Research & Advisory

Delivering Culturally Embedded Impact Reporting/Benchmark (2023- now)

Is the UN Global Compact truly global? 

While businesses worldwide tout sustainability commitments, recent reports tell a different story: only 6% of traceable investments reach low- and middle-income markets, and a mere 1% can verify their impact with credible indicators. 

This is not just a market inefficiency—it’s a missed opportunity for inclusive, long-term sustainability. 

Together with policy, industrial, investing and academic leading actors, I am motivated to develop Culturally Engaging, Credible and Comparable Impact Indicators (3C Principle) that are credible to investors and acceptable to suppliers. 

Output
Explore our first report here: ESG Liability for Southern Companies and How to Address Its Consequences: A Dual Strategy

Assessing Corporate Due Diligence Duties (2023- now)

Our Solutions

• Context-Sensitive Indicators: Develop Impact KPIs that take input from suppliers seriously.

• Culturally Effective Engagement: Lead engagement meetings with industrial associations and assurance firms to promote transparency in corporate strategy and operation. 

Collaborating with ESG leading specialists, including:

• Nankai BHR Centre, China Textile Export Alliance and Shengchi ESG Institute.

• A global information tech company with a 34.4% market share in its product category.

• A global heavy industry equipment giant.

• A top-tier ESG assurance firm.

Output

• C. Qiao: European ESG Requirements and Their Role in Driving Sustainable Sino-European Corporate Relations, in the ESG Red Book: Handbook on Corporate Sustainable Developments (ed. Shengchi ESG Institute), the Law Press China, 2025 (forthcoming).

• C. Qiao and T. Zwart: The Adverse Consequences of Corporate Sustainability Duties for Southern Businesses and Impact Investors, Journal of the Right to Development, 2025 Special Issue (forthcoming).

Digitalisation of Court Procedures and Judicial Automation:
A Comparative Study of Europe, Brazil and China (2020- now)

Cross-jurisdictional Problem
The rapid digitalisation of court procedures and the integration of AI technologies in justice systems present both significant opportunities and challenges. However, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of how AI regulatory frameworks in Europe and Asia shape e-justice systems and their impacts on access to justice.

Output

• Qiao, Cong-rui and Metikoš, Ljubiša, Judicial Automation: Balancing Rights Protection and Capacity-Building (February 05, 2025). Elgar Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Law, Forthcoming 2026, ISBN 9781035333158:https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5125645

• A cross-national analysis of the emerging right to explanation under AI regulatory developments in the EU, China and Brazil (with the Information Law Institute in Amsterdam).

C. Qiao et al: The Xi Administration and Governance Reforms, the 23rd Conference of European Association for Chinese Studies (Leipzig, Germany). https://conference.uni-leipzig.de/eacs2020/timetable/event/late-breaking-session-i/ 

• the ‘Pilot Zones for Big Data Integration’ have been set up in both developed regions (e.g. Beijing and Tianjin) and underdeveloped ones (such as Guizhou) in China that are experimenting with the utilisation of economic and social big data to optimise government decisions. 

In light of these developments in China, we examine major normative and instrumental changes to the judicial system and the government since 2015 and assess the extent to which they have ensured fairness in the decision-making processes.

C Qiao & Y Cai (forthcoming). "How Do Chinese Universities Perceive Evolving Global and Internal Conditions for EU-China Academic Collaboration?" in the commissioned policy-oriented research titled "Changing perspectives: towards conditions for sustainable EU-China collaboration", 2023-2024: https://mailchi.mp/f78914bf1547/ckn-invitation-knowledge-session-taiwanese-perspectives-on-russias-war-in-ukraine-5177501?e=f52e1da6af

• This report offers a focused analysis of how experts on Chinese higher education perceive the evolving global and domestic context for China’s international collaboration, as well as their attitudes towards responses from the Chinese government and universities. What sets this research apart is its reliance on an expert survey to capture the perceptions of individuals with experience working at or with Chinese universities.

C Qiao et al. (2024). "Research security in the EU: tensions between security and equal treatment", in the EASST &4S 2024 Conference panel The geopolitical races of science, technology and innovation. https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easst-4s2024/paper/84525 

C Qiao: Historical and Comparative Analyses of the Rule of Law Concepts and Mechanisms, in the Cross-Cultural Human Rights Centre at the Free University of Amsterdam, where I led the research project on the rule of law in Global South and developed bachelor and master courses built on research output at VU and UvA.

