Ben Bland is the director of the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House. His research focuses on the nexus of politics, economics and international relations in Southeast Asia, as well as on China’s growing role in the broader region and on the contours of US–China strategic competition.
He was formerly the director of the Southeast Asia programme at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think-tank. Ben is the author of two critically acclaimed books on Asian politics: Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia (Penguin Random House, 2020); and Generation HK: Seeking Identity in China’s Shadow (Penguin Random House, 2017). In his earlier career, Ben was an award-winning correspondent for the Financial Times, with postings in Hanoi, Jakarta and Hong Kong, and experience reporting across Southeast Asia and China for more than a decade.
He has an MA in Southeast Asian studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Cambridge.
Olivia O’Sullivan is the director of the UK in the World Programme at Chatham House. Before joining Chatham House, Olivia worked for over a decade in international development and foreign policy in the UK government, across roles in the former Department for International Development, the Cabinet Office and cross-government teams.
She was foreign policy lead and deputy head of the Open Innovation Team, a government research unit that translates academic evidence into policy. Her experience includes managing external expert engagement for the 2021 Integrated Review, working on the UK’s funding and policy response to the Rohingya refugee crisis, and overseeing a range of international development and humanitarian funding programmes. She has an MPhil in international relations and an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Cambridge.
Dr Chietigj Bajpaee is a senior research fellow for South Asia in the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House. Prior to joining Chatham House, he was the political risk adviser for Asia at the Norwegian energy company Equinor. He has covered Asia (with a particular focus on South Asia) for Control Risks, IHS Markit (now S&P Global), the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He has also held visiting fellowships at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and the Vivekananda International Foundation in India.
Chietigj completed his PhD at King’s College London and the National University of Singapore, with a focus on India’s ‘Act East’ policy and its relations with China. He holds a master’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and completed his undergraduate studies in economics and politics at Wesleyan University and the University of Oxford. Chietigj is the author of China in India’s Post-Cold War Engagement with Southeast Asia, published by Routledge in 2022.
