About

Welcome! This is Evelyn, Zihan Zhu.

I’m a PhD student in Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park with a primary field in International Relations and a secondary field in Comparative Politics.

Prior to beginning doctoral studies, I was awarded Honors Bachelor of Arts by the University of Toronto, St. George’s in June 2019, and received Master of Social Sciences from the University of Macau in June 2023.

I currently study the following mega theme: the politics of aid. Specifically, I look at how states’ foreign policy agenda shape their aid policy, how middle powers leverage on their rotating leadership in prominent IOs to induce foreign policy alignment via aid disbursement, and how successful such policies have been. I have a country-specific focus on Japan due to its uniqueness among democracies. I also take some interest in electoral politics (e.g., political dynasties), and the emerging trend of global authoritarianism. I have been working as Research Assistant to faculty on projects broadly defined in the field of International Relations.

As a political scientist in an early career stage, I tend to keep things open. I’m also gradually building my CV and other relevant materials.

Beyond my professional profile, I’m a dog person and a J-pop fan.