John Seaman joined the Ifri Center for Asian Studies in October 2009, where he specializes in Chinese energy and foreign policies and broader questions of energy security and geopolitics in Asia.

In recent years his research has focused on critical raw materials – particularly rare earth elements – and Chinese and Japanese strategies to secure supplies of rare earths for their respective high-tech and energy industries. During the summer of 2011 he conducted field work in Japan with the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) and has made a number of research trips to China since 2010.

Mr. Seaman’s most recent work on energy also includes China’s efforts to develop cleaner coal technologies and shale gas in the context of the country’s broader energy policy priorities. He also conducted a study of French perceptions of Asia as part of the “Asia in the Eyes of Europe” project directed in 2010-2012 by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).

Mr. Seaman earned Bachelor’s degrees from Seattle University (International Economics; French) and a Master’s degree from Sciences Po Paris (International Affairs – International Security). In 2002-2003 he was a NSEP David L. Boren Scholar at the Beijing Center for Chinese Studies. He is also an International Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Seaman has spent a number of years studying and working in both China and Japan.