Dr. Peng Zongchao is the party secretary, professor in the Institute of Social Organization and Social Governance, and director of the Center for Crisis Management Research/ Center for Social Risk Assessment in China, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University. He was a visiting scholar at Harvard Kennedy School from 2006 - 2007. He received his Ph. D. in Political Science from Peking University in 1999. During 1999-2001, he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Development Research Academy for the 21th Century of Tsinghua University, focusing on the study of China’s newly established public hearing systems. Since 2003, he has been a council member of Chinese Public Administration Association. He also became a member of the National Expert Advisory Council for Public Health Incidents of the Ministry of Health of China in 2006. He has published more than 60 papers in many influential Chinese and foreign academic journals and over 20 academic books. In 2001, his Ph. D. dissertation, “A Comparative Study of Direct Election Systems for National People’s Representative,” received an Award for its Outstanding Research from Peking University. His book on the public hearing system in China received an award from the Ministry of Education of China in 2007. In addition, Professor Peng has also attended several prominent international conferences, including the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil, 2009, the Emergency Management Conference in South Korea, 2007, the Salzburg Seminar 405 in Salzburg, 2002, the ASPA conference in Newark, 2001, and the IASIA conference in Beijing, 2000. 【Courses】Public Crisis Management and Policy-making; Traditional Theories and Practices of Governing a Country in China’s History; Public Policy Analysis; Public Policy II; the Operation of China’s Government ; the Introduction of Public Administration & Management; Political Science and Comparative Governmental Systems 【Areas of Research Interests/ Research Projects】Public policy; Public management; Comparative political science; Crisis management; Election system