Northern England Policy Centre for the Asia Pacific

The Role of Social Media in Shaping (Un)Democratic Processes

On the 9 of March 2020, we hosted an international roundtable at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. It featured talks from 11 participants.

Speakers:

• George Ogola, UCLan
• Nicole Yung Au, Oxford Internet Institute
• Haddas Emma Kedar, Independent Scholar
• Brian Ball, New College of Humanities
• Wu Min Hsuan, Deputy CEO of Doublethink Lab
• Dickens Olewe, BBC Journalist
• Omar Al-Ghazzi, Assistant Professor from the LSE
• Filip Jirous, Prague-based Synopsis Organisation
• Gizem Gültekin dr.Várkonyi, LLM in European Public Law University of Szeged
• Lara Momesso, UCLan
• Ti-han Chang, UCLan
• Adina Zemanek, UCLan

Recent Trends in Cross-Strait Relations

The third instalment of our NEPCAP roundtable series took place on 11 February 2019, discussing the talk given by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, and the response from President Tsai.

It was organised around three themes:

• Political response to Xi Jinping’s talk
• The future direction of Taiwan and China
• The development of cross-strait relations

Speakers:

• Andreas Fulda, University of Nottingham
• Chia-yu Liang, University of Sussex
• Dean Karalekas, Taiwan Centre for Security Studies
• Niki Alsford, UCLan
• Peter Gries, University of Manchester
• Stephane Corcuff, Lyon University
• Tao Wang, University of Manchester

UK Secondary Education and Korea

In October 2019, we collaborated with the International Institute of Korean Studies to host a roundtable on UK Secondary Education and Korea. The session explored the role and feasibility of Korean topics being taught in UK Secondary Education. You can watch a video recording of the roundtable in the University Media Library.

Speakers:

• Dr Sojin Lim, UCLan
• Mr Aaron Wilkes, St James Academy
• Dr Ed Griffith, UCLan
• Dr Michael Maddison, Maddison Education Consultancy
• Dr Niki Alsford, UCLan
• Dr Owen Miller, SOAS
• Mr Richard McFahn, University of Sussex
• Mr Sangwoo-Jason Rhee, UCLan

Remembering Su Beng 1918–2019: Taiwan and its 400 Year History

On 28 October 2019, we hosted a roundtable discussing 400 years of Taiwan History and Su Beng’s life and achievements as one of Taiwan’s long standing independence activists.

Speakers:

• Dr Niki Alsford
• Dr Adina Zemanek
• Dr Ti-han Chang
• Dr Lara Momesso

Linking Academic Research into Policy and Practice: North Korea and Beyond

We held our first roundtable event on 2 July 2018. Participants discussed how to build up long-term partnerships with stakeholders to maximise impact of our policy research and case studies.

The roundtable was organised based on the following three themes:

• Roles of Stakeholders in North Korea and its Development
• Future Directions of Korea Peninsula and Beyond
• Academic Research into Policy and Practice

Speakers:

• Benedict Rogers, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
• Ed Griffith, University of Central Lancashire
• Gabriel Jonsson, Stockholm University
• John Nilsson-Wright, Chatham House
• Mike Cowin, UK FCO
• Niki Alsford, University of Central Lancashire
• Robert Kelly, Pusan National University
• Sebastien Berger, AFP
• Sojin Lim, University of Central Lancashire
• Virginie Grzelczyk, Aston University

Post-Election Analysis in Taiwan

Our second roundtable event was held on the 30 November 2018. Participants discussed the results of the Taiwan general Elections and what it means for future policies.

The roundtable was organised based on the following three themes:

• Possible future direction of Taiwan
• Political allegiances of the public
• Role of Protests and Taiwan March Foundation in Taiwan Political economy

Speakers:

• Dr Dafydd Fell, SOAS
• Lin-Fei Fan, President of the Taiwan March Foundation
• Michael Danielsen, Chairman of Taiwan Corner
• Tao Wang, PhD student at the University of Central Manchester