William Matthews

Senior Research Fellow, Asia-Pacific Programme

William Matthews headshot

Biography

Dr William Matthews is Senior Research Fellow for China and the World in the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House. He is an expert in China’s foreign relations, specializing in the geopolitical implications of China as a rising power, including technological competition, China–US and China–Global South relations, and UK China strategy.  

He was formerly Director of Geopolitical Research at UK AI company Adarga, and prior to that taught China in comparative perspective at the London School of Economics.


He completed his PhD in Anthropology at University College London, focusing on the relationship between worldviews and reasoning in Chinese popular religion. He studied advanced Mandarin and classical Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University and holds an undergraduate degree in anthropology from UCL.

William is the author of a book, Cosmic Coherence (Berghahn, 2022), on Chinese belief systems and social theory, as well as numerous research reports and scholarly articles on China. 

Past experience

2023-24Director of Geopolitical Research, Adarga 
2022-23Director of Research, Evenstar Institute 
2018-22Fellow in the Anthropology of China, London School of Economics and Political Science 
2015-17Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, University College London 
2012-16PhD Anthropology, University College London