I aim to inform policymaking and implementation in primarily two ways: first, by demonstrating how my existing research can help understand and improve policy; second, by using emerging policy problems to design new research projects that will produce actionable recommendations for change. 

In addition to giving talks at think tanks, advising government agencies, and briefing members of parliament, I write commentaries for more general audiences to inform understanding of unfolding world events. For example, in the early years of the Syrian conflict, my coauthors and I wrote a commentary for CNN in which we argued that humanitarian intervention from the US would be unlikely, based upon our research published in Foreign Policy Analysis.

Sometimes writing commentaries helps me identify and develop larger research projects. For example, days after China repealed its 'one-child policy' I suggested in the South China Morning Post that the change could improve the lives of LGBT people; it could diminish the family pressure they experience as their parent's 'one-chance' to perform the expected traditional, heteronormative duties of a child.

The commentary compelled me to research the issue in-depth: later, in a 2019 Journal of Homosexuality article, I argued that family pressure felt by LGBT Chinese is not just due to the one-child policy, but also reforms in elder care provision that shift the burden from the state to the family.

To be truly policy-relevant, research needs to rapidly respond to problems (or anticipate them, if possible) and its findings disseminated as quickly as possible. For example, weeks after NHS England's 2016 decision to not provide full access to PrEP (a highly efficacious anti-HIV drug), I launched a research project that sought to inform policymakers about the actual—rather than anticipated—public response to government expenditures on a wide range of preventative drugs amidst cost-cutting.

My coauthors and I disseminated early findings to the general public in The Guardian and at a public exhibition in London’s OXO Tower, and to policymakers in briefings with members of parliament.

Media coverage helps bring my research to the general public. Citizens are integral to improve policymaking & implementation as: beneficiaries of good policies and victims of bad ones; taxpayers who help fund policies; and (in some countries) voters who can reward policymakers' success and punish their failure.

I’m often asked for comment on issues related to Chinese politics, NGOs & civil society development, LGBT activism, gay & lesbian rights, transgender issues, public and sexual health. My work has been covered by media outlets worldwide, including: BBC (Victoria Derbyshire, BBC News, BBC World Service, BBC Trending), CNN, NBC News, Channel 4, Voice of America, Al Jazeera, Chicago Tribune, South China Morning Post, Christian Science Monitor, Dazed, The Guardian, US News & World Report, Quartz, Weekendavisen.

For comment and interviews—both on the record and for background—contact me directly via email  or through LSE's Media Relations Office.

As an internationally-recognised expert on LGBT rights, activism, social policy and cultural norms (especially as they relate to China), I’m an experienced expert witness in the US and UK. I have given testimonies for immigration and asylum cases that involve issues such as same-sex marriage & partnership, anti-gay employment discrimination, social stigma, same-sex parenting, stateless children of LGBT parents, citizenship, and rights of abode (hukou), filial piety, family planning regulations (e.g., ‘one-child policy’) and eldercare provision.

Recent experience & case outcomes

• Prepared an expert witness report in the appeal of a gay Chinese man, engaged to a British man, denied right to remain (First-tier Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber, London); outcome: appeal granted, October 2019

• Prepared an expert witness report and gave telephonic testimony in a US asylum petition of a gay man subjected to ‘conversion therapy’ in China and threats to his life by his father (Detroit Immigration Court); outcome: asylum granted, April 2020

• Prepared an expert witness report in the application for British citizenship for a ‘state-less’ infant, born to two lesbian women with Chinese nationality in the UK (First-tier Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber, London); outcome: awaiting decision

• Gave testimony in a wrongful death case of a Chinese national, drawing upon expertise in cultural norms of filial piety, family planning regulations (‘one-child policy’) and eldercare provision in China (Laganside Courts, Belfast); outcome: damages awarded, June 2018  

To learn more, view my Expert Witness CV. If you are in need of expert testimony, please contact me directly.

I consult for various organisations, whether they be for- and not-for profit, governmental or non-governmental. I’ve served as academic advisor for OutRight Action International on a project examining challenges for LGBTIQ NGOs to become legally registered worldwide and worked with Out Leadership as they make the ‘business case’ for LGBT visibility and representation in the corporate world.

I give ongoing advice to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on civil society, human rights, and NGO development in China. Comic Relief and Privacy international have sought my advice on philanthropy, volunteerism, and the regulatory environment for NGOs in China. Drawing upon my expertise in Chinese environmental politics, I was consultant for the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Global Shark Conservation Campaign, which worked to stop the consumption of shark fin soup in Greater China.

If you’re in need of consulting related my areas of expertise, you may contact LSE Consulting or email me directly.