Weishen Zeng

Weishen Zeng works on the intersection of international development, international relations, and social anthropology. His research is centred on the politics of development; the politics of climate change; state theories, and the political economy of China.

In his DPhil research, entitled ‘Development, a Development Bank, and a Development Project in Zhanatas, Kazakhstan’, Weishen critically examines a development bank to reveal how the notion of ‘green development’ can be deployed to legitimise and depoliticise the expansion of states and the expansion of development institutions. Chapters of the thesis have been published in Development Studies and Climate Studies journals (see Development and Change, 2025; Climate Policy, 2024).

Alongside DPhil research, he has written on the politics of climate change and energy transition. This includes two main themes. One is the changing state power under the conditions of energy transition. The second is the political, social, economic, and even ecological on-the-ground effects of state-backed green energy projects, especially in the Global South context (see Energy Research & Social Science, 2024). 

The impact of Weishen’s research extends beyond the academic. He researched for a variety of institutions, including development institutions, the Chinese ministries, and private capital. He has years of experience conducting fieldwork in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and China’s border areas. In 2019, Weishen was awarded a Yenching Scholar. 

His research is funded by the Sino-British Fellowship Trust, Oxford Department of International Development, and St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. Weishen reviews for the Journal of Development Studies, Third World Quarterly, and Climate Policy, among others.

Weishen is a Politics Tutor at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford and an Associate DPhil at the University of Oxford China Centre.