Yan is a Research Fellow at the School of Public Policy, having previously been an LSE Fellow in the Department of Methodology. Yan’s work mainly investigates the issue of state governance, redistribution of public goods, and public participation, she is especially interested in how actors’ agency shapes authoritarian governmentality.

Her current work investigates the effect of bureaucrats’ varied motivations and choices on the public policy and administration in authoritarian regimes. She also has multiple working papers on public policy and state politics, focusing on policy evaluation and institutional dynamics and politics.