2025-Present Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
2024 December-2025 January Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
2024 November-Present Research Affiliate, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
2020-2024 PhD in Sociology, University of Cambridge, UK
Full scholarship funded by the Cambridge Trust & the Ministry of Education, Taiwan
Thesis: Queering Relatedness: Gay Men's Reproductive Paths and Family Making in Taiwan (submitted: 19 April)
Supervisors: Professor Sarah Franklin & Dr Marcin Smietana / Faculty Advisor: Dr Robert Pralat
Examiners (Viva Committee): Professor Sara Friedman & Dr Amy Brainer, Viva date: 15 July 2024
Degree conferred on 26 October 2024
2017-2018 MSc in Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Dissertation: Coming Out or Closeted: Lesbians’ Identity and Everyday Life Practices in Taiwan
Supervisor: Dr Ursula Henz
2012-2017 BA in Interdisciplinary Program of Humanities and Social Science, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Double-major in Sociology & Foreign Languages and Literature
Exchange student, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany (2014-2015)
GPA 4.02, ranking 1/36
Journal Articles (Peer-reviewed)
Jung Chen. (accepted) ‘Spreading love’ or ‘working holiday’? The narrative of altruistic rhetorics, financial motivations, and risks in domestic and transnational Taiwanese egg donation. Social Science & Medicine.
Jung Chen. (2025) Bargaining with ‘reproductive capital’: Multilayered stratified reproduction in the case of Taiwanese gay men seeking transnational surrogacy. Sociology of Health & Illness, online first.
Jung Chen (2025) Creating ‘relational leeway’ for implicit activism: Taiwanese lesbians’ coming out experiences and identity management within families. Sexualities, online first.
Jung Chen. (2024) We are family: Taiwanese gay fathers’ strategic normalisation decision-making in transnational reproduction. NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies, 19(3): 137–153.
• Young Scholar Award (joint 1st Prize), European Association of Taiwan Studies
Jung Chen. (2024) Gendering the beginning of life: Taiwanese gay fathers’ navigation of preimplantation genetic diagnosis-assisted sex selection in transnational third-party reproduction. Sociology of Health & Illness, 46(5): 907-925.
Jung Chen. (2024) Taiwanese gay fathers’ queer family making: Towards a temporal-relational path. LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 20 (1): 35-54.
Jung Chen. (2023) Queering reproductive justice: Framing reproduction of gay men from a transnational perspective—Taiwan as a case. Sociology Compass, 17(12): 1-18.
Ya-Ping Lin, Jung Chen, Wei-Chen Lee, Yang-Jen Chiang & Chih-Wan Huang. (2021) Understanding family dynamics in adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation decision-making in Taiwan: Motivation, communication, and ambivalence. American Journal of Transplantation, 21(3): 1068-1079.
Book Chapter (Peer-reviewed)
Jung Chen. (2025) Coming out as everyday life activism: ‘Displaying’ gay father families in Taiwan. In Halina Zawiszová, Giorgio Strafella & Martin Lavička (Eds.), Embodied Entanglements Gender, Identity, and the Corporeal in Asia (pp. 153-180). Olomouc, Czechia: Palacký University Olomouc.
Book Reviews
Jung Chen. (2024) Book review: Sexuality and the rise of China: The Post-1990s Gay generation in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. Journal of Development Studies. Online first.
Jung Chen. (2024) Book review: Understanding baby loss: The sociology of life, death and post-mortem. Sociology of Health & Illness, 46(8):1987-1989.
Jung Chen. (2024) Bookshelf: Intimate strangers: Commercial surrogacy in Russia and Ukraine and the making of truth. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 32(1): 1-3.
Jung Chen. (2024) Making gaybies: Queer reproduction and multiracial feeling: By J. Keaney, Durham: Duke University Press, 2023. pp. 240. $26.95 (pbk). ISBN: 978-1-4780-2536-8. LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 20(4), 336–338.
Jung Chen. (2023) Book review: Queer(y)ing kinship in the Baltic region and beyond. LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 19(5): 431-434.
