Experience, Education, and Honors
💼Professional Experiences
✊🏼 Nonprofit & Social Innovation
Awakening Cooperative Lab
Founder & Director | Jan 2012 – Present Launched a transnational lab for social innovation, systems design, and education transformation that has supported over 3,000 stakeholders across Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China.
Led national education campaigns such as Education Bypass Surgery, connecting over 100 youth to >10 local social hubs, sparking pathways of self-directed, socially meaningful learning.
Developed and prototyped frameworks such as Learning by Caring and Allocation Dependence, adopted and cited by nonprofit and academic partners.
Built collaborations with key institutions like the Ministry of Digital Affairs, National Development Council, and Konrad Adenauer Foundation; contributed to award-winning initiatives.
Founded and edited Awakening Magazine, based on the "Reflexive Media" model, reaching >5,000 subscribers and contributing to transformational youth success stories, including a dropout winning Taiwan’s Presidential Education Award.
Organized pioneering livestream discussions with education leaders, including Sir Ken Robinson — the first in-person Taiwanese interview of its kind.
ZA Share (Taiwan)
Research & International Affairs Advisor | Sep 2023 — Present
Director of Research & International Affairs | Apr 2020 – Aug 2023 Played a lead role in Taiwan’s largest educational innovation platforms that reach 30–60k annual participants.
Spearheaded the winning proposal for a NTD$10 million grant from the National Development Council by presenting a systems-based framework for integrating digital transformation, regional revitalization, and education reform.
Developed educational programs designed to foster post-pandemic resilience, anti-fragility, and regional equity.
TabiFuku (Japan)
Consultant | Oct 2024 – Present Advising on the integration of hospitality with community empowerment and education reform initiatives across Japan and Taiwan.
IRAEEH – International Research & Action Alliance for Experimental Higher Education
Founder & Director | Oct 2019 – Present Launched a think-and-do tank advancing experimental higher education under Taiwan's legal framework.
Organized the 2020 founding unconference, attracting 200+ regional stakeholders and national education leaders.
Featured in major Taiwanese media as a hub for knowledge and policy on higher education reform.
See also: Academia as Distributed Knowledge-Ecosystems for Collective Transformation 🕸️ East Asia Dojo for Transdisciplinary Research and Praxis (2025–)
Only Experimental Education
Research Development Consultant & Chief Editor | Jul 2017 – Present Partnered with the organization to champion education access for marginalized and economically disadvantaged youth.
Developed scalable learner-directed models that led to government-backed regional education pilots.
Produced widely read media coverage that boosted national visibility and support.
Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO, USA)
International Representative of Taiwan | 2012 – Present Actively facilitated cross-border collaborations and represented Taiwan in global alternative education spaces.
Led the filming of the 2012 AERO conference, co-organized the 2017 AERO conference, and supported Greater China’s integration with international education initiatives (e.g., EDiversity).
Dao Dao Education (Taiwan)
Mentor, the inaugural Dao Dao Learning Marathon | Nov 2024 – Jul 2025 Guided at-risk youth in social innovation projects focused on school refusal, rights advocacy, and systems thinking.
EDiversity (Hong Kong)
Consultant & Ambassador | Sep 2014 – Oct 2014 Helped the nonprofit define its theory of change through systems thinking and strategic storytelling, and promoted its founding conference through documentary screenings in Hong Kong.
Design for Change Taiwan
Jury Member | 2011, 2012 & 2016 Provided constructive evaluations to over 300 student-led social change initiatives; promoted values-driven youth leadership.
🏛 Government & Think Tank
The Institutional Architecture Lab
Inaugural Fellow, TIAL Fellowship | Sep 2025 — Present
Taiwan Ministry of Education, Youth Administration
Judge, Inaugural Taiwan Global Pathfinder Initiative | Mar – May 2025
Selected as one of the inaugural judges for Taiwan’s Global Pathfinder Initiative.
