Isabelle Cockel

Dr Isabelle Cockel is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Area Studies, Sociology, History, Politics and Literature within the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences at the University of Portsmouth. She holds additional roles as Secretary-General of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (2018-2020), Research Associate at SOAS University of London, and Advisory Board member at the European Research Centre for Contemporary Taiwan (University of Tübingen). Her research focuses on migration, gender, and Cold War dynamics in East Asia, particularly in Taiwan.

Dr Cockel earned her Ph.D. from SOAS University of London (2012) with a thesis on immigrant women's national identity in Taiwan. Her work has been supported by grants from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Chiang Ching-kou Foundation, and others. Notable projects include studies on migration activism, health examinations as migration infrastructure, and psychological warfare involving women.

She has published extensively on topics like migrant labor in Taiwan, digital activism, and transnational politics. Her awards include the Taiwan Fellowship (2015, 2016) and a Research Grant from the National Central Library's Centre for Chinese Studies (2022).

Dr Cockel is Co-Investigator on projects such as 'Living Across Connectivity' (2022-2023) exploring East Asian migrant mobility, and leads the 'Citizenship, Race and Belonging' research cluster. She has delivered invited lectures on Taiwan's geopolitical position and contributed to editorial roles at journals like Transfers and Asia Pacific Viewpoint.