Dr Alasdair Stanton, MA, MSc (Res), PhD

I am a political science scholar specialising in Chinese domestic politics. My research applies complex systems methodologies to analyse and model the interactions between Party, State, and local officials in the selective implementation of laws and policies. This research led me to a greater appreciation of 'propaganda' or 'mass education' in the working of state bureaucracy and decision-making. I am currently working on several projects along these lines.

Having lived and worked in northern China for nearly a decade, I have developed a deep understanding of Chinese language and culture, as well as how policies, five year plans, and projects articulated by Party and government affect everyday life.

I have over twenty years of teaching experience and have written reflections on pedagogy and academic practice, which can be found here.

Details of completed and ongoing research projects are available here.

I am convinced that improving academic research requires a meaningful embrace of 'open source research' principles. I have collected some reflections on this issue here.

I have found it useful to make small software tools to help me in a number of repetitive and difficult tasks. I have collected links and explanations of what I use and why here. This section also contains practical software and thoughts on institutional policy related to LLMs, and my contribution towards more reliable AI detection strategies.