•  I regularly delivered presentations at the South-South Human Rights Forum in Beijing, during which I elucidated the conceptual and procedural advancements in Europe that hold public authorities accountable to the law and discussed the potential relevance of these developments for the Chinese legislature and administrative decision-makers. 

http://p.china.org.cn/2019-12/11/content_75500985_20.htm

C. Qiao (2021): “Legal Control of the Chinese Government: Rules and Procedures”, in the book China and the World: Language, Culture, Politics Vol. 2 (ed. by: Paweł Zygadło and Alexander Alexiev), the Sofia University Press, p.p. 89-97: https://sinology.uni-sofia.bg/images/publications/proceedings/china%20and%20the%20world%20-%20volume%202%20-%20updated%20digital%20edition.pdf 

C. Qiao: “Su Li: The Constitution of Ancient China”, book review, the Cross-Cultural Human Rights Review, 2019, Vol.1:1, p.p 205-209:
https://cchrr-journal.org/articles/33/files/submission/proof/33-1-63-1-10-20210405.pdf 

C. Qiao: Constitutional Amendments to China’s Presidency and Supervisory Commissions, April 2018, by the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Judicial Administration. https://blog.montaignecentre.com/en/constitutional-amendments-to-chinas-presidency-and-supervisory-commissions/ 

C. Qiao: “Jurisprudent Shift in China: A Functional Interpretation”, the Asian Journal of Economics and Law, 2017, Vol. 8, Issue 1. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2987876 

C. Qiao: Emerging Role of Expert Opinions in Chinese Criminal Justice, April 2017, by the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Judicial Administration.
https://blog.montaignecentre.com/en/emerging-role-of-expert-opinions-in-chinese-criminal-justice/ 

C. Qiao: “On Discrepancy and Synergy between China and the International Criminal Court”, the Cambridge Journal of China Studies, 2016, Vol. 11, No. 4.
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/5d79be39-650f-4f60-8c93-255c22de34e5 

C. Qiao: Duality or Complementarity? The Political and Legal Orientations of the Chinese Petitioning Mandate, by the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Judicial Administration. https://blog.montaignecentre.com/en/duality-or-complementarity%ef%bc%9fthe-political-and-legal-orientations-of-the-chinese-petitioning-mandate-2/ 

T. Zwart, C.Qiao, et. al.: “Safeguarding the Universal Acceptance of Human Rights through Receptor Approach”, the Human Rights Quarterly, 2014, 36 (4), pp. 899 -905. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24518303 

C. Qiao: Chinese Rules and Measure for Dealing with Labour Actions, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (Bertha Global Fellowship 2013).
https://www.ecchr.eu/fr/affaire/?tx_ecchr_case%5Baction%5D=show&tx_ecchr_case%5Bcases%5D=145&tx_ecchr_case%5Bcontroller%5D=Cases&cHash=3a9c22e84e9d6637dc9234c1e89896f0 

C.Qiao (2024): Chinese Rules and Procedures for Addressing Mass Actions: A Juridification Account, Springer Nature, August 2024. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-62201-4.

• Is the Chinese governance model truly "rule-less"? 🤔

In 2019, a striking 25% of court rulings against government conduct in China favoured the complaining parties —four times more than in 2010. This paradox—China’s political singularity coexisting with government accountability—has left many puzzled.

My book unpacks the dynamics between Chinese citizens and the government, showing how legislative, administrative and judicial authorities address collective grievances. It is for everyone—researchers, students, policymakers, and anyone curious about the intricacies of Chinese state-society and government-citizen interactions! 

C.Qiao: From Judicial Passiveness towards Assertiveness: On the Rise of Substantive Court Review on Government Conducts in China, China Review (Johns Hopkins University), under revision:

• It examines legal control of the government in contemporary China (the 1990s to now), focusing on the formalisation and application of the principles of transparency, impartiality and proportionality by Chinese courts.

C.Qiao: Chinese Rules for Imposing Joint Credit Sanction on the Trust Breaker: A Procedural Analysis, Asia Pacific Law Review Special Issue (expected 2024):

• It examines the relevance of accountability rules in the credit sanction decision and appeal procedures in China.