Axel Berkofsky is Associate Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences University of Pavia. Axel Berkofsky is also Co-Head of the Asia Programme at the Milan-based Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI), Executive Committee Board Member at the Stockholm-based European Japan Advanced Research Network and Executive Committee member of the Canon Foundation in Europe. Previously, Dr. Berkofsky was Senior Policy Analyst and Associate Policy Analyst at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC), Research Fellow at the Brussels-based European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS). Axel Berkofsky has published books, numerous papers, articles and essays in journals, newspapers and magazines and has lectured and taught at numerous think tanks, research institutes and universities in Europe and Asia. His research interests are amongst others Chinese history, Japanese and Chinese foreign and security policies, Chinese history, Asian security and EU-Asia relations.