He is co-Editor of the Routledge Research on Korea series, and the Taiwan Series at BRILL.
Alsford is Director of the Institute for the Study of the Asia Pacific; Co-Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies; Co-Director of the Northern Institute of Taiwan Studies and is Chair of the Centre of Austronesian Studies. He is also an appointed Research Associate at the Centre of Taiwan Studies at SOAS, the University of London and is a Research Fellow at the Ewha Institute of Unification Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea.
He is an elected Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute. He works as a Country of Origin Expert for Taiwan, North Korea, and the Pacific Islands for AMERA and the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI).
As a historical anthropologist his research focuses on comparative ethno-histories. Chief among these is an engagement with Taiwan Austronesian migration and the historical anthropology of maritime Asia Pacific region. In addition to this, he works on developmental anthropology in North Korea and climate anthropology in the case of the Pacific. He has published widely on these issues.
He is available for Radio, Television, and Press, for all matters relating to Taiwan, North Korea, and the Pacific Islands.
