Opening of the Research Center in Taiwan

03/12/2015 orient Events, News, Taiwan

On December 3, 2015, the Research Center of the Oriental Institute (Czech Academy of Sciences) at Academia Sinica in Taiwan (RCT) has been established. Prof. Wang Fan-sen, the vice-president of the Academia Sinica, Prof. Huang Chin-shing, the director of the Institute of History and Philology, and Dr. Beránek, the director of the Oriental Institute, delivered welcome addresses. Among our distinguished guests were Mr. Václav Jílek, Head of Mission (Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei) and Mrs. Christine Hsueh, former representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Prague and currently Director-general of the Department of North American Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). We are also glad to announce that the directors of various departments of Taiwanese universities joined us for the occasion.

The Research Center in Taiwan will act as a branch office of the Oriental Institute and is intended to serve as a platform to facilitate and strengthen academic exchange between Czech and Taiwanese scholars as well as institutions. The Research Center is part of a long-term interdisciplinary research project, “Power and Strategies of Social and Political Order.” Currently, two research fellows from the Oriental Institute are stationed at the Center, but we are looking forward to more short-term visits by researchers from the Czech Republic next year. Czech research fellows will participate in conferences and hold colloquiums with Taiwanese colleagues. In cooperation with the Academia Sinica we plan to organize annual joint workshops whose proceedings will be published. Concomitantly we will continue building our network of partner institutions and thus create a solid foundation for further scholarly exchange. In cooperation with Charles University in Prague we will also support doctoral students wishing to conduct research at our Center.