Nicholas Lyall is a Yenching Scholar at the Yenching Academy of Peking University, where he is pursuing research on China’s growing involvement in global peace-building and development systems with a particular focus on the Middle East. His research focuses on Middle East affairs, conflict systems, and China in the Middle East.

Roie Yellinek earned his Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel. He is a researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, and an adjunct researcher at the IDF Dado Center. He is a specialist in the growing relationship between the Middle East and China, especially in regards to the soft power component of Chinese diplomacy.