ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1704-5603
Scopus Author ID: 57184764800
Google Scholar Profile: 5bNCHmUAAAAJ

Metrics for Academic and Research Impact

PhD in Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick (UK)

Master of Public Administration, University of Pittsburgh (US)

Bachelor of Public Administration, University of Macau (China)

Professor Jinghan Zeng recently joined the Department of Public and International Affairs at City University of Hong Kong. His research interests lie in politics and international relations, with a focus on China. His current work explores AI, the Belt and Road Initiative, and Confucius Institutes. He is the author of Memoirs of a Confucius Institute Director, Volume 1: Challenges, Controversies, and Realities (2025), Artificial Intelligence with Chinese Characteristics: National Strategy, Security and Authoritarian Governance (2022), Slogan Politics: Understanding Chinese Foreign Policy Concepts (2020) and The Chinese Communist Party's Capacity to Rule: Ideology, Legitimacy and Party Cohesion (2015), available in Chinese translation (City University of Hong Kong Press, 2016). He is also the co-editor of One Belt, One Road, One Story? Towards an EU-China Strategic Narrative (2021). He has published over thirty refereed articles in leading journals of politics, international relations and area studies including The Pacific Review, International Affairs, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies and Third World Quarterly. 

Professor Zeng currently serves as the Founding Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge Forum on Technology and Global Affairs (Cambridge University Press). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Higher Education Academy (UK). He has been named in the World's Top 2% Scientists list by Stanford University and Elsevier for five consecutive years since 2021. He has secured research grants from major international funders, including the European Commission (amounting to nearly HKD 4 million) and the National Social Science Foundation of China. He has also received consultancy funding from FTSE 100 companies such as Shell, as well as philanthropic support from organisations like Schmidt Futures (US).

Professor Zeng's research has been covered by the journal Science and major media outlets including Financial Times, The Economist, Forbes and South China Morning Post. He draws on his research to engage audiences beyond academia. As a leading expert on AI and global affairs, Professor Zeng has taken part in Track II dialogues on AI with China and the United States, testified before the UK Parliament (AI in Weapon Committee), and advised the United Nations, the Chinese Ministry of Education, as well as the UK Cabinet Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He frequently appears in TV and radio broadcasts including the BBC, ABC Australia, Al Jazeera, China Global Television Network (CGTN) and Voice of America. He has written op-ed articles for The Diplomat, BBC (Chinese), The Conversation, South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia, Policy Forum among others. 

Before joining City University of Hong Kong, Professor Zeng spent 13 years in the UK, where he built his academic career. At 31, he was appointed Professor of China and International Studies at Lancaster University (a top 7 UK University at the time), becoming one of the youngest full professors in Britain. Simultaneously, he served as Director of its Confucius Institute, leading a team of nearly 30 staff in the university. Under his guidance, the Institute flourished into an award-winning institution, receiving the prestigious Confucius Institute of the Year award from the Confucius Institute Headquarters, as well as Lancaster University’s Outstanding Contribution Award. During this time, the Institute also overcame unprecedented challenges, including the global pandemic, the sudden dissolution of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, and a political campaign by the then-ruling UK government to close Confucius Institutes. These remarkable experiences are chronicled in his three-volume memoir, Memoirs of a Confucius Institute Director, with the first volume released in August 2025. This work provides the first insider account of the most closely watched Chinese overseas initiatives.

A native of mainland China, Professor Zeng pursued his education across three continents, earning degrees from the University of Warwick (PhD, completed within two years), the University of Pittsburgh (MPA) and the University of Macau (BA). Professor Zeng also lectured at University of Cambridge, London School of Economics and Political Science, Royal College of Defence Studies (UK), LUISS (Italy), Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Tsinghua University (China) and Zhejiang University (China). He has also hold visiting professor/fellow positions at numerous universities worldwide including Tsinghua University, University of Navarra (Spain) and University of Warwick. Before embarking on his academic career, he worked for the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York City.

曾敬涵，香港城市大学公共及国际事务系教授。目前担任《剑桥技术与全球事务论坛》(剑桥大学出版社英文期刊) 创刊主编。自2021年起，他连续五年入选斯坦福大学和爱思唯尔评选的全球前2%科学家榜单。著有《孔子学院院长回忆录》（2025）、《中国特色人工智能：国家战略、安全与治理》（2022年）、《口号政治：理解中国外交政策概念》（2020年）以及《共产党的执政能力》（2015年）。编著包括《一带一路，一个故事？迈向共同的中欧战略叙事》（2021年）。他在政治、国际关系和区域研究领域的国际顶尖期刊上发表了三十多篇论文。

主持和参与多项由欧盟委员会、美国施密特基金会和中国社会科学基金资助的重大科研项目。研究成果被《科学》杂志以及《金融时报》、《经济学人》、《福布斯》和《南华早报》等国内外主流媒体报道。作为国际问题与人工智能领域的专家，曾敬涵教授曾受邀出席英国议会听证会担任专家证人，积极参与中美人工智能双轨对话，推动全球人工智能治理倡议，并为联合国、中国教育部、英国内阁办公室、英国外交与联邦事务部以及英国富时100指数公司提供专业咨询。他经常接受BBC、澳大利亚广播公司、半岛电视台、CGTN等媒体采访 。他常为《南华早报》、《外交家》、BBC中文版、《对话》、《日经亚洲》、《政策论坛》等媒体撰写专栏文章。

在加入香港城市大学之前，曾教授在英国学习和工作了13年。31岁时，他被任命为英国兰卡斯特大学（当时英国排名前七的大学）政治，哲学和宗教系教授，成为英国最年轻的正教授之一。同时，他担任该校孔子学院院长，带领着近30人的团队。在他的任内下，兰卡斯特大学孔子学院荣获孔子学院总部颁发的“先进孔子学院”奖以及兰卡斯特大学颁发的“杰出贡献”奖。同时孔子学院也在这段时间经历并克服了前所未有的外部冲击，包括全球疫情、孔子学院总部的解散以及当时英国执政党发起的关闭孔子学院的政治风波。这些有趣的经历都记录在他的三卷《孔子学院院长回忆录》中，第一卷于2025年8月出版。

曾教授出生于中国大陆，获得英国华威大学博士学位 （两年内完成）、美国匹兹堡大学 公共行政硕士 和澳门大学公共行政学士学位。曾教授还曾在剑桥大学、伦敦政治经济学院、英国皇家国防学院、意大利路易斯大学、中国清华大学和浙江大学等高校授课。在开始学术生涯之前，他曾在纽约联合国总部工作。

Founding Editor-in-Chief, Cambridge Forum on Technology and Global Affairs (Cambridge University Press)

Editorial Board, 战略决策研究 (Journal of Strategy and Decision-Making)

• Chinese foreign policy
• Chinese politics
• Geopolitics of AI
• Belt and Road Initiative
• Confucius Institutes