Patrícia Alexandra Correia da Silva Marrafa is a PhD Scholar in International Studies at Iscte-Instituto Universitario de Lisboa with affiliation to the Center for International Studies at Iscte and the Macao Scientific and Cultural Center of Lisbon. During her academic path, her research has focused on Chinese politics, history and culture and its growing global presence. She formulated her master's thesis on the topic “The Chinese discourse for Africa: The importance of FOCAC and the Forum Macau on China's regional diplomacy” and has presented varied papers regarding China's political discourse in several conferences in Portugal. Such as the "III International Congress Portugal-China Intercultural dialogues" at Aveiro University; “Europe as a Global Actor- International Conference” and "XII Congresso Latino Americano de Ciência Politica" from Iscte-Institute University of Lisbon. She is currently working under funding from the FCT-CCCM (Macao Scientific and Cultural Center) partnership on the topic “China meets the Global South: Chinese Political discourse and foreign policy from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping (1978-2022)” for her doctoral thesis, with the aim of understanding the evolution of China's discourse and relations with countries in the Global South and how Chinese foreign policy integrates and is influenced by Chinese philosophical and traditional concepts, such as the one's based in confucianism.