Bernhard Bartsch is Director External Relations of MERICS. He oversees MERICS’s membership program, stakeholder management, fellowships, events and strategic convening. His research focuses on German and European China policy, economic and business relations, China’s role as a global actor and scenario planning.

Before joining MERICS, Bernhard headed the Asia Program at Bertelsmann Stiftung, where he published numerous studies and established various strategy development and conference formats. From 1999 to 2013, Bernhard lived in Beijing, working as East Asia Correspondent for major German-language media, including Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Wirtschaftswoche, Frankfurter Rundschau and the business magazine brand eins. Bernhard studied sinology, economics, politics and journalism in Hamburg, Beijing and London.