People

Taipei team

The globally minded team at CAPRI’s main office are working to make Taipei a nexus of innovative ideas from all over the world.

INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Syaru Shirley Lin

Syaru Shirley Lin, research professor at the Miller Center and a nonresident senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and National Chengchi University in Taipei. Lin is the founder and chair of the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI) and a steering committee member of the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience under the World Economic Forum.

Her book, Taiwan’s China Dilemma, analyzes the impact of the evolution of Taiwanese national identity on cross-Strait economic policy. Lin is currently writing a book on the challenges facing high-income societies in Asia Pacific, including inequality, demographic decline, inadequate policy and technological innovation, and threats to public health and environmental sustainability. Her commentaries frequently appear in both English and Chinese media. Previously, she was a partner at Goldman Sachs, where she led the firm’s private equity and venture capital efforts in Asia.

DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION

Cecilia Yin

Cecilia Yin joined CAPRI in 2021 as part of its founding team.

Previously, Cecilia worked as an Executive Administrator in the Securities Division of Goldman Sachs (Asia) in the Hong Kong office from 1993 to 2015. She was responsible for administrative duties and client coordination for the Division, managing support staff and providing secretarial assistance to the Division Head.

Prior to joining CAPRI, Cecilia worked as Chief of Staff at Zheng He Capital, a private equity firm in Hong Kong, overseeing daily office operation, covering human resources-related matters and client events coordination.

Cecilia currently resides in Taipei, Taiwan.

DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PLANNING

Jessica Chao

Jessica joined CAPRI in 2024 as Director of Strategic Planning. Prior to that, she had a 15-year career in the financial industry, working in different capacities in banking, equity research, and strategic investment. She was involved in several landmark IPOs and M&A transactions such as TSMC. Her most recent stint was as the Executive Director of Firmwide Strategy at Goldman Sachs (Asia), based in Hong Kong. She also serves as an Asia advisor and a council member at the Focused Ultrasound Foundation.

Jessica was born and raised in Taipei. She received her bachelor’s in economics from National Taiwan University and her MBA in finance from Columbia University.

DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Yulan Hsu

Yulan Hsu joined CAPRI in 2022. Yulan has been involved in non-profit organizations (NPOs) management in Taiwan for over a decade, and currently serves as Director of Taiwan Women’s Link. She has extensive knowledge of strategic planning and interdepartmental coordination to assist decision-making in the organization and advise its long-term development.

Throughout her career, Yulan has held a strong commitment to women’s rights and social equality. She has led and contributed to various Taiwanese NPOs, including the National Alliance of Taiwan Women’s Associations, Legal Aid Foundation, Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation, and Ama Museum. She also served as the Secretary to the Commissioner of the Department of Social Welfare in Taipei City Government.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from National Taiwan University and a master’s degree in sociology from Soochow University.

INTERIM DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH

Caroline Fried

Caroline Fried joined the team that founded CAPRI in 2021. She has research experience in the economics, politics, development, and history of the Asia Pacific, particularly Taiwan and China. She has also researched the cross-border flows of students in higher education and the internationalization of higher education systems.

Before joining CAPRI, Caroline was an academic editor and research assistant in Taipei. Caroline hails from North Carolina, and she holds bachelor’s degrees in international affairs and history from Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Upon completing her undergraduate studies, Caroline was awarded a Fulbright grant to complete a master’s degree in Asia-Pacific studies at National Chengchi University, Taipei. She has called Taipei home since 2017.

SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE CHAIR AND RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Siwei Huang

Siwei Huang is part of the founding team of CAPRI. He has conducted interdisciplinary research on Taiwan, Hong Kong, and international affairs. Specifically, he has done research on the evolution of identity in Taiwan and Hong Kong, especially in the context of their relations with China. He has also examined the issues of environmental sustainability and internationalization in Taiwan, as well as the policy-making process in Hong Kong and its implications for state-society relations. He closely monitors developments in US-China relations and tracks how they affect various stakeholders in Asia.

