Center of Tongji University on current challenges of EU energy security policy and a second one at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS), a major government policy institute in Shanghai, on the state of affairs of the European Union's environmental leadership and the exploration of shale gas in Europe. Both talks were met with strong interest and the focus of the question and answer sessions was on the similarities between EU and Chinese energy politics and the subsequent lessons to be drawn for China. These talks will lead to a publication in the SIIS’s China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies (CQISS). In particular the issue of “fracking” is of marked interest in China currently.

Dr. Peters met also several graduate students of the German Studies Center advising on subjects related to energy in general or the German “Energiewende”. She was truely impressed by the knowledge and the analytical depth of the Chinese graduate students who are very interested in studying in Europe to broaden their horizon.