Personal information
Biography
Catherine Owen is Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (Cornwall) at the University of Exeter. Previously, she was British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Politics, University of Exeter (2017-2021). She completed her PhD in October 2014 at the University of Exeter. The project was entitled 'Obshchestvennyi Kontrol'' (Public Scrutiny) from Discourse to Action in Contemporary Russia: The Emergence of Authoritarian Neoliberal Governance' and examined discourses and practices of civic engagement in governance during the Putin era.
Between 2013 and 2015, Catherine worked on the ESRC-funded project at Exeter, 'Rising Powers and Conflict Management in Central Asia' as Associate Research Fellow. This enabled her to cultivate an interest in the international politics of Central Asia, with a focus on local engagements between Central Asian and Chinese actors through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Following her PhD, she spent two years as a Lecturer of Central Asian Studies in the Department of History and Civilization at Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China, where she remains affiliated as Visiting Professor.
Catherine has held Visiting Fellowships at the European University at St Petersburg (2011-2012), Fudan University Shanghai (2017), the St Petersburg branch of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (2018), and the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki (2019).
In 2023, she was appointed Visiting Professor at the Institute of International and Area Studies, Tsinghua University, where she currently spends the Autumn semester, teaching the foundational PhD-level course, 'Introduction to Area Studies'.
Catherine has published over 20 peer reviewed journal articles in a variety of leading Area Studies, Comparative Politics and International Relations journals, including Slavic Review, Government and Opposition, China Quarterly, Review of International Studies, European Journal of International Relations, Third World Quarterly and British Journal of Politics and International Relations. She has co-edited one volume, 'Interrogating Illiberal Peace in Eurasia' (Rowman and Littlefield 2018), and has published numerous policy papers, commentaries and book reviews.
In January 2020, she became a Fellow of the UK's Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
She speaks fluent French, German and Russian, and conversational Chinese.