She is the author of Assessing China’s Naval Power: Technological Innovation, Economic Constraints, and Strategic Implications. Sarah Kirchberger holds an MA and a PhD in Sinology from the University of Hamburg.

Before joining the faculty of the Asia-Africa-Institute at the University of Hamburg as Assistant Professor of Contemporary China in 2010, she had served for three years as a naval analyst with shipbuilder Blohm + Voss, charged with analysing naval developments worldwide in cooperation with technical departments and naval sales executives. Originally trained as a specialist of Chinese Communist Party history, during her studies Sarah Kirchberger began researching China’s naval development during 2011, and has since continued to focus on related topics. Other current research interests include domestic Chinese reform discourses within the CCP, military-technological cooperation between China, Russia and Ukraine, as well as the strategic importance of the South China Sea for China’s military planners, and China’s space and naval strategy.