Christy Un is a program associate in Ford’s Beijing office. She supports research, strategy evaluation, and programmatic management across the team.

Prior to joining the foundation, Christy worked at the intersection of development finance analysis, inclusive digital transformation research, and policy advocacy across intergovernmental organizations, think tanks, and NGOs. As a research & operations officer at Global Nation, she oversaw organizational matters and conducted research on development topics ranging from the migration-development nexus to AI-driven advocacy for the social sector. She also worked as a visiting research assistant at the United Nations University Institute in Macau, where she co-authored publications on citizen-centered cyber resilience and delivered capacity-building workshops for local nonprofits. Her experience co-founding a sustainable development advocacy NGO in Macau named Genervision House—where she launched advisory services for all sectors of society and disseminated public policy recommendations—was pivotal in discovering her commitment to social justice.

Christy holds a master’s degree in global affairs from Tsinghua University, where she was a Schwarzman Scholar, and she holds a bachelor of science in politics and international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She was also a fellow under the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum’s Young Leaders’ Initiative, focusing on China’s de-dollarization trend in the region.