Before joining CAPRI, Siwei was a research assistant at the Department of Social Sciences, Education University of Hong Kong. A native of Hunan, Siwei graduated from Hong Kong Baptist University in applied economics with First Honors and received his master’s degree in global political economy from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Having experienced the global-local nexus in Asia’s World City, Siwei values diversity and openness in the formation of a more vibrant and inclusive community.

Research Associate

Christine Cook

Dr. Christine Cook is a visiting assistant professor at National Chengchi University. She specializes in communication science and media psychology and is active in the International Communication Association (ICA). She is also a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication and the Journal of Media Psychology. The broad goals of her work are to increase online civility, and her work with CAPRI focuses on bringing the Asian perspective to work focused traditionally in the Western world.

Research Associate

Kirsten Lianne Mae Dedase

Kirsten Lianne Mae C. Dedase joined CAPRI in 2024 as a research associate, transitioning from her previous role as a sustainable banking specialist for an international NGO. Prior to that, she held positions as a senior researcher and project manager in academia, alongside her role as a senior lecturer teaching Public Administration and Economic Systems. Before entering academia, Kirsten gained extensive experience in business lending and finance, focusing on evaluating large corporations and small and midsize enterprises (SMEs).

With academic credentials in both public and private management, Kirsten holds a bachelor’s in public administration and a master’s in business management from the University of the Philippines. She aims to leverage her academic background to contribute to the field of international affairs. Kirsten’s research interests span disaster risk and climate financing, sustainable financing, international finance, and studies on MSMEs and other businesses.

Communications & Administrative Senior Associate

Samuel Chan

Samuel joined CAPRI in January 2024 after a varied career in journalism, communications, and entrepreneurship in Hong Kong and Taiwan. His reporting experiences range from talking to culture figures for Monocle, to covering the capital markets in Asia for Reuters and Acuris. He was also on the South China Morning Post team nominated for the 2015 Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award for reporting on the 2014 Hong Kong pro-democracy protests.

Beyond journalism, he led media and community engagement campaigns at a major hospital in Hong Kong and co-founded a start-up in 2021 that bridges freelance teachers with parents in Taiwan to create tailor-made classes for children. He has been based mainly in Taipei since 2015. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communications from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSOCIATE

Austen Wei

Austen joined CAPRI in December 2022. Prior to joining CAPRI, she coordinated several international programs at National Chengchi University (NCCU). She served as the dean’s secretary at the College of Global Banking and Finance at NCCU, where she managed budgeting, projects, and managerial administration to ensure the smooth and efficient running of the college’s operations.

Austen received her M.A. from Durham University, U.K., specializing in democratization in East Asia. She also studied English literature at National Sun Yat-Sen University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Editor and Administrative Associate

Sudeep Agarwal

Sudeep Agarwal joined CAPRI in November 2023. Prior to that, he worked as a medical writer and editor of academic papers, abstracts, and medical articles for nearly 10 years.

He obtained his medical degree in 2011, but decided to pursue a field that combined his interests in medicine and languages ​​- academic editing. He has extensive experience in editing research papers, books, and conference proceedings and was certified by the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS) in 2016. He has also worked on developing a grammar-checking software tool for academic documents and participated in seminars on linguistics and natural language processing.

Sudeep moved to Taipei from Mumbai in 2020. He loves reading, languages, hiking, and board games.

Research and Administrative Assistant

Emily Cheng

Emily Cheng joined CAPRI in August 2023 as part of the Princeton in Asia fellowship. After graduating from Princeton University in 2021 with a major in Molecular Biology, Emily worked at the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. With plans to pursue a career as a physician working in healthcare policy, she anticipates that her experience at CAPRI will introduce her to the decision-making process and stakeholders involved in bringing legislation to people and communities.

