The Taiwan Research Hub presents a book launch examining two volumes
· Refugees and Asylum Seekers in East Asia: Perspectives from Japan and Taiwan
· Cross-Border Intimacies: Affect and Emotions in Marriage Migration between China and Taiwan
With Lara Momesso, Associate Research Fellow, Institute for Area and Migration Studies, University of Central Lancashire and
Bonny Ling, Executive Director of Work Better Innovations, Senior Non-resident Fellow Taiwan Research Hub
Tuesday 24 March 2026
Lunch 1-1.30, talk 1.30-3pm, Room D02 Monica Partridge Building, University Park
In Person event only register at https://forms.office.com/e/NEDS7ih4Jn
Talk abstract
This book launch presents two volumes that examine some of the most debated issues in contemporary Taiwanese politics and public discourse: immigration and its implications for Taiwan’s existence. The first book, an edited volume, focuses on asylum seekers and refugees in Taiwan and Japan, co-edited by Lara Momesso and Polina Ivanova. The second book, a monograph authored by Lara Momesso, examines marriage migrants from mainland China to Taiwan. While asylum seekers, refugees and marriage migrants represent different types of migration to Taiwan and raise unique governance challenges and personal experiences, Taiwan’s management of these migrant populations reveals broader contradictions and tensions the country faces, particularly between its ambition to align with international norms and the political, legal, and societal challenges such alignment entails. Taken together, these works offer an opportunity to reflect both on what it means for migrants to live in Taiwan and on how Taiwanese society and the state can manage these new arrivals in a fair, inclusive and sustainable manner.
About the Speakers
Dr Lara Momesso is Associate Research Fellow of the Institute for Area and Migration Studies at the University of Central Lancashire. Lara founded and Co-Directed the Northern Institute of Taiwan Studies (2018-2025) and the Centre for Migration, Diaspora and Exile (2019-2025) at the University of Lancashire. She is Research Associate at the Centre of Taiwan Studies at SOAS (the University of London, UK) and Associate Fellow at the European Research Centre of Contemporary Taiwan (University of Tuebingen, Germany). Working at the intersection of academia, policy and public awareness, Lara hosts three podcasts to bring about a more nuanced understanding of migration and Taiwan: Voices of Lancashire, exploring the experiences of migrants in Northern England, Migration in Focus: Voices from the UK, a collaboration with Work Better Innovations and featuring chats with British citizens on migration, and Taiwan on Air, exploring issues linked to Taiwanese culture, society and politics. The volume she co-edited with Dr Polina Ivanova, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in East Asia: Perspectives from Japan and Taiwan was published by Springer open-access in 2024. While her monograph, Cross-Border Intimacies: Affect and Emotions in Marriage Migration between China and Taiwan, was published by Manchester University Press in 2025.
Dr. Bonny Ling is the Executive Director of Work Better Innovations, Research Fellow at the Institute for Human Rights and Business, Senior Non-Resident Fellow with the University of Nottingham Taiwan Research Hub and teaches Business and Human Rights at the National Yang Ming Chaio Tung University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. She sits on the Advisory Board of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and serves as a Board Director for the Southeast and East Asian Centre in the UK. She wrote her Ph.D on human trafficking in China at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the University of Galway and received her masters in criminology (Cambridge) and in international law and diplomacy (Fletcher School, Tufts University). Dr Ling is an established expert in international labour rights and human rights, with extensive experience across academic, public, non-profit and consultancy sectors. With strong technical expertise in international labour standards, she has worked on high-profile reports on workers’ rights, with a focus on the precarious employment situation of migrant workers. Dr Ling works closely with diverse stakeholders, including local authorities, civil society, national governments, intergovernmental organisations, businesses and unions to advance human rights. She grew up in the countryside of Kaohsiung and is currently based in the UK.
Chaired by
Dr Chun-yi Lee, Taiwan Research Hub