Announcement: Winners of the 2025 IJTS Research Article Competition
The International Journal of Taiwan Studies (IJTS) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 IJTS Research Article Competition, generously supported by the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS). Following months of careful review and deliberation, the judging panel has selected two outstanding scholars whose work demonstrates exceptional originality, analytical depth, and contribution to the field of Taiwan Studies.
Arts & Humanities Category
Chao-Hsuan Peng – “Revisiting the Taiwanese Debate on ‘Civil Society’ (1986–1987), or Outline of an Intellectual History of Taiwan’s Democratisation”
Social Sciences Category
Yi-Yu Lai – “Tracing Roots, Charting Routes: Indigenous Taiwanese Encounters on Philippine Soil and the Politics of Archipelagic Belonging”
The organisers extend their warmest congratulations to Mr Peng and Mr Lai on their remarkable achievements. Each recipient will receive a monetary award of £300 and a certificate of recognition. Their articles will be published in the International Journal of Taiwan Studies following peer review and revision.
The IJTS and EATS would also like to express sincere appreciation to all the scholars who submitted their work for consideration in this year’s competition. The panel was greatly impressed by the intellectual creativity, methodological rigour, and breadth of scholarship represented in the submissions—a reflection of the continuing vitality and diversity of the Taiwan Studies community. Selected entries will be considered for publication in future issues of IJTS.
About the Winners
Chao-Hsuan Peng is a Contractual PhD Candidate at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris. His research examines the role of political ideas, dissident media, and social movements in Taiwan’s democratisation. His doctoral dissertation focuses on student movements in Taiwan during the 1980s.
Yi-Yu Lai is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His research explores Indigenous politics, conflict, and transborder relations between Taiwanese and Philippine Indigenous groups, with particular attention to how mobility, activism, and conflict reshape everyday life and political belonging.
The International Journal of Taiwan Studies and EATS warmly commend the achievements of these emerging scholars, whose work continues to advance global understanding of Taiwan’s complex histories, societies, and regional connections.