Sandra Rector earned a BA in Chinese Studies and an MA in Political Science from the University of Heidelberg. She is currently writing a PhD on nuclear strategy at the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked at the Center for Global Politics at Freie Universität, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the International Organization for Migration, the Austrian Embassy in China, and as a translator for ZDF in Beijing.