Biography
Michael Tyrala is an interdisciplinary social scientist currently serving as Lecturer at the Division of Public Policy of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). His research interests lie at the intersection between historical macrosociology, global political economy, international relations, public policy, development studies, and social psychology, with a wide geographical specialization comprising South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia, the US, and the EU along with its non‑member near abroad. His primary focus is on the historical and contemporary trajectories of global offshore finance, on the social forces that struggle against it and shape global tax governance, and on the evolving impacts of these struggles on the structural dynamics that constitute late capitalism. His professional experience spans work in the NGO sector, in international organizations and bodies such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as well as in dedicated research institutes such as HKUST’s Institute for Emerging Market Studies. He is co-author of “The Uneven Offshore World: Mauritius, India, and Africa in the Global Economy”, published with Routledge, but his work was also published by Oxford University Press, and by journals such as Globalizations, Nature Communications, PNAS Nexus, Scientific Data, Science Advances, and Nature Human Behaviour, among others.
HIGHLIGHTED PUBLICATIONS
Mede, Niels G.; Cologna, Viktoria; Berger, Sebastian; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Zwaan, Rolf A. (2025). “Perceptions of Science, Science Communication, and Climate Change Attitudes in 68 Countries – the TISP Dataset”. Scientific Data 12(114). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-024-04100-7
Cologna, Viktoria; Mede, Niels G.; Berger, Sebastian; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Zwaan, Rolf A. (2025). “Trust in Scientists and Their Role in Society Across 68 Countries”. Nature Human Behaviour. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02090-5
Doell, Kimberly C.; Todorova, Boryana; Vlasceanu, Madalina; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Van Bavel, Jay J. (2024). “The International Climate Psychology Collaboration: Climate Change-Related Data Collected from 63 Countries”. Scientific Data, 11(1066). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-024-03865-1
Vlasceanu, Madalina; Doell, Kimberly C.; Bak-Coleman, Joseph B.; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Van Bavel, Jay J. (2024). “Addressing Climate Change with Behavioral Science: A Global Intervention Tournament in 63 Countries”. Science Advances, 10(6). https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.adj5778
Tyrala, Michael. (2024). “World-Systems Analysis and the COVID-19 Pandemic: How the Structural Dynamics of the Capitalist World‑Economy Exacerbate Societal Vulnerability and Undermine Collective Responses to External Shocks”. In: Miller, Monica K. (Ed.). The Social Science of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call to Action for Researchers. Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-social-science-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-9780197615133
Azevedo, Flavio; Pavlović, Tomislav; Rêgo, Gabriel G.; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Sampaio, Waldir M. (2023). “Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 Across 69 Countries”. Scientific Data, 10(272). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-023-02080-8
Pavlović, Tomislav; Azevedo, Flavio; De, Koustav; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Van Bavel, Jay J. (2022). “Predicting Attitudinal and Behavioral Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic Using Machine Learning”. PNAS Nexus, 1(3). https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/1/3/pgac093/6631580
Robertson, Justin & Tyrala, Michael. (2022). “The Uneven Offshore World: Mauritius, India, and Africa in the Global Economy”. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-Uneven-Offshore-World-Mauritius-India-and-Africa-in-the-Global-Economy/Robertson-Tyrala/p/book/9780367751128
Van Bavel, Jay Joseph; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Capraro, Valerio; ... Tyrala, Michael; ... & Boggio, Paulo S. (2022). “National Identity Predicts Public Health Support During a Global Pandemic”. Nature Communications, 13(517). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27668-9
Tyrala, Michael. (2021). “On Heeding the Lessons of the Past and Adapting Them to the Present: A Strategy for an Effective Fifth International”. In: Gills, Barry K., & Chase-Dunn, Christopher. (Eds.). Unity on the Global Left: Critical Reflections on Samir Amin’s Call for a New International. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Unity-on-the-Global-Left-Critical-Reflections-on-Samir-Amins-Call-for/Gills-Chase-Dunn/p/book/9780367552220
Low, Donald & Tyrala, Michael. (2020, July 31). “The Coronavirus Crisis is an Opportunity to Reform the Global Economic System”. HKUST IEMS Thought Leadership Brief No. 40. https://iems.ust.hk/publications/thought-leadership-briefs/low-tyrala-coronavirus-reform-globalization-tlb40
Tyrala, Michael. (2020, July 1). “The Belt and Road Initiative and the Ticking Time Bomb of Offshore Tax Evasion and Avoidance”. HKUST IEMS Thought Leadership Brief No. 39. https://iems.ust.hk/publications/thought-leadership-briefs/tyrala-belt-road-initiative-ticking-time-bomb-tax-evasion-avoidance-tlb39
Tyrala, Michael. (2019). “On Heeding the Lessons of the Past and Adapting Them to the Present: A Strategy for an Effective Fifth International”. Globalizations, 16(7): 1092-1101. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2019.1654708
Tyrala, Michael (under supervision by Pierre Habbard). (2016, July 25). “The Case for Making Country-by-Country Reporting Public”. Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD. https://tuac.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/1606t_beps_cbc-rev-1.pdf
Tyrala, Michael (under supervision by Pierre Habbard). (2016, June 30). “The G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Package – Assessment by the TUAC Secretariat”. Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD. https://tuac.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/1606t-beps_assess-1.pdf
Tyrala, Michael. (2015, March 13). “Europe Adjusting the Noose Around Its Neck”. openDemocracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/europe-adjusting-noose-around-its-neck
