Spotlight on UCLA Taiwan in the World Post-Doctoral Fellows

“The uniqueness of the UCLA Taiwan Studies program – in emphasizing the global character of its intellectual outlook – stands out to me as the only Taiwan Studies program of its kind in North America and has tremendous potential as a future hub of global scholarly exchange for Taiwan studies here on the West Coast.”

– Dr. Kevin Luo, 2022-23 Taiwan in the World Postdoctoral Fellow.

The UCLA Asia Pacific Center (APC) promotes Taiwan studies and scholarly exchange with support from the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles. The Taiwan in the World (TiW) postdoctoral fellowship program in Taiwan Studies, launched in 2021, engages exceptional scholars in the social sciences (political science, economics, sociology, and international relations) whose presence at UCLA would strengthen the study of Taiwan in a global context. While in residence, TiW Postdoctoral Fellows conduct original research in Taiwanese studies from multidisciplinary perspectives, co-organize and coordinate the TiW Lecture Series, participate in APC events and present one public lecture per year, and contribute to curriculum development on Taiwan studies by teaching or co-teaching one course per year related to their area of research, which may take the form of an undergraduate class on Taiwan with a social science or international relations focus or a graduate proseminar in conjunction with the lecture series.

Over the course of 2021-2023, APC was honored to host two excellent scholars, Dr. Shih-chan Dai (2021-23) and Dr. Kevin Luo (2022-23). Dr. Shih-chan Dai’s work focuses on the development of LGBT rights in East Asian countries as well as examines how digital technology has reshaped the way politics and activism work nowadays. His research is situated at the intersection of political communication, social movements, and LGBT politics. During his time at UCLA Asia Pacific Center, Dr. Dai has completed two scholarly articles, which were substantially revised from two of his dissertation chapters and are currently under review in Social Movement Studies and China Quarterly. He is also revising his dissertation and turning it into a book manuscript that highlights the effects of social media on political polarization from a supply-side perspective. Dr. Dai received his bachelor's and master's degrees in Political Science at National Taiwan University and received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. During his time at UCLA, he developed and taught an undergraduate class “Introduction to Taiwan Studies” for two consecutive years to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the various aspects of Taiwan throughout its historical trajectory.

Dr. Kevin Luo’s work centers on the construction of state power in authoritarian regimes, exploring how transnational and local legacies such as wars, colonialism, revolutions, and violence generate conditions for state building, and how processes of state building continue to leave imprints on contemporary politics. He is working on a comparative book project on land reform and the grassroots origins of authoritarian power in Asia and is developing a second project comparing the varieties of bureaucratic mobilization in rural and industrial transformative projects, focusing on cases from Asian developmental states. Dr. Luo received his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Toronto, Canada (2022), with a regional focus on the politics of China, Taiwan, and Asia. During his time at UCLA, Dr. Luo developed and taught an East Asian politics course in the Department of Political Science in Spring 2023. The teaching experience encouraged him to reflect more broadly on how scholars teach Taiwanese politics today in the US amidst the context of growing student interest in the East Asia region overall.

Through this program, TiW Postdoctoral Fellows gain access to resources at the Asia Pacific Center and UCLA more broadly and develop leadership experience through coordination of the TiW Lecture Series. Dr. Dai, in collaboration with Dr. Luo, helped organize an impressive series of seven lectures, which showcased the unique ways in which Taiwan has achieved breakthroughs in various social, demographic, and political aspects. The lecture series included distinguished Taiwanese scholars such as Tail-li Wang (National Taiwan University) on the spread of dis/misinformation and fake news in Taiwan, Pei-Shan Yang (National Taiwan University) on the challenges and policy responses in the face of a rapidly aging population in Taiwan, and Nathan Batto (Academia Sinica) on the analysis of the outcome and impacts of the 2022 local elections in Taiwan. The series also covered major topics such as cross-Strait relations with Yeh-chung Lu (National Chengchi University) and gender equality with Chen-Ling Hung (National Taiwan University).

Starting in Fall 2022, Dr. Luo also established the UCLA Taiwan Studies Working Group, which created a collaborative space for active graduate students in interrelated fields and brought together great interdisciplinary conversations between social scientist and humanities scholars working on the study of Taiwan in a truly comparative and global context. The Taiwan Studies Working Group also provided opportunities for their members to present research; workshop their papers, research proposals and travel grants; and obtain constructive group feedback related to research design, methodology, and theoretical contributions. Members participated actively in informative sessions that covered the academic job market, shared digital sources that could support each other’s research, and learned about key funding opportunities. Ultimately, the Taiwan Studies Working Group builds upon a vibrant Taiwan Studies community at UCLA and will continue growing into the future with great potential to cultivate the next generation of Taiwan Studies scholars.

UCLA Taiwan Studies Working Group

Both of the APC’s TiW Postdoctoral Fellows have bright careers ahead of them. Dr. Shih-chan Dai has accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at National Chengchi University (NCCU) in Taiwan, starting in August 2023, and looks forward to incorporating the professional experience gained at UCLA into his future research and teaching. Dr. Kevin Luo has accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, starting in September 2023. Dr. Luo has shared that “the Taiwan in the World Postdoc fellowship at UCLA was a terrific and unique experience” and “I am grateful that this brief and wonderful year at UCLA gave me the time I needed to prepare myself for the next stage of my academic career.”

The APC commends Dr. Dai and Dr. Luo on their accomplishments, and looks forward to welcoming the next Taiwan in the World Postdoctoral Fellow(s).

The APC hosts a send-off lunch for the outgoing TiW Postdoctoral Fellows.
From left to right: Aaron Miller (APC Deputy Director), Dr. Shih-chan Dai, Dr. Kevin Luo, Jeannie Chen (APC Program Coordinator), and Dr. Min Zhou (APC Director)