Thiago P B Bessimo

Education

Hertie School - PhD in Governance
09.2023 - Present · Berlin

• Doctoral research on foreign policy elites in middle powers and the determinants of middle power alignment with great powers, using NLP, network analysis, and an embedding of the international system. Expected submission: September–October 2026.

FGV, EBAPE - MSc in Administration
10.2021 - 09.2023 · Rio de Janeiro

• Graduate thesis: Brazil's China Policy: From Cardoso to Bolsonaro

Peking University, Yenching Academy - MA in China Studies, International Relations and Politics
09.2016 - 07.2018 · Beijing

• Graduate thesis: The Impact of China's Rise on the International System: A Study of China's Approach to United Nations Security Council Reform

La Salle University - RJ - BA in International Relations
03.2011 - 07.2015 · Niterói

• Exchange semester, 2014 - De La Salle University, Manila

Publications

Peer–reviewed articles

• Bessimo, T. P. B., & Amorim Neto, O. (2024). The Brazilian Extreme–Right and China. Journal of Politics in Latin America.

Policy briefs

• Coelho, A., Souza, C., Mitake, F., Moreno de Farias, M., Araripe, T., & Bessimo, T. P. B. (2024). Digital Currencies in the Developing World: Coordinating and Sandboxing CBDCs. Global Solutions Initiative / Think20 (T20), G20 Brazil 2024. Written as part of Observa China.

Experience

Co–Founder - Observa China 观中国
01.2020 - Present · Beijing - Rio de Janeiro - Berlin

• Institutional Director until 02.2026
• Lead strategy, operations, representation, and communications
• Built the website and the research, impact, and non–profit business model
• Direct engagement with stakeholders

Research Assistant, Prof. Octavio Amorim Neto - FGV, EBAPE
07.2022 - 12.2022 · Rio de Janeiro

• Part of the research team building the dataset behind Amorim Neto & Accorsi(2023), The Political Behavior of Defense Ministers: A Study of Portugal, 1976–2015
• Designed and standardised the coding schemas for the data–collection process
• Carried out data collection and hand–coding of biographical data on government ministers in Latin America, using web–scraping and manual entry
• Performed data cleaning in Python

Content Analyst - ByteDance (TopBuzz News App)
08.2018 - 06.2020 · Beijing

• Content curation, fact–checking, news briefings, and text analysis
• Applied Python NLP packages to determine sentiment and understand user behaviour on news articles in Brazil
• Analysed article and video performance using SQL, Python, and Google Sheets
• Built a team dashboard with detailed insights on app performance
• Edited and translated articles, press releases, and in–app content

Development Intern, Young Ambassadors Program - Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy
06.2017 - 08.2017 · Beijing

• Identified and devised strategies for corporate and philanthropic sponsorship
• Member of the Carnegie Alumni Network

Research Assistant Intern - CEBRI (Brazilian Centre for International Relations)
08.2013 - 11.2013 · Rio de Janeiro

• Assisted policy research projects and proofread pre–publications

Skills

• Programming: Python, TypeScript, R, SQL
• Methods: Data visualisation, statistics, advanced text analysis / NLP, network analysis
• Tools: Excel, Google Sheets

Languages

• Portuguese (native)
• English (fluent - TOEFL iBT 111)
• French (intermediate)
• Spanish (intermediate)
• Chinese (basic)
• German (basic)

Continued education

University of Oxford - Oxford Spring School in Advanced Research Methods
04.2024 · Oxford

• Course on text analysis, using computational methods to count, measure, and analyse text

PKU–UChicago International Policy Action Lab - Policy Analysis, Summer School
06.2020 - 08.2020 · Beijing

• Capstone project visualising COVID–19 and mask mandates in US counties using R statistical and data–visualisation packages

Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV–EAESP) - Political Risk Analysis, Winter School
06.2016 - 07.2016 · São Paulo

Awards

Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV–EBAPE) - CAPES Scholarship
01.2022 - 07.2023 · Rio de Janeiro

• Scholarship holder for the MSc in Administration

Peking University - Yenching Academy Scholarship
09.2016 - 07.2018 · Beijing

• Selected as one of 124 scholars for the second cohort of the China Studies programme

Brazilian Naval Academy - UN Model Simulation
10.2015 · Rio de Janeiro

• Awarded Best Analyst for analysis of the East Asian Summit