Welcome! I am a Ph.D. student in Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in comparative politics and political methodology. My current research mainly applies computational methods and statistical inference to study media capture in democratic contexts. I am also interested in repression and autocratic politics in general. My article is forthcoming at International Studies Quarterly.

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Before coming to the United States, I obtained my M.Phil. in Social Science (fully funded) and M.Sc. in Global China Studies from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Bachelor of Social Sciences (First Class Honours) in Government and International Studies from Hong Kong Baptist University (fully funded). I also studied as an exchange student at Sciences Po Paris from 2016 to 2017 and worked as a research assistant at New York University Abu Dhabi in 2021. Outside of work, I enjoy photography and traveling around the world (I have been to 27 countries so far).

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You can follow me on Twitter @ruilinlai or email me at ruilin.lai@wustl.edu.