CAO Jiahan is a Senior Researcher at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS). Since 2015, he has been co-executive editor of the China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies (CQISS), the flagship journal of SIIS. CAO received his Ph.D. in History in 2011 from Fudan University. In September 2008-January 2009, CAO was studying at National Taiwan University (NTU) as an exchange student, and he also had research and training experiences at several world renowned think thanks, including Hoover Institution, Stanford University (June-August 2009), German Institute of Development and Sustainability (July-September 2014), Stockholm Environment Institute (October-December 2014) and Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI-APCSS) in Honolulu, Hawaii (February-March 2017).

CAO’s research interests include energy and environment policies of the United States and the European Union, the synergy between China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and great power relations in Central Eurasia. His most recent publications are: CAO Jiahan, Cui yan, "Sustainability Standards in Global Technological Revolution: What’s the Implications for China?" (in Chinese), Global Review, March 2022; CAO Jiahan, "Recalibrating China-U.S. Climate Cooperation in the Trump Era: Challenges and Opportunities" (in English), China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies, Volume 4, No.1, July 2018; CAO Jiahan, "Chinese Companies Need 'Code of Conduct' Overseas" (in English), China Dialogue, September 2016, https://www.chinadialogue.org.cn/article/show/single/en/9272-Chinese-companies-need-code-of-conduct-overseas; CAO Jiahan, "Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in China’s Belt and Road Initiative" (in Chinese), Global Review, May 2016; CAO Jiahan, “Lend-Lease Aid and China-US Relations during the WWII” (Monograph, in Chinese), Oriental Publishing House, Shanghai, July 2015; Juan Carlos Mendoza, CAO Jiahan, "Making Local Work for the Global Best: Comparative Study on Vehicle Efficiency Standards Implementation in China and Mexico" (in English), “Managing Global Governance” research project paper (Bonn, Germany), May 2015; CAO Jiahan, "Addressing Geopolitical Challenges of Climate Change in Central Asia: Roles of China, Russia and the EU" (in English), “Managing Global Governance” study project report (Bonn, Germany / Stockholm, Sweden), December 2014.