Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica

Hyemin Jamie Koh is a PhD candidate in the Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies at National Chengchi University and a participant in the PhD candidate training program at the Academia Sinica’s Institute of Political Science. She is currently writing her doctoral thesis from the perspective of “High-tech technocrats”(科技菁英) and the mobility of elites in the CCP. The main direction of thesis is how the elite recruitment mechanism of the CCP’s High-tech technocrats changed during the Xi Jinping era, and tried to verify whether it was related to the industrial policies promoted by China. Her research interests lie in the relationship between international factors and domestic politics, especially the mobility of elite recruitment within the CCP.

Ding-Yi Lai is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica (IPSAS). He received the Ph.D. in the Department of Social Welfare from National Chung Cheng University in July 2022. Ding‐Yi Lai’s research interests include comparative welfare states, comparative authoritarianism, and quantitative research methods. His dissertation investigated the influence of the distribution of power between regime leaders and elites on welfare development. His work has published in International Journal of Social Work and Social Welfare, Journal of Asian Public Policy, and Journal of National Development Studies.

Chou Kuan-chu is a PhD candidate in the Department of Diplomacy at National Chengchi University and a participant in the PhD candidate training program at the Academia Sinica’s Institute of Political Science. He is currently dedicated to research on technology and international relations. In the context of the ongoing US-China tech competition, Kuan-chu is curious about how to assess a country’s technological strength and how the development of technology influences competition and cooperation among nations. Kuan-chu investigates the competition and cooperation in the technology sector among nations by observing the exchange of personnel, information, and goods. He is also writing a doctoral thesis titled ” Technology and International Relations: Power Rivalry in Virtual and Reality Realm.”

Yi-Nung Tsai is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica (IPSAS). His dissertation explores on the sex-imbalance in China’s rural population during the 1980s from the perspective of fertility governance in authoritarian regimes. His research has been supported by the Fellowships for Doctoral Candidates in the Humanities and Social Sciences (IPSAS), Fellowships for Doctoral Candidates Writing Thesis of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation. His research also focuses on the long-term negative consequences resulting from the early party-state system of the Chinese Communist Party and the large-scale political movements during Mao Zedong’s era. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from National Chengchi University in 2021 and was previously a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University.

Ellen Kao has a Double Ph.D. in Chinese Studies from Faculty of Modern Chinese Studies at Aichi University in Japan and Department of Political Science at Soochow University in Taiwan (R.O.C.). Her research interests lie in the linkages between international and domestic politics, and she focuses on two main research directions to understand the interactions among regime, political elites, and voters. On the one hand, she tries to understand the unidirectional or bidirectional influence of the international establishment on the political elite. On the other hand, she intends to understand the possible influence of political system and political culture on the behavior of political elites and voters.

Dr. Huang-Ting Yan is an Academia Sinica Postdoctoral Scholar in the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica (IPSAS). He received the PhD in Government from the University of Essex (2020). He is a political scientist and a social epidemiologist interested in the link between political institutions, socio-economic outcomes, and public health, with a specific focus on semi-presidentialism, comparative authoritarianism, health expenditures and policy, and geriatric epidemiology. His dissertation addresses the question of which factors shape outcomes in autocratic regimes, and, in turn, what influences the survival of democratic regimes in light of their authoritarian legacies. His current research focuses on (1) government survival in semi-presidential regimes; (2) leadership dynamics in dictatorships; (3) political dynamics and the physical and mental health of people. Dr. Yan’s work has appeared in political science and public health journals including International Political Science Review, European Political Science Review, International Journal of Public Health, and European Journal of Public Health. His research has been funded by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China, the University of Essex, and the China Medical University Hospital, among others.

Byung-Bae Park received his doctoral degree in political science from the National Chengchi University in 2021. His dissertation investigated the factors which accelerated cooperation between Chosŏn Korea and Ming China, and those which decided the degree of cooperation by using two-sided market theory and alliance theory. Byung-Bae Park’s research interests include East Asia IR, Inter-Korean Relations, Korea Politics and Comparative politics.