Xinyan has been fortunate to work on a variety of local and global environmental governance issues, from forestry management to air pollution control, from marine plastics reduction to space debris removal. Each case has unique social-environmental dynamics that requires different governance model that optimizes collect actions from a variety of social groups. Recently she has had the privilege of joining the coasts and commons co-laboratory as a PhD student to sharpen my analytical skills of governance models and develop an in-depth understanding of the issue of coastal and marine conservation under the mentorship of Professor Xavier Basurto. She will start with the case of China – her home country, from the issue of community fishery management in particular, with questions of how private and state actors institutionalize to manage marine resource; how has the relationship among the social groups evolved overtime; and what can be done to enhance the capacity of these social groups to better address marine conservation challenges. Besides research, she serves as the Coordinator of China Marine Funders Alliance, a network that seeks to enhance philanthropy’s ability to support China’s progress towards its marine ecocivilization goals through shared learning, collaboration, and coordination among foundations.