Jung Chen. (2023) Book review: Donors: Curious connections in donor conception. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 31(1): 1-3.
Jung Chen. (2021) Queering relatedness: Book review of Queer kinship and family change in Taiwan [台灣在地的酷兒親緣: 評 Queer kinship and family change in Taiwan]. Journal of Women’s and Gender Studies [女學學誌：婦女與性別研究], 48: 137-148. (in Mandarin)
Jung Chen. (2021) Queer kinship and family change in Taiwan. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 17(1): 84-85.
Jung Chen. (accepted, forthcoming) Queer re-creations: The emerging representations of Taiwanese lesbians in literature travelling beyond Taiwan. Engenderings. (Department of Gender Studies, LSE)
Jung Chen. (2024) Young Scholar Award Report. The Newsletter of the European Association of Taiwan Studies.
Jung Chen. (2024) Whose stratified reproduction? Disparities in Taiwanese gay men’s quest for overseas surrogacy. Taiwan Insight. (Taiwan Research Hub, University of Nottingham)
Jung Chen. (2022) What happens when legalisation does not catch up with the thriving surrogacy industry. Bluesci:Cambridge University Science Magazine.
Yan-Yi Lee & Jung Chen. (2022) Same-sex reproductive rights are as important as marriage rights. Varsity: Independent student newspaper for the University of Cambridge.
2025 Becoming Families: The reproduction and relatedness making of Taiwanese Tongzhi [中研院院區開放日演講：成為一家人：臺灣同志家庭的生／育實踐]. Given at Annual Open House Event, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. 19th October 2025. (in Mandarin)
2025 Revisiting Reproductive Justice: Taiwanese gay fathers, cross-border reproductive travels, and reproductive capital. Sociology of Gender. 15th October 2025. Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University.
2025 Queer Relatedness on the Island Country: Family making and reproductive imaginaries within/beyond the boundaries [島國的「酷兒親緣」：邊／界內外的成家實踐與生育想像]. Given at Guán Tau Salon [阮叨沙龍] fembooks [女書店] Taipei, Taiwan. 16th August 2025. (in Mandarin)
2025 Bargaining with ‘reproductive capital’: Multilayered stratified reproduction in the case of Taiwanese gay men seeking transnational surrogacy. Given at the Graduate Institute of Medical Humanities, College of Humanities & Social Sciences, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. 22nd April 2025.
2024 Queering the ways in which people doing gender? Gay fathers’ decision-making of sex selection and parenthood in transnational reproduction [酷兒生殖如何「做性別」？同志爸爸跨國生育的性別篩選與親職實作]. Given at the Department of Sociology, National Sun Yat-sen University [國立中山大學社會學系「南方社會議題」], Taiwan. 4th December 2024. (in Mandarin)
2024 Bargaining with ‘reproductive capital’: Multilayered stratified reproduction in the case of Taiwanese gay men seeking transnational surrogacy [「生殖資本」的運籌與協商：臺灣同志爸爸尋求跨國代孕的階層化生育]. Given at the Graduate Institute of Gender Studies at Kaohsiung Medical University [高雄醫學大學性別研究所碩士班課程「性別、醫療與健康」生殖科技中的性別與權力], Taiwan. 26th November 2024. (in Mandarin)
2024 Queering reproductive justice? Taiwanese gay men’s (in)accessibility to reproduction surrogacy. Given at ‘Queering Asia Event’ at the Korean Studies Department, University of Tübingen, Germany. 17th July 2024.
2024 Whose stratified reproduction? The uneven accessibility among gay men accessing cross-border reproductive care. Given at the University of Portsmouth, UK. 18th April 2024.
