Research

In addition to the complex intersections of feminist/queer and postcolonial/decolonial theories, I am interested in, as applied, critically reimagining international law, human rights, global health, and social movement. I also have a particular interest in the construction of knowledge/ignorance as well as the sociology of ‘nothing’.

Presentations:

‘Translating’ law into social change: The emergence and politics of Plain Law Movement, EATS Workshop ‘“Enlightening” Taiwan: Communicating Knowledge as//in Social Activism in Post-Sunflower Era’, University of Sussex, 15/11/2019 [supported by the European Association for Taiwan Studies (EATS) Workshop Grant]
A Political or Professional Decision? The WHO’s Omission of Sexual/Gender Minority Health Inequities, Formosa Salon UK, SOAS, University of London, 19/10/2019
‘Nothing’ happens and matters: A sociological inquiry into international institutional inertias, Social Theory Study Group Conference: The Future of Social Theory, BSA Meeting Room, 06/09/2019
Health inequities among sexual and gender minorities in the intergovernmental organisation policymaking context, Science, Technology, Innovation in Global Health Symposium for Young Professionals, Taipei Medical University, 03/08/2019
Health as a Human Right and its Social Determinants: A Normative Perspective, Workshop ‘Global health: New Generation, New Interlocutors, New Imaginations’, Formosa Salon UK, SOAS, University of London, 16/12/2018
Between Representation and Overexposure: Queer Ambivalence towards Global Healthification, XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology on ‘Power, Violence and Justice: Reflections, Responses and Responsibilities’, Session ‘Radical Change and the Futures of Global Social Policy’ (RC 19), 15-21/07/2018 [supported by Sussex Fund Doctoral Overseas Conference Grant]
De-Territorialising Methodology: The Limits of a Socio-Legal Imagination of ‘No-Evidence’, ‘Queer’ Asia 2018 Conference ‘Bodies X Borders’, SOAS, University of London, 26-28/06/2018
Remaining ‘in the Closet’: LGBT Health Inequities and the WHO’s Inertia, Workshop ‘Gender, Health & sustainable development’ (part of ‘International Law for the Sustainable Development Goals’ Workshop Series 2017-2018), University College Groningen, 07/05/2018 [supported by the Sussex Rights and Justice Research Centre’s Postgraduate Bursary Scheme]
In the Name of ‘Rights’: LGBT Health Movement and its Counteraction in East Asia, Sussex Asia Centre PhD Workshop (Rethinking Asia), 01/03/2017
All Are ‘Foreign conspiracies’? Piercing the Veil of International Human Rights Law, Plain Law Movement Forum, Plain Law Movement, Thee Corner Cafe, 24/12/2017
Teaching Sexualities and Relationships: A Health-and-Human-Rights Approach to the Gender Equity Education Act, Conference ‘Children’s Right to Health’, Centre for Cultures of Reproduction, Technologies and Health & Sussex Law School, University of Sussex, 11/12/2017
To Queer, or Not to Queer, That is the Question: Taking the Politics of Rights Seriously, Conference ‘Queer Lives Past and Present: Interrogating the Legal’ (part of AHRC-funded ‘Queer beyond London’ event), Manchester Metropolitan University et al, Birkbeck, University of London, 29/11/2017
The Erotic Subcultures of Gay Men: ‘Cruising’ for Sex beyond the Public-Private Boundary, Workshop ‘Sexual Liberation?: Public Sex, Erotic Subcultures and Tongzhi Movement’, Formosa Salon UK, UCL, University of London, 18/06/2017
Engaging in Timely Debates: Academic Blogging, Public Writing, and Social Networking, UCMeCSA Annual Conference 2017 ‘The Evolving Landscape of Entertainment TV in China: A 20-Year Review’, UK-China Media and Cultural Studies Association, University of East Anglia, 11/04/2017
The Possibles and Impossibles of Doing Interdisciplinarity: The 'Selfs' of Being Researcher/Researched, Roundtable on ‘Interdisciplinarity in Rights and Justice Research’, Sussex Rights and Justice Research Centre, 21/02/2017
Domestic Procedures for International (Trade) Agreements: An International and Comparative Law Perspective, Workshop ‘TPP: Contours, Characteristics and Contentions’, Formosa Salon UK, UCL, University of London, 26/11/2016
Politics of Powerlessness/Otherness in East Asia: From Queer Assemblage to Rainbow Coalition, 'Queer' Asia 2016 Conference 'Diversity, Contestations and Developments', SOAS, University of London, 10-11/06/2016
Queering the Taiwaneseness with a 'Rainbow Coalition': An Assemblage Approach to Social Transformation, Conference of the Sexuality Studies Association (2016 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences), Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Calgary, 29-31/05/2016
A Closeted Agenda in Global Health Politics: Health Disparities in Sexual and Gender Minorities, Workshop 'Political Struggle and Performative Rights in Global Politics: New Directions in Research', 3rd European Workshops in International Studies, University of Tübingen, 6-8/04/2016 [supported by the Sussex Rights and Justice Research Centre’s Postgraduate Bursary Scheme].
The Right to Health of Sexual Minorities: The Relationship between Minority Stress and Health Inequity, Sexuality, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, and the Law Workshop, Centre for Cultures of Reproduction, Technologies and Health, University of Sussex, 15/03/2016
An Emancipatory Project in a Post-Cold War Context: Queer Taiwaneseness and a Rainbow Coalition, Research Workshop Series, Sussex Rights and Justice Research Centre, 26/11/2015
Heterosexism/Cisgenderism as Invisible Killers of Sexual and Gender Minorities: A Health and Human Rights Perspective, Human Rights Research Series, Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research, 25/11/2015
From Reconciliation to Collaboration: A Rainbow Coalition in Taiwan, European Conference on Cultural Studies 2015, International Academic Forum, 15/07/2015
Legal Research per se as a Cultural Study: LGBT Rights v. Asian Values, European Conference on the Social Sciences 2015, International Academic Forum, 10/07/2015
Queering Global Health: Qualifying a Human Rights-Based Approach to Health Equity, Human Rights Research Students' Conference, University of Essex, 08/07/2015
LGBT Rights Movement and the Social Media Effect: A Case Study of Taiwan Pride (with Tianyang Zhou), MeCCSA PGN 2015 Conference (Transformative Practice and Theory), Coventry University, 03/07/2015
A Tango between Queer Rights and Asian Values in Taiwan: Asia as Method and the Cultural Relativism, Ngender Conference 2015, University of Sussex, 19/05/2015
Law v. Sexuality: LGBTI Rights in Westernised-Confucian Societies, Sussex Asia Centre PhD Workshop (Intra-Asia: Connections, Comparisons, and Circulations), 25/02/2015
Mental Health and Human Rights: Experiences from Canada and Challenges to Taiwan, Conference on the Social, Political, Economic and Cultural Studies of Canada, Association of Canadian Study in Taiwan, 12/01/2014
A Right to Health-Based Public Health in International Human Rights Law, International Law Student Forum, Yuen-Li Liang International Law Centre, Soochow University, 18/07/2013