I’m Dr. Elise Anderson, a DC-based researcher, analyst, editor, and program leader with more than a decade of experience at the intersection of China policy, human rights, and democracy, and a career defined by making rigorous research matter in the real world.

Photo by Jerry Almonte of J.S. Almonte Productions

My work spans NGOs, think tanks, government, and academia. I have managed research programs and grant-funded initiatives, built editorial infrastructure, briefed Congressional offices and senior government leaders, and produced original analysis whose findings have shaped legislation and policy outcomes. I am multilingual and have deep expertise in China and Uyghur issues built first through intensive language study and multi-year fieldwork in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

I also teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels, bringing public-sector experience into the classroom—and, in turn, bringing the classroom back into my broader work. I care about mentoring and learning from young people, and I find that teaching sharpens my own thinking as much as anything else I do.

As of August 2026, I hold concurrent roles as a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, Professorial Lecturer in International Studies and Music at the George Washington University, Visiting Scholar at GW’s Sigur Center for Asian Studies, Developmental Editor at Stray Cats Ink, and Consultant on a digital archive project based out of the CoDHeRs Lab at the University of British Columbia.

Previously, I have held roles at Freedom House, where I managed international development programs; the Uyghur Human Rights Project, where I worked across research and advocacy; the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, where I conducted research on human rights and rule of law in the PRC for the Commission’s annual report to Congress; and Indiana University-Bloomington, where I taught undergraduates, edited major academic articles in the field of folklore, consulted with grad students on grantwriting, and ran a digitization lab, all on assistantships while I earned multiple advanced degrees in Central Eurasian Studies and Ethnomusicology.

For more on my professional life, you can visit my profile on LinkedIn.

Outside of work, I’m an active social dancer and serve on the board of directors at New Columbia Swing, DC’s premier swing dance organization. I’m also a proud member of the board of Ana Care and Education, a Uyghur language school in Fairfax, VA.

I stay plenty busy these days, but I’m always open to discussing new projects. Please reach out to me by email at [firstnamelastname] @ gmail.com.