Yu-Ling Chang

Yu-Ling Chang is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Social Welfare. Her research examines the relationships between poverty, inequality, and social safety net programs, with a focus on welfare-to-work systems, unemployment insurance reforms, and cross-national comparisons of social protection policies. She has secured significant grants from institutions like the Administration for Children and Families and the Upjohn Institute.

• PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Washington (2016)
• MSW and BSW from National Taiwan University

Her work spans U.S. state-level policy analysis and global collaborations with institutions in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Switzerland. Key themes include racial equity in CalWORKs, gendered impacts of unemployment insurance, and the role of financial capability in poverty reduction. She has published extensively on post-Great Recession welfare dynamics and cross-state/federal policy variations.

Recent research explores unconditional basic income (UBI) in Taiwan and the U.S., ecosocial policies addressing climate change, and pandemic-era welfare reforms. Her scholarly contributions have been recognized with awards such as the Hellman Fellows Fund and the Upjohn Institute’s Early Career Research Award.

• Keynote speaker at the Global Welfare Regime Project (2023)
• Advisor for peer-reviewed journals and conferences
• Active in professional networks including the East Asian Social Policy Research Network and Scholars Strategy Network