In Picture at Left: Laurent Mayali, Professor and Faculty Chair, Berkeley Law, and Sheng Hsin Chang, President, Judge Academy Taiwan, signed an MoU to foster scholarly work and culture exchange on Nov 20, 2024.
Within the past two years, the Berkeley Law Visiting Scholars Program (VSP) has successfully signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) in 2023 and 2024, respectively, with the SupremeCourt of Korea (NCA), Judge Academy Taiwan (JA Taiwan), and the National Taiwan University School of Political Science and Economics (NTU SPE).
The five-year MOU between Berkeley Law VSP and other institutions will explore a range of international collaborations on mutually beneficial visiting scholar exchange programs, symposiums, and scholarly research endeavors. The vision behind the Visiting Scholars Program's international collaboration is aligned with its purpose of cultural exchange and learning. It has also been fostering such connections with other like-minded countries.
From August 2021 to January 2025, Berkeley Law VSP has also made tremendous efforts to assist the Berkeley Human Rights Center in bringing scholars from Afghanistan and other at-risk regions to UC Berkeley. The VSP is delighted to successfully invite five scholars to participate in the Berkeley Law Visiting Scholars Program.
The admitted scholars come from a diverse range of backgrounds spanning 23 countries. As of 2024, over 50% of our visiting scholars are from South Korea, 15% are from Japan, and 13% are from China and Taiwan. Theremaining scholars are from the US, Brazil, Israel, Mexico, India, and Europe.
In October 2024, VSP's first one-day symposium provided a platform for its scholars to share their research, insights, and perspectives with a targeted audience and other scholars. By providing closer connections and networking opportunities and under the supervision of distinguished professors and scholars from Berkeley Law School, research scholars commented in their success stories that they could dive deep into their research and publish books and articles when they returned to their home countries.
In an interview with Berkeley Law VSP Director Caroline Cheng, she highlighted the program’s commitment to fostering international partnerships and welcoming exceptional scholars to conduct research and engage in Berkeley Law’s academic activities, contributing to groundbreaking achievements.
In Picture from Left to Right:
Shu-Chuan Chang, Chief of Academic Affairs, JA Taiwan; Caroline Cheng, Director, Visiting Scholars Program, Berkeley Law; Sheng Hsin Chang, President, Judge, JA Taiwan; Laurent Mayali, Professor and Faculty Chair, Berkeley Law; Hsiu-Chen Chen, Judge, Chief Secretary, JA Taiwan; Yuan-Fei Liu, Judge, Head of the R&D Department, and Adjunct Lecturer, JA Taiwan; Lois Huang, Administrative Director of the R&D Department, JA Taiwan