Originally from Japan, Koji Hirata studied law and politics at the University of Tokyo as an undergraduate. After graduating from UTokyo, he began to study modern Chinese history at the University of Bristol, where he did his M.Phil in history. He then spent several years in Taiwan, China, and Russia, studying the Chinese and Russian languages, before moving to California to do his Ph.D. in history at Stanford University. He was a Research Fellow (JRF) at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge before coming to Monash.

Koji’s research touches on modern China, Japan, and Russia/Soviet Union with broader implications for the global history of capitalism and socialism. He is currently finishing a book that draws on archival documents and interviews in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and English to chronicle the rise and fall of one gigantic steel-making company, Angang, located in the city of Anshan in Manchuria (Northeast China).