Hi! I am Wasiq Silan (I-An Gao 高怡安). I am a PhD candidate at the Doctoral Programme in Political, Societal and Regional Change at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki (BA National Taiwan University; MA University of Helsinki). My research concerns social policy and Indigenous peoples, with Tayal people in Taiwan as a focus.

During my BA, I visited Peking University as a student representative from political science department at the National Taiwan University. During my MA, I worked as an intern at the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law at the Arctic Center in Rovaniemi and as a collaborative researcher at National Chengchi University (NCCU) in Taipei. For four years, I have been actively participating United Nations Permanent Forum on the Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) as NGO delegate from Taiwan Indigenous Peoples. I was awarded SUPRA scholarship from Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) June-July 2017. I worked as a salaried position doctoral researcher under the Swedish School of Social Science (2018-2020).

I am currently affliated to the Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations and Nationalism (CEREN) and my dissertation is funded by the prestigious Finnish Cultural Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in Europe.

I attended World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium 2019 and 5th Indigenous Voices in Social Work conference in Hualien, from which I realized it is time to commit to my identity as an Indigenous scholar. The transition from using my westernized name 'Grace' to my Indigenous and Han Chinese names deepened my research interests concerning indigeneity, knowledge, naming, language and power.  

My research deals with Indigenous Peoples and how indigeneity is tackled in the policy framing in the context of long-term care. In doing so, the research aims to contribute to a more profound understanding of how social and cultural rights can be accommodated as far as Indigenous Peoples are concerned. The main case study for the study is Taiwan and Tayal Indigenous people, with critical reflection drawn from the Sámi and Finland.

In 2017, I taught an online course pertaining to Indigenous ways of knowing in the context of a course "Sustainability and Social Work" at MacEwan University, Canada. In the Spring of 2018, I taught two intensive courses concerning Taiwan Indigenous Peoples in Austronesia in Palacký University, Czech Republic. In Autumn 2018, I will be co-organizing a couple of courses/mentoring targetting for the students in the Ethnic Relations, Cultural Diveristy and Integration (ERI) program and Master's Programme in Contemporary Societies (COS).

I am a cultural entrepreneur and an educator. I have been teaching Mandarin Chinese to children and adults in a local Finnish start-up company in Helsinki since 2016. I have extensive experience in freelance interpreting (Mandarin Chinese-English) and hosting events.

Master's Degree Programme in Ethnic Relations, Cultural Diversity and Integration (ERI), Master of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki

2011 → 2014