2021 Made in the UK: Altruistic surrogacy and queer reproduction. Given at the LGBTQ Family Rights Advocacy, 28th September 2021. (online)
2025 Negotiating reproductive capital: Multiple-layered stratified reproduction in the case of Taiwanese gay fathers’ transnational third-party reproduction [生育資本的運籌與協商：臺灣同志爸爸尋求跨國代孕的階層化生育]). Presented at Annual Conference of the Population Association of Taiwan [台灣人口學會年會暨「超低生育率與超高齡社會的挑戰」學術研討會]. 3rd May 2025. Taipei, Taiwan: Department of Sociology and Social Work, National Taiwan University [國立臺灣大學社會社工系館]. (in Mandarin)
2025 Framing ‘ethical surrogacy’ queerly: Taiwanese gay fathers’ experiences and reflections on transnational third-party reproduction [「倫理代孕」的酷兒視角：臺灣同志爸爸的跨國第三方生殖經驗與反思]). Presented at Assisted reproduction and gender politics in East Asia [「東亞的人工生殖與性/別政治」研討會]. 1st March 2025. Taipei, Taiwan: Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University [國立臺灣大學社會學系]. (in Mandarin)
2024 When is ‘queer timing’ to have a baby? Gay fathers’ temporal-relational reproductive decision making [生小孩的「酷時間」？同志爸爸的關係性生育時間考察] (In Session 1: Transnational, queer, and reproductive justice [跨國、酷兒 & 生殖正義]). Presented at Queering futurism [酷兒未來式：抱歉了二元性別，我真的需要那個「酷」東西]. 13th December 2024. Kaohsiung, Taiwan: the Graduate Institute of Gender Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University [國立高雄師範大學性別教育研究所]. (in Mandarin)
2024 From racial matching to ‘selective mixed-race privilege’: Taiwanese gay fathers’ racial imaginaries and navigations of racial hierarchies in donor ova selection [酷異性或正常化？同志爸爸的跨國生殖實作策略與韌性]. Presented at 2024 Taiwanese Sociological Association Annual Conference. 23rd-24th November 2024. Taichung, Taiwan: Taiwanese Sociological Association [臺灣社會學年會]. (in Mandarin)
2024 From ‘Racial matching’ to ‘selective mixed-race privilege’: Taiwanese gay fathers’ strategic navigations of racial hierarchies in donor ova selection (In Session 5: Transnational reproduction and racial politics). Presented at Third Party Reproduction: Governance, Relatedness & Globalization [「第三方生殖：治理、連結性與全球化」國際研討會]. 19th-20th October 2024. Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Social Resilience Center at National Taiwan University [國立台灣大學臺灣韌性社會研究中心], the Department of Sociology at NTU, and the School of Medicine, College of Medicine at National Cheng Kung University [成功大學醫學系].
2024 (Re)producing ‘Mixed-Race Privilege’ in Queer Family-Making? Gay Fathers’ Navigation of Racial Hierarchy in Selecting Egg. Presented at European Sociological Association Annual Conference: Tension, Trust and Transformation. 27th-30th August 2024. Porto, Portugal: European Sociological Association (ESA).
2024 Cross-Strait Tongzhi Couples’ family building and reproductive imaginaries. Presented at Cambridge Humanity & Art Salon. 17th August 2024. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge.
2024 The racialised reproductive biomaterials in global fertility industry: The (re)making of white privilege among gay fathers and their mixed-race children. Presented at Anthropological Contributions to SRHR Future(s): From Theory to Practice and Back. 3rd-5th July 2024. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: University of Amsterdam.
2024 Malleable Moral Boundaries, Disparate Reproductive Mobilities: Taiwanese Gay Fathers’ Narratives and Reflections on ‘Ethical’ Surrogacy. Presented at Taiwan Society for Medical Anthropology Annual Meeting [臺灣醫療人類學學會年會]. 29th-30th June 2024. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica. (Presented online) (in Mandarin)
2024 Unequal accessibilities and hierarchical paths: A socioeconomic analysis of gay fathers’ transnational third-party reproduction. Presented at British Sociological Association Human Reproduction Study Group Annual Conference: Reproduction and Progress? Reflections and Revisions. 12th June 2024. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham (BSA).
2024 The emerging mixed-race privilege: Taiwanese gay fathers’ navigation through donor eggs selection in transnational third-party reproduction. Presented at AAS Annual Conference. 14th-17th March 2024. Seattle, Washington, US: Association for Asian Studies. (presented remotely)
2023 Unequal accessibilities to reproductive technologies: A socioeconomic analysis of Taiwanese gay fathers seeking transnational third-party reproduction. Presented at The Oxford Taiwan Studies Conference: Technology and Multi-Faceted Change in Taiwan and Globally. 27th September 2023. Oxford (University of Oxford, St Anthony’s College), UK: Oxford School of Global and Area Studies.
2023 Gendering the beginning of life: Taiwanese gay fathers’ decisions on embryo sex selection. Presented at Reproductive Technologies and the Remaking of Life and Death. 24th-25th August 2023. Copenhagen, Denmark: Aalborg University in Copenhagen.
2023 Navigating Time and Relationships: Gay Men’s Transnational Reproductive Journey towards Fatherhood. Presented at Mind the Gap: Disrupting Divisions. 29th-30th July 2023. London, UK: King’s College London, University of London.
2023 Taiwanese gay fathers’ navigation of embryo sex selection in transnational reproductive settings. Presented at Taiwan Europe Connectivity Workshop. 16th-21st July 2023. Tübingen, Germany: European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
2023 We are family: Taiwanese gay fathers’ strategic normalisation decision-making in transnational reproduction. Presented at European Association of Taiwan Studies Conference. 26th-28th June 2023. London, UK: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
2023 Creating families differently: Taiwanese gay fathers’ normalisation strategies in transnational third-party reproduction. Presented at British Sociological Association Human Reproduction Study Group Annual Conference: Reproduction and Progress? Reflections and Revisions. 22nd June 2023. London, UK: University College London (British Sociological Association).
2023 Normalising gay father families? Taiwanese gay men’s strategic decisions in transnational reproduction. Presented at Cambridge Queer Studies Conference. 13th May 2023. Cambridge, UK: Department of Education.
2023 Mobilising Reproduction in COVID-19 Time: Border Control, and Kinship Recognition of Taiwanese Gay Father’s Surrogacy Travel. Presented at Reproductive Justice in a (Post-)COVID World: Transnational Protest and Resistance. 18th-19th April 2023. Cambridge, UK: Downing College.
2023 Who am I standing for? The positionality of a lesbian researcher studying gay fathers’ reproduction, in the panel ‘Challenges facing LGBTQ+ researchers studying youth, education, and parenting’. Presented at LGBTQ+ Studies at Risk. 23rd-24th March 2023. London, UK: University College London.
2022 Coming out as gay fathers in Taiwan: displaying queer families as everyday life activism, in the panel ‘Multiple queer identities and practices in Taiwan’ (also as the moderator). Presented at 16th Annual Conference on Asian Studies: Bodies, Gender, Identities. 25th-26th November 2022. Olomouc, Czechia: Palacký University Olomouc.
2022 Reproductive Disparities: A Comparison between UK and Taiwan. Presented with Ana Carretero-Resino and Jhu Cin Rita Jhang, at 1st Taiwan-UK Conference on Sex, Gender, and Sexuality Health Research. 16th July 2022. Taiwan and UK: The Taiwan-UK SGS Health Research Network, UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology. (online)
2021 Becoming queer parents: How LGBTQ+ in Taiwan access transnational assisted reproductive technologies. Presented at Out Loud: Celebrating LGBTQ+ Research in Newnham’s MCR. 25th February 2021. Cambridge, UK: Newnham College. (online)
2021 Reproductive justice: Collaborating with NGO for law amendment in Taiwan. Presented at Research in the 21st century: Possibilities and Challenges Conference. 29th January 2021. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Economic and Social Research Council, Doctoral Training Partnerships. (online)
2018 Floating identity: Lesbians’ coming out strategies and boundary-crossing [認同的游移、跨界與逗留： 女同志的出櫃策略與身分政治]. Presented at 2018 Taiwanese Sociological Association Annual Conference: Sociology-In-Action. 1st-2nd December 2018. Hsinchu, Taiwan: Taiwanese Sociological Association [臺灣社會學年會].
