Steve is the Director of the SOAS China Institute. Before taking on his current position in 2016, he was the Head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham, and before that a Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford. He is also an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony’s College.

He is a frequent commentator for the BBC, including for programmes like Newsnight, Ten o’clock News, BBC News Channel, Today, World at One, PM, BBC World Service's various programmes such as Newshour and World Tonight. He has also appeared on Sky News, Channel 4 News, Channel 5 News, Voice of America, France 24, Channel News Asia, CNBC, Al Jazeera and various podcast series.

He has also testified at various select committees of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Canadian House of Commons.