The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University is proud to announce the appointment of Sophie Richardson as a Visiting Scholar. Dr. Richardson, a longtime activist and scholar of Chinese politics, human rights, and foreign policy, will be in residence with the Center through December 2024.

From 2006 to 2023, Dr. Richardson served as the China Director at Human Rights Watch, spearheading the organization's research and advocacy efforts. She has published extensively on human rights and testified to the Canadian Parliament, European Parliament, and the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Dr. Richardson is the author of China, Cambodia, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Columbia University Press, Dec. 2009), an in-depth examination of China's foreign policy since 1954's Geneva Conference, including rare interviews with Chinese policymakers.

Dr. Richardson speaks Chinese and earned her doctorate from the University of Virginia and her BA from Oberlin College. Her current research focuses on the global implications of democracies’ weak responses to increasingly repressive Chinese governments, and she is advising several China-focused human rights organizations.

During her tenure at Stanford, Dr. Richardson will embark on individual research endeavors while focusing on completing her forthcoming book project, titled "Great Changes Unseen in a Century: How to Save Democracy and Human Rights from Xi Jinping."