Evaluated over 300 proposals from a pool of 4,000+ applicants aged 18–30, assessing global internships and initiatives for social good.
Provided high-quality, developmental feedback to young changemakers across fields.
Taiwan Ministry of Digital Affairs
Policy Researcher | Sep 2024 – Nov 2024
Tasked with urgent, high-level policy research on the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) and eSSIF-Lab for cross-border identity and data interoperability, co-authored a 94-page strategic report.
Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS, Asia-Pacific), KASpaces Taiwan
Project Director & Research Lead | Sep 2021 – Mar 2024
Curated the 2021 Taiwan National Conference on Education and Equity, attracting 200+ stakeholders and influencing international education discourse.
Elevated Taiwan’s profile on the global stage, resulting in the selection of a Taiwanese education innovator as keynote speaker and other civic and legislative representatives at the KASpaces Asia Roundtables and workshops.
Invited to lead an Asia-Pacific Mayor’s Education Roundtable in Taiwan, although ultimately canceled due to rising geopolitical tensions.
Represented Taiwan at KAS Singapore and co-authored 2 strategic publications.
Taiwan National Development Council (NDC)
R&D Fellow, Education Innovation for Regional Revitalization | Aug 2020 - Aug 2022
Developed a Qian-Tsao Regional Revitalization Education Model, now being studied for national replication to counter rural exodus and skill mismatch.
Curator & Host, Taiwan International Education Summit | Aug 2020 – Aug 2021
Designed and hosted two high-level summits reaching 1,000+ registrants from Asia and the West, with speakers such as Sir Geoff Mulgan and Daniel Christian Wahl.
[Anonymized] Taiwan Political Think Tank
Program Developer, Education Agenda 2032 | Nov 2021 – Apr 2022
Authored strategic frameworks for transdisciplinary education reform; although the project was halted due to leadership turnover, its preliminary documents continue to inform civic discussions.
Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education
Assistant Researcher | Mar 2020 – Aug 2021
Conducted comparative research on experimental higher education in Japan and Korea.
Contributed to a policy pivot toward an “ecological university” framework, replacing earlier models based on elite Western institutions.
🎓 Academia & School
Soochow University, School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Project Manager & Educator | Mar 2025 – Present
Designing and piloting one of Taiwan’s earlier international transdisciplinary undergraduate prototypes under the Ministry of Education's Future University Initiative, which involves co-leading a group of high school and undergraduate students to Tokyo for joint research & project-based learning at Tekisen Democratic University, a partner of IRAEEH.
International Association for Critical Realism (IACR)
Council Member | Jan 2025 – Dec 2027
Serves to promote post-positivist scholarship and East Asian engagement.
Japan Association of Synthetic Anthropology (JASA)
Board Member | Jun 2022 – Jun 2026
Youngest and only international board member.
Hosted JASA’s first international workshop through collaboration with IRAEEH.
Spearheads organization-wide reforms in indexing, publishing, digital transformation, internationalization, youth engagement, etc.
National Taiwan University
Policy Developer | May – Jul 2022
Drafted campaign policy for a Presidential Candidate (now Deputy Minister of Education).
Ednovators (Hong Kong)
External Lecturer | Apr 2017 & Apr 2018
Delivered training on systems thinking and sociology of education to transform school-level practices.
National Chung Kung University, Institute of Education
External Lecturer | Feb 2015 – Jun 2015
Co-taught curriculum on instructional and systems design, infusing self-exploration into teacher training.
Humanity Experimental High School (Taiwan)
Curriculum Designer & Teacher | Sep 2012 – Jun 2013
Designed and led a 2-month immersive field project in Japan for high school students, combining travel, research, and project-based/self-directed learning.
🗞 Media & Journalism
CommonWealth Education Media & Publishing Contributing Correspondent | Jul 2017 – Mar 2018
Wrote in-depth educational stories, including the first major piece on Only Experimental Education and Sir Ken Robinson.
