ia-Ching Chen (Global Studies) will spend the 2026–27 academic year in Taiwan on a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to study the geopolitical intersections of energy transition and environmental governance. Chen will headquarter his research project, “Green Dependency and Local Politics,” at Taiwan's national academy, Academia Sinica, and he will also collaborate with colleagues at National Taiwan University, plus community activists and leaders.
“I've been paying attention to energy sovereignty and dependency for many years as I studied the exponential build out of the solar energy industry in China,” Chen said. “I became particularly interested in how land dispossession in rural China enabled the rapid deployment of grid-connected solar around the world.”