Sören Urbansky is an expert on the history of Sino-Russian relations. His research interests include the history of migration, infrastructures, racism and the history of borders. From 2018 to 2023, he worked at the German Historical Institute Washington, first as a research fellow in Washington, DC, and since 2021 as the director of the Pacific Office at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, Urbansky taught and researched at the University of Freiburg, the University of Munich and the University of Cambridge.

He is the author of several monographs, including 'Beyond the Steppe Frontier: A History of the Sino-Russian Border" (Princeton University Press, 2020) and "On the Banks of the Amur: The Forgotten World between China and Russia' (C.H.Beck, 2021). Urbansky is a regular contributor to German-language newspapers.