Biography

Tayyab Safdar completed his MPhil and PhD in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge. His research explores the evolving dynamics of South-South Development Cooperation, with the rise of emerging powers in the developing world like China and India. His research also looks at the implications of increasing Chinese investment in developing countries that are a part of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), like Pakistan. Using evidence through in-depth fieldwork from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Tayyab is especially interested in understanding the rules and incentives that inform the interaction between Chinese stakeholders and elite actors in Pakistan. Tayyab’s research has been published in the Journal of Contemporary Asia, Journal of Development Studies, and Energy for Sustainable Development. In 2022, he gave testimony before the US-China Economic and Review Commission on China’s response to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and China’s engagement with Pakistan.

Tayyab was the inaugural BRI Post-Doctoral researcher at the Department of Politics & East Asia Center UVA. Prior to joining UVA, Tayyab was a Newton Trust Post-Doctoral researcher at the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge.