Niki J.P. Alsford is Professor in Asia Pacific Studies and Head of Asia Pacific Institutes at the University of Central Lancashire (UClan). He is also Research Associate at the Centre of Taiwan Studies at SOAS, University of London and Research Fellow at the Ewha Institute of Unification Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. Trained in Anthropology, Alsford’s research focuses primarily on comparative ethnography within the Asia Pacific region. Chief among these is an engagement with Austronesian migration and the anthropology of maritime cultures of Pacific islands. His focus has had reference to sea-bound myths and legends of both Near and Remote Oceania as well as other Pacific bordering nations. His present work is bridging a cognitive divide in environmental discussions between indigenous leaders and climate science. He is author of Transitions to Modernity in Taiwan: The Spirit of 1895 and the Cession of Formosa to Japan, published by Routledge in 2017. He is book series editor for the Taiwan series at BRILL and the Korean series at Routledge. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Explorer’s Club. He also works as the Country-of-Origin Expert for Taiwan, the Pacific Islands, and North Korea for AMERA International and the International Refugee Rights Initiative.
