Science Communication & Outreach

On December 26, 2019, De Standaard published an interview with me about the educational expectations of Chinese parents for their Children and the protection of biometric data of young children.

On April 16, 2021, Kanaal Z broadcasted an interview with me about China's plan to develop a large, innovation-driven, high-tech industry.

On May 31, 2021, Kanaal Z interviewed me about the introduction of the three-child policy in China.

On December 7, 2022, De Standaard published my opinion piece on the lessons from China about the need for high-quality learning environments during early childhood.

On December 7, 2022, Radio 1 invited me for an interview about the loosening up of COVID-19 restrictions in China.

On December 7, 2022, De Morgen published an article on the loosening of China's Covid-19 restrictions. The article featured a number of China experts.

On December 21, 2022, De Morgen invited me for an interview on the loosening of China's Covid-19 restrictions and the infection spike.

On December 30, 2022, De Standaard invited me for an interview on the loosening of China's Covid-19 restrictions and the infection spike.

On March 9, 2023, De Morgen published an interview on the US-China chip war.

On March 11, 2023, I was interviewed by Het Laatste Nieuws about the "Two Sessions."

On March 30, 2023, East Asia Forum published a piece on "Rural underemployment threatens China's growth" (joint with Scott Rozelle).

On March 31, 2023, the Asia Times published an article covering the problems that rural underemployment poses for China's future economic growth (joint with Scott Rozelle).

On April 29, 2023, De Morgen published an extended interview featuring my research and background.

On August 8, 2023, De Morgen published an interview on China's role in international peace negotiations.

On August 10, 2023, Radio 1 featured an interview about the state of China's economy.

On August 12, 2023, De Morgen published an article on the state of China's economy.

On August 24, 2023, Trends published an interview on the state of China's economy.

On September 9, 2023, VRT De Markt featured an interview about the state of China's economy.

On September 20, 2023, De Morgen published an interview on the popularity of Chinese and Japanese Studies in Belgium.

On September 29, 2023, Trends published an article on the presence of Chinese webshops in Europe.

On October 27, 2023, Scott Rozelle and I published a China Story on the challenges of inequality in China.

On October 29, 2023, VRT podcast "China voorbij de muur" investigated the state of China's economy.

On November 2, 2023, China Daily published a piece on the fact that Common Prosperity should start early (jointly with Scott Rozelle).

On November 15, 2023, Trends published an interview on the Biden-Xi meeting.

On December 2, 2023, De Morgen published an article on the US-China chip war.

On December 8, 2023, Radio 1 featured an interview about trade relations between Europe and China.

On January 11, 2024, De Morgen published an article discussing the visit of the Belgian prime minister to China.

On January 15, 2024, De Tijd published an opinion piece (jointly with Dr. Sara Van Hoeymissen) on China's industrial policy.

On January 20, 2024, VRT De Markt featured a documentary disussing competitive pressures from subsidized Chinese companies for the Belgian biotech sector.

I presented my work on "Tracking gender skill, education and employment from the early years to young adulthood in rural China" (joint with Qi Jiang, Yue Hou, Huan Wang, and Scott Rozelle) at the 2024 ASSA Annual Meeting in San Antonio on January 7, 2024.

I participated in a panel discussion on contacts between Europe and China as part of the Barokke Influencers lecture series in Antwerp on November 20, 2023.

I was the discussant for a session of "Lessen XXIste Eeuw" on China-Africa relations by Dr. Sara Van Hoeymissen on October 30, 2023.

I gave a presentation on economic growth and inequality in China since 1978 at the IFESE seminar on development economics on April 29, 2023, in Leuven.

I presented my work on "Dynamics of early capability formation: Evidence from a cluster-randomized parenting experiment in rural China " (joint with Renfu Luo, Sean Sylvia, and Scott Rozelle) at the 2023 ASSA Annual Meeting in New Orleans on January 8, 2023.

I presented my work on “Investing in Disadvantaged Children for Common Prosperity in China” (jointly with Scott Rozelle) at the hybrid Penn CSCC-NYU Shanghai CASER Workshop on Inequalities and Child Development on November 18, 2022.

I presented my work on “Big Data on Little People: Towards Direct Measurement of Early Skills at Scale” (jointly with Nele Warrinnier, Sean Sylvia and Scott Rozelle) at the online What Works Global Summit 2022 on October 18, 2022.

I presented my work on “Big Data on Little People: Towards Direct Measurement of Early Skills at Scale” (jointly with Nele Warrinnier, Sean Sylvia and Scott Rozelle) during an organized session on “Love, Money and Parenting in Rural China” at the 97th Annual Conference of the Western Economics Association International on June 30, 2022, in Portland, WA.

From June 20 until July 8, 2022, I participated in the Summer Bootcamp of the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions.

In Winter-Spring 2022, I co-organized a seminar series of the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions (SCCEI) on data science for social science research in China (jointly with Prashant Loyalka, Scott Rozelle and Yiwei Qian). 

I presented my work on "Dynamics of early capability formation: Evidence from a cluster-randomized parenting experiment in rural China " (joint with Renfu Luo, Sean Sylvia, and Scott Rozelle) at the Asia Impact Evaluation Conference on December 9, 2021, in Hong Kong.

I presented my work on "Dynamics of early capability formation: Evidence from a cluster-randomized parenting experiment in rural China " (joint with Renfu Luo, Sean Sylvia, and Scott Rozelle) in the Seminar on China's Social and Economic History of the KU Leuven Chinese Studies Unit on May 18, 2021.

I participated in the Falling Walls Lab Leuven on September 28, 2020, in the Kinepolis in Leuven. 

I presented the paper "Using community health workers to deliver a scalable early childhood development program in rural China: A cluster-randomized controlled trial" (joint work with Renfu Luo, Scott Rozelle, and Sean Sylvia) at the informal Public-Health-Labor seminar of the Faculty of Economics and Business (KU Leuven) on April 20, 2020. 

I presented the paper "Can a Government-led Parenting Training Program Work? Evidence from a Cluster-randomized Controlled Trial in Rural China" (joint work with Yu Bai, Ying Li, Chuyu Susan Song, and Lei Tang) at the work group seminar of the Center of Experimental Economics in Education (CEEE), Shaanxi Normal University in Xi’an, China, on December 13, 2019. 

I presented the paper "Using Community Health Workers to Deliver a Scalable Early Childhood Development Program in Rural China: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial" (joint work with Renfu Luo, Nele Warrinnier, Scott Rozelle and Sean Sylvia) at the Graduate Summer Workshop of KU Leuven’s Department of Economics in Leuven, Belgium, on August 6, 2019. 

I presented the paper "Impact of the Agri-Environmental Scheme of the Common Agricultural Policy on Agricultural Employment" (joint work with Maria Garrone, Hyejin Lee, Alessandro Olper and Jo Swinnen) at 172th Seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE) in Brussels, Belgium, on May 28, 2019. 

I presented the paper "Using Community Health Workers to Deliver a Scalable Integrated Parenting Program in Rural China: A Cluster-randomized Controlled Trial" at a research seminar of the Center of Experimental Economics in Education (CEEE) at Shaanxi Normal University, China, on November 12, 2018. 

I presented the paper "Using Community Health Workers to Deliver a Scalable Integrated Parenting Program in Rural China: A Cluster-randomized Controlled Trial" at the Spring Meeting of Young Economists (SMYE) at the University of the Balearic Islands in Palma, Spain, on May 30, 2018.