His paper, titled, 'Suzerainty, Semi-Sovereignty, and International Legal Hierarchies on China's Borderlands', explored China's authority over Tibet and Mongolia.
The award reconises "an outstanding paper presented at the previous ISA Annual Convention by a graduate student".
Mr Zhu will be presented with the award at the 2020 ISA Annual Convention, which takes place 25-28 March in Honolulu, Hawaii.