Elisa Gambino, PhD

Currently, I am Hallsworth Research Fellow in Political Economy at the Global Development Institute of the University of Manchester, UK and Adjunct Researcher at the Centre for Asian Studies of the University of Ghana. 

At the Global Development Institute, I convene the Global Production Network, Trade, and Labour research cluster and I teach Work and Employment in the Global Economy. 

I am also Secretary and co-founder of the Italian Association of Africa-China Studies (Associazione Italiana Studi Africa-China, AISAC). 

My Hallsworth postdoc project, titled “African hubs, Chinese trade, and global circulation”, focuses on the networks of Chinese companies and entrepreneurs increasingly engaged in cross-border exchanges in West Africa. Broadly speaking, my research focuses on the intersection between China’s outward economic engagement and Africa’s development trajectories. I study the internationalisation of Chinese capital in the African infrastructure, trade, and mining sectors, placing particular emphasis on roles of transnational networks in fostering the spatial expansion of Chinese companies.

Before joining Manchester, I was LSE Fellow in the International Politics of China in the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics and Political Science. I also taught in the School of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Edinburgh, where I completed my PhD in African Studies as part of the ERC-funded "African Governance and Space" project.