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06/30/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/30/2026 14:27

Margaret Roberts Named Director of UC San Diego’s 21st Century China Center

Published Date

June 30, 2026

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Margaret (Molly) Roberts has been appointed director of the 21st Century China Center at the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. Her new role is effective July 1, 2026.

Roberts is an internationally recognized scholar whose work focuses on digital politics, information, China and U.S.-China relations. She holds a Chancellor's Associates Endowed Chair at UC San Diego and is a professor of political science dually appointed in the School of Social Sciences and the School of Global Policy and Strategy.

As director of the 21st Century China Center, Roberts will oversee one of the nation's top academic research hubs on China. As a university-based think tank, the center is also a convener of important policy discussions impacting U.S.-China relations. The center's mission is to develop and disseminate impactful, evidence-based research about China and to enhance U.S.-China mutual understanding by advancing scholarly collaboration, convening policy discussions and actively communicating with policymakers and the general public in both countries.

"Professor Roberts is a pioneer whose research on China has fundamentally reshaped how we understand the power of information in politics and society," said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. "Her leadership comes at a critical juncture of U.S.-China relations, when rigorous research and thoughtful dialogue are more essential than ever. We eagerly anticipate how she will build on the 21st Century China Center's strong foundation and amplify its influence across our region and around the world."

Roberts succeeds Victor Shih, who led the center from 2023 to 2026. Shih will continue as a key member of the center and assume leadership of GPS's Master of Chinese Economic and Political Affairs (MCEPA) program.

"Molly is an outstanding scholar whose work has brought rigor, data and evidence to some of the most important questions facing contemporary China," said Caroline Freund, dean of the School of Global Policy and Strategy. "She has been deeply engaged with the 21st Century China Center, and I am thrilled that she will now lead it. I am also grateful to Victor Shih for his many contributions to the Center's success over the years, and I look forward to the new chapter ahead under Molly's leadership."

Roberts is a fellow of the Society for Political Methodology and the recipient of numerous book and research awards, including the Max Planck-Humboldt Research Award in 2022. Her research on digital politics, information control, media and public opinion has been published in top journals, including Nature (2026) and PNAS (2024). She has co-developed widely used software packages and patented methods for computational text analysis. Her latest book is "Text as Data: A New Framework for Machine Learning and the Social Sciences."

Roberts earned her Ph.D. in government from Harvard University following master's and bachelor's degrees from Stanford. Since joining UC San Diego in 2014, Roberts has played leadership roles in several initiatives at the 21st Century China Center, including co-directing the China Data Lab and directing the "China from the Ground Up" survey project.

The 21st Century China Center was founded by GPS research professor and former U.S. State Department official Susan Shirk in 2011. The center organizes and funds research on China and U.S.-China relations, spanning leadership politics, economic and industrial policy, society and public opinion, climate and environment, and science, technology and innovation. It holds public lectures, research seminars and conferences in addition to producing policy studies and convening policy discussions throughout the year.

"I feel privileged to lead such a distinguished group of scholars studying many different aspects of China and the U.S.-China relationship," Roberts said. "The center has spent more than a decade promoting rigorous analysis on China, convening policy discussions and building dialogue across the Pacific and between academia, policy, business and the public. The work ahead is to build on this incredible foundation at a moment where rigorous evidence-based analysis of China has never been more needed."

Learn more about the center on the 21st Century China Center website.

Margaret Roberts holds a Chancellor's Associates Endowed Chair at UC San Diego and is a professor of political science dually appointed in the School of Social Sciences and the School of Global Policy and Strategy.
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