2018 Lesbians’ identity and everyday life practices. Presented at 2018 Taiwan Studies Summer School Conference. 7th-12th July 2018. London, UK: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
2025-2028 National Science and Technology Council, Research Project Grant, Taiwan. [國家科學及技術委員會/新進人員研究計畫]
Cross-Strait intimacy and reproductive imaginaries: Transnational Tongzhi couples’ family building in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Macao [海峽兩岸的親密關係與生育想像：臺灣與中港澳跨國同志伴侶的成家實作]
NSTC 114-2410-H-001-006-MY3
1 June 2025 - 31 May 2028
2025 Taiwan STS Thesis Awards, Excellence Award [台灣科技與社會研究學會博士論文優等獎]
2023 Young Scholar Award (joint 1st Prize), European Association of Taiwan Studies
Awarded article: We are family: Taiwanese gay fathers’ strategic normalisation decision-making in transnational reproduction, published in NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies.
2013 Academic Achievement Award, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Full Scholarships
2020-24 Taiwan Cambridge Scholarship (4-year), Cambridge Trust, UK & Ministry of Education, Taiwan (臺灣劍橋百大獎學金)
2019 Taiwan Government Fellowship for PhD (4-year), Ministry of Education, Taiwan (declined) (108年教育部公費留學考試：社會科學學群／性別研究學門)
2014-15 International Exchange Scholarship (one-year), Taiwan National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan & Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany
Fieldwork Grants
2023 Research and Travel Award (Fieldwork), Newnham College, University of Cambridge, UK
2022 PhD Fieldwork Funding, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, UK
Conference Travel Grants
2023 Conference Grant for TechnoDeath Conference, Cambridge Trust, UK
2023 PhD Conference Grant, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, UK
2023 Workshop Funding, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany
2023 Travel grants for 2023 EATS Conference, European Association of Taiwan Studies
2023 Travel grants for LGBTQ+ Studies at Risk Conference, University College London, UK
2022 Research and Travel Award (Conference), Newnham College, University of Cambridge, UK
2022 Early Career Researchers Day Award, The Sociological Review, UK
2023 Guest Lecturer
Course: East Asian States and Societies
Dr Isabelle Cockel, School of Area Studies, Sociology, History, Politics and Literature, University of Portsmouth, UK
Lecture Title: An uneasy path towards fatherhood: Taiwanese gay men’s limited accessibility to transnational reproduction
2021 Supervisor
Paper: SOC10 Sociology of Gender: transnational feminism
Dr Julieta Chaparro Buitrago, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, UK
2017 Teaching Assistant
Course: Civil Society and Constitutional Democracy
Dr Shiau-Chi Shen, Centre for General Education, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
2016–2017 Teaching Assistant
Course: Introduction to Politics
Dr Shiau-Chi Shen, The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
2018–2020 Research Assistant (full-time)
Project: Living-Related Organ Donation Decision-Making: Gender, Power and Family Politics
Dr Ya-Ping Lin, Department of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taiwan
2017 Research Assistant (part-time)
Project: Skill Learning and Embodiment: Comparison of Trajectories and Learning Patterns of Young Migrant Workers in China and Young Farmers in Taiwan
Dr I-Chieh Fang, Institution of Anthropology, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
2015 –2016 Research Assistant (part-time)
Project: Annual Project on Bibliography-Building of Humanities and Social Science Research: Ancient Greek Philosophy
Dr Fei-Ting Chen, Institution of Philosophy, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
2018 Consultant (part-time)
Environmental Investigation Agency, London, UK
Peer-Reviews
(a) Journal reviewer: Journal of Homosexuality, Sexualities, LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Children & Society, NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies, Sexuality Research and Social Policy, Asian Ethnicity, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Ethnography, Families, Relationships and Societies, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, Human Fertility, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, Sociology of Health and Illness, Social Science & Medicine, 女學學誌, 科技、醫療與社會
(b) Monograph manuscript review: Berghahn Books
(c) Monograph proposal review: Routledge, Taylor & Francis
(d) Research project review & marking: 大專學生研究計畫審查、社會調查師
University of Cambridge
2025 MPhil Dissertation Marking (Sociology of Media and Culture track)
2020–2021 Coordinator, Sociology PhD Research Seminar Series