Our Team

A GTAsia associate with a focus on intellectual property in East Asia, Anton has published works on the impact of China’s industrial upgrading policies on global trade governance, the domestic politics of capital account liberalization in China, and China’s relationship with the International Monetary Fund and regional financial governance arrangements. Anton’s current research examines the impact of China’s industrial policies on Chinese multinational firms’ acquisition of foreign-owned technology assets and China’s financing of emerging technologies through venture capital.

Anton is currently an Assistant Professor in Global Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

Dr. Sakura Yakasaki brings a wealth of expertise and experience in the energy field. She is currently Managing Director of the Singapore Solar Exchange (SSE), the world’s first online portal designed specially to facilitate the trading of solar cells, wafers and polysilicon on the open market. SSE also produces a widely read and highly respected weekly digest of news and activities in the solar space.

Before joining SSE, Sakura was Head of Research/Business Development for Ginga Petroleum, the holding company for the Ginga Group and the broking arm for the physical markets in LPG, Naphtha and Coal. Prior to that she was Research Fellow at the National Foundation for Scientific Research (FNRS), Belgium. She was awarded her PhD at the Université catholique de Louvain, France, specializing in Nuclear Energy Policies.

Fluent in English, French and Japanese, Sakura is frequently retained for her expertise to the field of solar energy, including technology and project assessment and sourcing, and is well connected into the Japanese energy sector.

Denea is a policy professional skilled in research, data analytics, and communication, with home bases at either end of the Asia Pacific: in Vancouver, Canada, and Sydney, Australia. She provides proven expertise in Canada-Asia trade and innovation relations, and sustainable development policy. In her work as a research fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, she focused on the role of green and emerging technologies in regional trade and investment, and innovation as an important component of Canada’s export strategy. She has also worked as a small-service contractor for the David Suzuki Foundation, contributor to the survey design team for the 2016 Canada-ASEAN Business Council Forum, and short-term data analyst for the Inter-American Development Bank. Denea received both her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. She is completing her Juris Doctor at the University of Sydney in 2020, where she has spent three years working in both legal publications and legal tech solutions.

GTAsia Senior Research Associate, Craig is a multi-lingual (Mandarin Chinese, French, Swedish) trained economist who has specialised in strategic policy and innovation issues for over four decades, in both Canada’s Foreign Service and in the private sector.

His career in Canada’s Foreign Service included four assignments in greater China (Chongqing, Taipei, Beijing, Hong Kong) and an enviable record of geo-strategic and economic policy work, including experience in WTO, UN, and APEC. Craig contributed to the Canadian Government’s 2007 Trade Strategy and currently participates in the Ottawa Foresight Synergy Network. He  was the co-facilitator and writer for the 2018 North Korea War Strategy Scenarios with various Canadian Government Departments and Agencies. In his consulting work, he has had a strong China technology policy focus, including acting head of the China 937 project 2012-16. He has successfully guided consulting clients in both Canada and the U.S. towards more efficient Chinese technology choices and stronger service support.

He was the co-author of ‘China’s Innovation Capacity 2030-2040 and the implications for Canada’, commissioned by Canada’s National Research Council.  

Craig has Bachelors in Business Admin from UNB, Bachelor in Economics (scl) UNB, Chinese diploma cert Chinese University in Hong Kong. He received an Award of Merit for the Innovation portion of 2007 Trade Strategy.

Michelle Kadzirange (she/her) was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe. She recently completed a BA in Geography (Environment and Sustainability) from UBC. Throughout her studies she has focused on topics in feminist, political and urban geography. Her research has largely involved examining the geopolitical implications of various issues such as climate change, privatisation of water management in African countries, the role of Artificial Intelligence in global policymaking, along with sociospatial segregation in cities in the Global South. As such, her policy interests include how institutions and states can provide long-term sustainable environmental policies that address the intersectional impacts of climate change. In particular, she would like to focus on how environmental policies can empower women in marginalised communities and across low-income countries through climate change resiliency.

Michelle’s long-term professional goals are to work under international organisations and additionally, work as a consultant with the environmental public sector. Having directly seen the effects of climate change on women reliant on agriculture, she strives to give back to this community. In doing so, she can give back to those who have made it possible for her to embark on such critical endeavours.

Originally from Japan, Mana received her bachelor’s degree in International Relations from International Christian University in Tokyo. She also participated in a summer session at the University of California, Berkeley and a year-long study abroad program at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. During her undergraduate degree, she focused her studies primarily on development challenges in Asia and wrote her senior thesis on China’s development assistance in Sri Lanka. Her interest in the intersection between technology and social change led her to join IBM Japan as a consultant after graduation, where she spent over three years working on various projects focusing on human capital management. She has experience in supporting global HR operations for multinational corporate clients using cloud-based technology and most recently served as a project manager.

Through the MPPGA program, she intends to expand her understanding of the development challenges facing our society and hone her skills in effective policy-making.

Maira completed her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the University of British Columbia with a minor in Law and Society in the spring of 2021. She believes that public policy is especially impactful when it is utilized as a tool to connect multidisciplinary issues such as climate migration and participatory democracy. She has worked with Elections Canada as a voting officer, and developed an interactive website tracking the 2019 Federal Elections as well. After researching global issues throughout her Bachelor’s, and visiting her home country of Pakistan, she developed an interest for the intersection of public policy and human security. She has competed in the Canadian Undergraduate Public Policy Competition developing a policy proposal that incentivizes climate adaptation within British Columbia’s housing sector’s infrastructure policies. Her ongoing volunteer work with refugees and underprivileged women further inspired her to tackle policies that account for forced displacement and resettlement.

Maira is pursuing an MPPGA degree so she has the tools and knowledge to bridge the gap between human migration and climate change, aiming to influence relevant policy at the local level in South-East Asia and globally.

Shifa Thobani (she/her) is a Biotechnology Engineer by training and has over 3.5 years of work experience in the space of social development and policy implementation in India. She has worked with the Chief Minister’s Office, State Government of Maharashtra where she had led public-private partnerships and technology driven projects towards implementation of policies in the tribal geographies. She was also a Youth For India Fellow with Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India), where she had developed sustainable menstrual hygiene management and solid-liquid waste management initiatives under Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission). In her latest stint, she developed an e-commerce platform to market and sell the products of rural and indigenous artisans across India. She was also selected for Jagriti Yatra and Anubhav Lecture Series by the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago. Voluntarily, Shifa also serves at the Aga Khan Education and Economic & Planning Boards, under the aegis of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). Shifa is the first generation of her family to attend University and therefore pursuing a graduate degree is of utmost importance to her.

She wishes to build a legacy and empower other first-generation learners, especially women from low income Muslim communities who she aspires to mentor in the future. Through the MPPGA Program at UBC, she aims to understand, conceptualize, formulate and implement policies better. Rural development (specifically in India)- both social and economic, identifies as her current interest and that she aims to serve UBC.