About Dr Nikolay Murashkin

Dr Nikolay Murashkin is a scholar of Japanese foreign policy and international relations in Asia Pacific. His research interests include Japan’s development cooperation and economic statecraft, the politics of connectivity infrastructure and finance in the Indo-Pacific and Eurasia, and international politics in Northeast Asia. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge with a dissertation focusing on contemporary Japanese foreign policy in Central Asia and its involvement in various New Silk Road projects. He has conducted research as a Japan Foundation Fellow at Waseda University, Tokyo. Prior to academia, Nikolay completed a Master’s degree at Sciences Po Paris, subsequently working as an analyst in a London-based bank. Nikolay's most recent work is his monograph "Japan and the New Silk Road", published in 2020. It focuses on Japan's policies in Central Asia and covers various aspects of diplomacy, development and connectivity projects. Nikolay has also published book chapters and articles in a number of peer-reviewed journals, such as Australian Journal of International Affairs and others. He was the winner of the 1st prize of the Japan Foundation and the Association of Japanologists in his native Russia for the best academic paper on Japanese politics by a junior scholar in 2013.