Dr. Victoria S. Zhou
Wars are made at home before they are fought abroad.
Victoria S. Zhou is a Researcher at PRIF's Research Department Intrastate Conflict. Her research focuses on conflict dynamics in the Taiwan Strait, examining domestic political drivers on both sides, escalation risks, and the balance of power, with a broader interest in the geoeconomic and geopolitical risks of the region, drawing on qualitative and quantitative methods.
Press photo
CV
| since 2026
Researcher at PRIF's Research Department Intrastate Conflict
| 2024–2026
Research Fellow, Mustard Seed (MANSYUN) Association, Hong Kong
| 2024
Analyst Intern, Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), Berlin
| 2018–2024
PhD in Chinese Studies, Universität Tübingen – Magna cum Laude, Tübingen
| 2016–2018
Junior Researcher, Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| 2015–2016
MA in Social Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| 2010–2014
BA in International Relations & Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, United States
Publications
- The Dynamics and Ambiguities of ‘Chineseness’: Cross-Cultural Marriages Practices in the Dutch Batavia Before 1850
| 2026
Zhou, Victoria S.; Tak-Wai Hung (2026): The Dynamics and Ambiguities of ‘Chineseness’: Cross-Cultural Marriages Practices in the Dutch Batavia Before 1850, Modern Asian Studies. - Minimum compliance in local policy implementation in contemporary China
| 2025
Zhou, Victoria S.; Gunter Schubert (2025): Minimum compliance in local policy implementation in contemporary China, The China Quarterly, 264, 993–1011.
- Contemporary Environmental Policy Governance in China
| 2026
Zhou, Victoria S. (2026): Contemporary Environmental Policy Governance in China, London: Routledge.
Further Activities
| January 2026
Invited Lecturer, “Between State and Community: Confucian Temples as Trans-Temporal Heritage in Non-PRC East Asia,” Workshop: Unfamiliar Neighbours in East Asia: Empowering Minority Heritage in Port Cities, Waseda University, Japan.
| September 2025
Panel Speaker, “From the Eyes of Transmigrants and Neighbours: The ‘Others’ Navigating Early Modern Empires in Asia,” 8th European Congress on Universal and Global History, Linnaeus University, Sweden.
| July 2025
Panel Speaker and Panel Organiser, “A Recentralising China: Local Governance in the Xi Jinping Era of Top-Level Design,” Asian Studies Conference Japan, Sophia University, Japan.
| September 2024
Panel Speaker, “Transtemporal Cultural Heritage: Confucian Temples as Sacred Space and/or Soft Power,” Conference on Diversity and Liberty in East Asia, Waseda University, Japan.
| November 2023
Invited Lecturer, “Central-Local Relations in Contemporary China,” National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan.
| June 2022
Invited Lecturer, “Environmental Governance in China,” Summer Colloquium Greater China Studies, Universität Tübingen, Germany.
| 2024
PhD awarded Magna cum Laude, Universität Tübingen
| 2016
Dean’s List, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
| 2010–2014
Admission Scholarship & Dean’s List, The University of Iowa