Stephen McGurk is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Asian Research, UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. A trained economist and Sinologist, Stephen McGurk has spent more than three decades studying Asia’s rural development.

McGurk was the Director of IDRC’s Agriculture and Environment program. This program is dedicated to supporting research that seeks to increase agricultural productivity as well as food and water security while ensuring environmental sustainability. Previously, he served as IDRC Regional Director in IDRC’s South Asia and China Office in Delhi and in the Southeast and East Asia office in Singapore. McGurk has worked with the Ford Foundation in Beijing, where he was responsible for its economic security program in China. He has taught at the University of California and worked with the World Bank on a critical generation of investments in China’s rural development.