John Njenga Karugia is researcher at the De:Link // Re:Link research consortium at the Humboldt University of Berlin. His research focuses on the impact of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Europe, Africa and Asia. De:Link // Re:Link aims to demonstrate the importance of area studies for knowledge production, communication and dissemination in a world increasingly characterized by uncontrolled digitization and fragmented knowledge. Engaging the notion of “link”, it specifically takes local perspectives and new dimensions of knowledge into focus: Local Insights and New Knowledges. The term “local” in this research project does not only include spatial but also, and even more so, relational components. He was formerly a researcher at the Inter-Centre-Programme on new African-Asian Interactions (AFRASO – Africa’s Asian Options) at Goethe University, Frankfurt where his research engaged with the Indian Ocean as a memory space as well as with ‘Indian Ocean Imaginaries’. AFRASO analyzed the complexity of African-Asian interactions and generated new knowledge on contents, forms, and implications of interactions between African and Asian protagonists on both continents and contributed to an innovative reconceptualization of Area Studies through its transregional focus on „Afrasian spaces“. Karugia has continuously researched on Africa-China relations especially the political economy of Chinese migration to Africa and African migration to China. He also researched on early warning and early response systems of regional organizations for conflict prevention.