Yuzhe (Oliver) Song is a Research Assistant at the Council on International Law Order and Security (CILOS). At the Council, his work focuses on development finance, infrastructure investment, and the political economy of emerging markets, with a particular interest in how public and private capital can be mobilized to support economic development and resilience. He is also a Master in Public Policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Oliver brings experience across development finance and applied policy research. Most recently, he worked with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Moldova, supporting transactions across financial institutions, corporates, and infrastructure. He has also conducted research at Harvard’s Center for International Development on sovereign debt distress and economic sovereignty, and at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies on critical infrastructure and civil nuclear investment.

A central theme of his work is the intersection of finance, institutions, and geopolitics: how development finance institutions allocate risk and mobilize private capital, how infrastructure financing shapes economic resilience and dependency, and how investment and industrial policy interact with national development strategies. His regional interests include Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and other emerging markets. His undergraduate research examined Chinese foreign direct investment and public opinion in Kazakhstan, drawing on quantitative analysis and field interviews.

Oliver holds a B.A. in International Politics & Economics (IPE) and Russian from Middlebury College, where he graduated summa cum laude and received the Best IPE Thesis Award and the Baker Award for Best Student in Russian. He is also a Student Ambassador at Harvard’s Center for International Development and is proficient in English, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian.