Biography

I obtained my doctoral degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of University of London. I taught at School of East Asian Studies (SEAS) of University of Sheffield between February and June 2012. I am currently the Secretary-General of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS). I am a Research Associate of the Centre of Taiwan Studies, SOAS. I am also on the Advisory Board of the European Reserch Centre for Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT) at the University of Tubingen, Germany. My research has been supported by funding given by the Chiang Ching-kou Foundation, China and Inner Asia Council, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) and Taiwan Fellowship. I was a Visiting Fellow to the Institute of Taiwan History of Academia Sinica and the National Taiwan Normal University for my research on Chiang Kai-shek's war plan to retake China and the political participation of marriage immigrant women in Taiwan. 

Research interests

My doctoral research is entitled ‘the Becoming of Immigrants from Outsiders to In-Betweens: the National Identity of Immigrant Women in Taiwan’. Taking gender as an approach, my research focuses on migration in East Asia and and the Cold War in East Asia. My current projects include female immigrant activists' charisma, migration activists' use of social media for advocacy, health examination as part of migration infrastructure, and the use of women for psychological warfare.    

Research Clusters

  • Citizenship, 'Race' and Belonging
  • Transnational Politics and Society
  • Women’s and Gender Study

Discipline Areas

  • Migration Studies
  • Political Science
  • International Relations
  • Gender Studies
  • Taiwan Studies

Research outputs

2024

‘Fettered mobility’ and translocality: irregular farm workers and the informal labour market in rural Taiwan

Cockel, I., Zani, B., Parhusip, J. S.

1 Aug 2024, In: Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration. 8, 1-2, p. 61-81

Research output: Article

Twenty years of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS)

Fell, D., Rawnsley , M. T., Cockel, I.

10 Jun 2024, In: International Journal of Taiwan Studies . 7 (2024), 14p.

Research output: Article

Reach out when there is no way to reach: social media and migration activism in Italy and East Asia

Cockel, I., Zani, B.

1 Jun 2024,

Research output: Chapter (peer-reviewed)

2023

They will shoot you to a pulp!: The racialisation of migrant workers in the emotive cyberspace of PTT

Cockel, I.

7 Jul 2023, In: International Journal of Taiwan Studies

Research output: Article

‘There will be no law, or people to protect us’: irregular Southeast Asian seasonal workers in Taiwan before and during the pandemic

Cockel, I., Zani, B., Parhusip, J. S.

30 May 2023, In: Journal of Agrarian Change, 11p.

Research output: Article

2022

How far can chicken feet travel?: The transgression of contested sovereign borders and Chinese women's e-entrepreneurship between Taiwan and China

Zani, B., Cockel, I.

1 Dec 2022, In: Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies. 12, 3, p. 66-85

Research output: Article

Migrants and their smartphones: interlaced mobilities online and offline

Zani, B., Cockel, I.

1 Dec 2022, In: Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies. 12, 3, p. 3-7

Research output: Article

Infection, temporality and inequality: sanitizing foreign bodies and protecting public health in Taiwan

Cockel, I.

30 Sep 2022, In: Asian and Pacific Migration Journal

Research output: Article

A report on a conference that never was: connections, collaboration, and solidarity among the Taiwan studies community

Cockel, I.

1 Feb 2022, In: International Journal of Taiwan Studies . 5, 1, p. 181-186, 6p.

Research output: Article

View all my research outputs