台灣做頭陣：在全球大勢挑戰中的地方創新

The German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has awarded a grant to four post-doc researchers to conduct the joint research program TAP (Taiwan as a Pioneer) for a duration of four years. TAP is an interdisciplinary and supra-regional postdoctoral joint project for the promotion, structural strengthening and networking of Taiwan research in Sinology. The research focuses on Taiwan's role as an innovator in the dynamics of global mega trends. The inter-institutional network between the universities of Trier, Tuebingen and Ruhr-Universität Bochum, funded by the BMBF, is to create intra- and interdisciplinary structures over the next four years (02.2022 - 01.2026), by means of which Taiwan research can be sustainably anchored in the German science location.

Trier is one of the participating centers for Taiwan studies in Germany, next to Bochum and Tuebingen. The program will be directed by Dr. Josie-Marie Perkuhn. It has started on 1 February 2022.

Outline of the Program TAP

Taiwan is a political and social pioneer. Recently, this has become evident in the successful handling of the CoVid 19 pandemic or Taiwan’s inclusive language policies. Yet to date, the historical, cultural and sociopolitical reasons for Taiwan’s role as a trailblazer have not been studied in depth. Broad-based social and political participation is one of the salient features of the coping strategies for dealing with global challenges.

The joint research program TAP (Taiwan as a pioneer) pursues the question of which institutional frameworks conditions and social actors have made it possible for Taiwan to assume such a pioneering role. The program is being designed and implemented by post-doctoral researchers from political science, sociology, literature and history.

The TAP postdoc team is composed of interdisciplinary researchers from the fields of political science, sociology, literature and history, so that a connection to major disciplines is given. The team combines eight content-related elements and forms of mediation, which aim at a dialogue both within the disciplines and with the public:

• Annual conference to strengthen a subject network
• A shared database
• Individual studies on the respective  research disciplines
• Joint Analysis in cross-perspective
• Publications of research results
• Methodological manual
• Digital teaching modules
• Certificate Program

With this interdisciplinary approach, Chinese Studies with a focus on Taiwan will be institutionally strengthened and its visibility in the German research landscape will be increased.