If There is a Reason to Study (Documentary Film)
Director & Producer | Mar 2009 – Dec 2016
Led Taiwan’s most impactful student-directed documentary on education reform, screened at >10 film festivals, grossed NTD$1.5M, and influenced national policy to abolish a major standardized test (BCT).
Provided “Learning by Caring” opportunities to teens, including a dropout-turned-award-winning sustainability YouTuber.
FutureFamily Magazine, CommonWealth Publishing
Contributing Correspondent & Column Editor | May 2015 – Nov 2016
Produced the first Taiwanese stories about the Minerva University and the Thiel Fellowship.
Launched and curated the Awakening column, featuring teen-written pieces for parents to foster intergenerational learning.
National Education Radio (Taiwan)
Producer & Co-Host | May 2016 – Aug 2016
Created a radio series based on the If There is a Reason to Study brand and grounded in youth inquiry, expanding the Reflexive Media model to national airwaves.
🏫 School & Professional Development
🧾 Schooling Experience
Complexity Global School, Santa Fe Institute Jul – Dec 2025 — Admitted to <15% acceptance program with a proposal to work on Allocation Dependence, Learning by Caring, and Critical Realist Agent-Based Approach.
Soochow University (Philosophy, Master’s) Sep 2021 – Jun 2025 — Invited to:
join without a bachelor's degree based on professional accomplishments and a social innovation portfolio;
initiate the university’s first student-led curriculum reform prototype;
assist high school outreach on public philosophy.
Tekisen Democratic University (Japan) Nov 2017 – Dec 2019 — Conducted ethnographic research on a new global elite university and studied Japanese sociological theories and sociology of education under the supervision of Dr. Kageki Asakura.
Minerva University (USA) 2016–2016, 2018–2019 — First Taiwanese student, acceptance rate <2%. Pioneered the development of the student rights infrastructure, which was lacking during its founding.
Soochow University (Philosophy, Undergraduate) Sep 2014 – Jun 2015
Humanity Experimental School under the Zhanfu/Nature Nurturing Education System (Taiwan) 2003 – 2014 — First democratic public charter school in Taiwan; has been empowered by the school with lifelong self-directed learning and radical interdisciplinarity from age 8 onward.
📜 Certificates
Blue Belt Systems Trainer, taught by Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera at Plectica/Cornell (2020)
Systems Thinking, taught by Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera at Cornell University (2020)
The Challenges of Global Poverty, taught by Drs. Esther Duflo and Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee at MITx (2020)
Japan Language Proficiency Test N1 (2019)
Systems Thinking and Complexity, UNESCO UNITWIN Complex Systems Digital Campus (2017)
Systems Thinking In Public Health, Johns Hopkins University on Coursera (2016)
The Science of Happiness, taught by Drs. Dacher Keltner & Emiliana Simon-Thomas at the University of California, Berkeley on edX (2015)
Plus 10+ additional certifications
🏅 Funding, Awards & Honors
2022 Wen-Chen Solicitude Award
2020 National Development Council Grant, NT$10M (Co-author and presenter, ZA Share)
10+ Selections & Awards for Documentary Film
2016 Humanitarian Award – World Documentary Awards (Indonesia)
2015 "For Youth by Youth One to Watch" – Asian American International Film Festival
2015 Opening Film — Taiwan Youth Film Festival
2014 Second-runner up, Features — Hong Kong Chinese Documentary Film Festival
2014–2023 recognition at other festivals across Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, the UK, and the USA
2015 Becoming Aces: 30 under 30 – The News Lens
2012 Fubon Foundation Grant – For Awakening Magazine
2012 Winner of Youth Social Enterprise Pitching Contest at the Taiwan International Conference for Social Entrepreneurship — for Awakening Magazine
2010 Ten Outstanding Documentary Projects – Public Television Service & National Culture and Arts Foundation
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