Research and Administrative Assistant

Hannah Semmes

Hannah Semmes joined CAPRI in August 2023 via the Princeton in Asia fellowship. She has research experience in education and information literacy, global health, and environmental security. She has a particular interest in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Before joining CAPRI, Hannah was a senior consultant at Guidehouse in Washington, DC. She has served in various roles across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Leadership & Public Policy with a specialization in Global Commerce from the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School. She served as the Class of 2020 commencement speaker for the University of Virginia, where she currently volunteers on the Batten Alumni Advisory Board. 

Upon completing her undergraduate studies, Hannah was awarded a Critical Language Scholarship from the State Department to study Bahasa Indonesia at Universitas Negeri Malang (UM). As economies develop, climate crises proliferate, and new technologies emerge, Hannah believes trust and collaboration will prevail as the common thread of global resilience.

COMMUNICATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Benson Lo

In September 2023, Benson Lo joined CAPRI while studying in the Global Communication and Innovation Technology Master’s Program at National Chengchi University. Benson has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Foreign Languages and Literature from National Cheng Kung University. Benson’s research focuses on the impact of new media and games on social relationships and psychological well-being in post pandemic. His work on new media and parasocial relationships was exhibited in the Taiwanese Psychological Association 2022 conference as both a poster and a video.

Before joining CAPRI, Benson was a digital marketing intern at 104 Corporation. Benson is also in charge of a Facebook fan page called “原創迪士尼 – Original Disney,” which has 12,000 followers.

INTERN

Fiona Collier

Fiona joined CAPRI in January 2024 through Northeastern’s co-op program. She is currently a 5th year majoring in International Business with a concentration in Marketing, while also pursuing a Chinese minor. Her research interest lies in East Asia, with a focus on international relations and economics. In addition, she has completed previous research in Taiwan, focusing on the LGBTQ+ community. Before joining CAPRI, Fiona worked at Education First as a Entreprenurial Sales and Business Development Co-op. While at CAPRI, she aspires to enhance her comprehension of geopolitics in East Asia.

INTERN

Willis Lin

Willis Lin is a sophomore at National Taiwan University, double majoring in International Relations and Drama and Theater. This unique combination derives from his aspiration to influence global change through academic research and practical policy advocacy. He actively engaged in debate competitions in high school and continues to coach the debate club. He completed an internship at the Taiwan Youth Association of Democracy. Interested in communications and convening, he organized, hosted, and publicized events for his university and the International Student Information Service Club.

At CAPRI, he seeks to develop his skills in policy research, aspiring to contribute significantly to global policy discussions and implementations.

International team

Our team spans the globe, bringing together diverse experiences, ideas, and perspectives.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSOCIATE AND RESEARCH COORDINATOR

Alistair Lang

Alistair Lang joined CAPRI in December 2022. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from University College London and a master’s in global governance and emerging markets from Birkbeck College. His research has included the economic and political changes in Indonesia and Mexico since the 1980’s and the role of foreign policy in Russian domestic politics.

Alistair has a background in finance, public policy, and communications. Before joining CAPRI, Alistair cofounded and managed the Reform for Resilience Commission, which was set up to address the need for more resilient and sustainable health and economic policy, as highlighted by the pandemic.

Currently based in Manchester, he is from the United Kingdom but has traveled extensively in the Asia-Pacific region and looks forward to seeing even more.

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Jacob Libby

Jacob Libby is a recent graduate from a two-year master’s program at the Yenching Academy of Peking University, where his research focused on the geopolitics of the US-China-Taiwan semiconductor trade and the broader challenges associated with export controls, foreign direct investment, and industrial policy in the region. Previously, Jacob completed his undergraduate degree in foreign affairs and Spanish at the University of Virginia. He has worked at the US Department of State, the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center, SupChina, and the Miller Center at UVA, conducting research on contemporary US-China relations and East Asian politics and economics.

He is deeply interested in the growth of East Asia’s technology sphere and plans to dedicate his career to fostering positive, productive relations between the US and East Asia toward a prosperous and innovative future in the face of collective challenges such as climate change and democratic erosion. He is currently pursuing a law degree at Harvard Law School in furtherance of that goal.