Asia Centre’s Regional Director, Dr. James Gomez has been awarded Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), 2020 Fellowship, to undertake research on disinformation operations, fake news and hate speech in Southeast Asia. 

Known as the Taiwan Fellowship, it is awarded to foreign scholars and experts who plan to undertake part of their research at Taiwanese universities or academic institutions.

The 2020 Taiwan Fellowship is the third in three years for Dr. Gomez. In 2019, Dr. Gomez received a Sumitomo Foundation Grant and in 2018 he was awarded the Korea Democracy Foundation Research Fellowship both times to undertake research on fake news in Southeast Asia.

Dr. Gomez was nominated for the Fellowship by the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) based in Bangkok, Thailand for his work as convenor of Asia Centre’s Freedom of Expression project 2019-2022. 

The award is for 12 months and will begin later in January 2020. During the Fellowship, Dr. Gomez will be affiliated with the Department of Diplomacy at National Chengchi University with short stints at other universities.

Apart from research, in 2020, Dr. Gomez will also be exploring the feasibility of establishing an Asia Centre programme in Taiwan. To this end, Dr. Gomez discusses possible programme components and collaborations options with various Taiwanese organizations.

The MOFA Taiwan Fellowship, Sumitomo Foundation Grant and Korea Democracy Foundation Research Fellowship underscore Asia Centre’s expertise in disinformation operations, fake news and hate speech. They also help Asia Centre build networks and extend its reach into East Asia via the awarding countries of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

The 2020 Taiwan Fellowship comes on the back of Asia Centre’s engagement at various times with Taiwanese institutions, think-tanks and universities in 2018 and 2019. 

Read more about Asia Centre Taiwanese engagement here.