Research and Innovation Series (RIS) – Part VI: Research Security and Academic Engagement with China – Lessons from Europe

The Stockholm Center for Research and Innovation Security (SCRIS) at the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) is pleased to host the next webinar in its Research and Innovation Series (RIS), focusing on research security and international collaboration with China.

Drawing on the China-Europe Academic Engagement Tracker – a database of interactions between European academic institutions and Chinese entities created by the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and partners from the countries studied, this session will explore how European countries manage academic partnerships with Chinese institutions while balancing transparency, research security, and academic freedom. Using Sweden as a case study, the webinar will highlight broader trends, risks, and policy responses across Europe.

The event will feature presentations of the report’s findings by Christopher Peterstam, Junior Research Fellow at ISDP; Matej Šimalčík, Executive Director at CEIAS; and Adam Kalivoda, Project Coordinator at CEIAS. The presentations will be followed by a moderated discussion and Q&A session.

The discussion will be moderated by Niklas Swanström, Director of ISDP, and will explore key topics including:

• An overview of European academic engagement with China
• Sweden’s structured approach to research security and responsible internationalization
• Risk management in collaborations with Chinese entities, including defense-linked institutions
• Challenges and lessons for universities in maintaining academic openness while safeguarding sensitive research

Speakers:

Christopher Niklas Peterstam is a Junior Research Fellow at ISDP’s Asia Program. Previously, he was an intern at ISDP and is currently a master’s student at Uppsala University’s Russian and Eurasian Studies program. He comes from Miami, Florida, and is also half Swedish. He completed his bachelor’s degree in International Relations at Malmö University, where he wrote his thesis on the power dynamics between India and China in the Indian Ocean. His current master’s thesis pertains to how the Russian state frames the issue of narcotics abuse and trafficking in government statements. In the past, he has also held an internship position at the magazine Bolivian Express, where he assisted in the writing of articles as well as journalistic field work.

Matej Šimalčík is the Executive Director of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, a think tank that focuses on foreign and security policy issues related to East Asia.

Matej’s research looks at China’s economic and political presence and influence in Central Europe, elite relations, corrosive capital, and the role of European legal instruments in mitigating risks posed by China. In 2022, he founded the China-Europe Academic Engagement Tracker project, which aims to bring transparency to research collaborations with Chinese entities. He has a background in Law (Masaryk University, 2015) and International Relations (University of Groningen, 2016).

Matej gained practical legal experience as an in-house legal counsel for the Slovak branch of Transparency International, a global anti-corruption watchdog, and several Slovak and Czech law firms.

In 2021, he was listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list (Slovak edition) in the Governance and Social Innovation category. He is also a member of the Expert Pool at the European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), and the European Think-tank Network on China. In 2025, he became a visiting fellow at the Institute of National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) in Taipei under the Taiwan Fellowship program.

Adam Kalivoda is a Project Coordinator at CEIAS interested in the study of critical international relations, EU-China relations, and socio-political movements in Asia. He holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Warwick, and an MSc in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam.

 

Organized by the Stockholm Center for Research and Innovation Security (SCRIS), this webinar series aims to promote dialogue and the exchange of ideas on research and innovation, while deepening understanding of the policies and factors that shape security developments. Scholars, practitioners, and experts from diverse fields are invited to join the conversation.

Find the recordings of previous webinars in the series here.