Pengshan Pan

About Me

I am a political economist specializing in globalization, the environment, and sustainable development, with a regional focus on Central Asia and Afghanistan. My research also examines China’s expanding economic footprint in Eurasia through infrastructure, trade, and resource investment.

I am currently a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). From 2023 to 2025, I served as an Assistant Professor at New Uzbekistan University and as a Research Coordinator at the Greater Eurasia Research Center (GEAR), where I conducted extensive fieldwork in Uzbekistan.

My research combines econometric analysis, field interviews, and geospatial methods, including GIS linked to household survey data. I earned my Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and hold an M.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

In 2025, I was a Visiting Scholar at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO). In 2022, I was a Research Fellow at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek and a Visiting Fellow at the TRANSECT Research Group in Germany. From 2021 to 2023, I was an Agora Fellow at the Center for Governance and Markets.