Gemma Cheng'er Deng Keynote Speaker

Dr Gemma Cheng’er Deng is a scholar of China’s foreign policy, global strategy and strategic communications whose work illuminates how China operates as an international relations actor and what that means for business and policy in the UK and Europe. Based at the Lau China Institute, King’s College London, she delivers clear, evidence-led perspectives on risk, influence and engagement.

Her doctoral research, “The Golden Era: Sino–UK Relations 2015–2023 and Chinese Discourse Power,” offers a comprehensive analysis of China’s messaging strategy in Britain and how key stakeholders perceived its effectiveness, including why that diplomatic phase ultimately stalled. Audiences gain practical frameworks for assessing narrative power, media dynamics and policy implications.

Gemma is co-author of China Through European Eyes: 800 Years of Cultural and Intellectual Encounter (World Scientific, 2022), an annotated anthology tracing Europe’s evolving understanding of China. She also penned the foreword to the Lau China Institute Policy Series paper, How does the British media present China? (2023), and contributes analysis to international outlets, including a May 1, 2025 op-ed for the South China Morning Post on the human impact of escalating US-China tariffs.

She has discussed her work at public forums around the book’s launch with the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing, and regularly briefs audiences seeking signal amid noise on UK–China relations and Europe’s choices in a shifting order. In keynotes and boardroom sessions, Gemma equips leaders to read China’s narratives clearly, test assumptions and make confident, values-aligned decisions.