Dr Xu is a senior fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He is the Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economy and Politics at CASS and the Deputy Director of the Research Center for International Finance(RCIF). He received his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Northeast Normal University in China.

His research areas include China's macro economy, China-US economic and trade issues, global supply chain and value chain issues, and development financing. He has published over 80 papers and authored 11 monographs and translated 2 works. His notable works include "Reshaping the Global Industrial Chain: China's Choices," "Confronting the China-US Trade Conflict," and "China Financial Opening Report: Sensing the Temperature of Policies."

He serves as an advisor of the Ministry of Finance's International Affairs Expert Studio, a special invited survey expert for the "China's Economists Confidence Survey" conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, an non-resident fellow of the China Finance 40 Forum(CF40), an individual member of the Bretton Woods Committee,a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the World Bank's flagship report World Development Report, member of the Advisory Council of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), and an expert for panel on strategic direction of ASEAN+3 finance process(2025). Selected in 2025 as one of the 30 “Forward Thinkers” by Project Syndicate.

Tianchen Xu is Beijing-based senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit for China and Asia. Tianchen focuses on China’s economy, policy developments and its engagement with the world, tracking the US-China trade war closely. He has been a regular guest for international media, featuring on the New York Times, the South China Morning Post, Reuters and CNBC, and has spoken on events organised by USCBC, the British Chamber, and China International Contractors Association. Prior to the EIU, Tianchen worked for a number of Chinese and international firms and organisations, including the United Nations, Bloomberg and JD.com.

Robert Xiao is the Director of the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network (EICN) in Beijing. He is responsible for engaging in high-level dialogues with business and political leaders, providing insights on global macroeconomic trends and policy directions for Fortune 500 decision-makers to support their macro layout and business development in domestic and international markets.

Prior to joining EICN, Mr Xiao held positions as a lecturer, senior lecturer, PhD supervisor, and Deputy Director of the Impact Finance Hub at Monash University and Deakin Business School in Australia. His research mainly focused on the fields of corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, and economic and financial policy analysis related to the Chinese and US markets. He has authored multiple publications in Financial Times Top 50 Journals and been awarded major research grants jointly by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and Chinese Academy of Social Science.

An educator at heart, Mr Xiao has always maintained a passion for tertiary teaching. He has more than a decade of experience teaching business courses, including Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Finance, and Bachelor of Commerce programmes at leading universities.

Mr Xiao obtained his Ph.D. in Finance from Monash University and graduated with honours (B.Com. Hons) from Monash Business School in 2008 as the highest-achieving student in his cohort. He has won multiple awards from Australian universities, including the Australian Postgraduate Awards granted by the Australian Federal Government.