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Academic Staff

Dr Yvette To

Dr Yvette To

Assistant Professor

Biography

Dr Yvette TO is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prior to this, she was a Postdoc at the Department of Public and International Affairs at the City University of Hong Kong. Her postdoctoral research, which was funded by the RGC Hong Kong Postdoctoral Fellowship, examined the opportunities and challenges faced by Chinese technology companies in Europe.

Dr To's research centres on China's modernisation and the impacts this has on China's relations with other countries. She adopts a political economy approach to understand how policies and their results are influenced by institutions, interests and power. Dr To also researches migration, in particular, how intermediaries influence migratory patterns, and how social networks affect migrant settlement.

Dr To is the author of Contested Development in China's Transition to an Innovation-driven Economy (Routledge 2022). The book examines the processes and outcomes of technological upgrading in three of China's key sectors - the internet, the automotive, and the pharmaceutical sectors. Her work has appeared in renowned international journals, including New Political Economy and The American Behavioral Scientist. Active in commenting issues surrounding Hong Kong and China, she contributed opinion pieces to the South China Morning Post, and was interviewed by the CNN, The Straits Times, and the South China Morning Post on topics related to China's technological development.

Education and Academic Qualifications

    • PhD in Asian and International Studies, City University of Hong Kong
    • MPhil in International Relations, University of Cambridge
    • BSocSc in Political Science, University of Birmingham

Professional Qualifications

Fellow, The Cambridge Commonwealth Society

Research Interests

  • China's modernisation
  • Political economy
  • Development
  • Technology policies
  • Sectoral upgrading
  • Talent acquisition
  • Migration

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