Asian Scientists on the Move
Changing Science in a Changing Asia

Explore how Western-trained Asian-born scientists' return migrations are fueling and fueled by Asia's rise in the global scientific field.

Anju Mary Paul (Author)

9781108845618, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 December 2021

350 pages
23.5 x 16.1 x 2.5 cm, 0.71 kg

'Asian Scientists on the Move is a compelling analysis of how scientific mobility and the emergence of an Asian scientist migration system is changing scientific cultures in Asia in general and aspiring scientists' careers in particular. It provides novel insights into how these dynamic processes are lifting select Asian countries from the periphery to the core of global science and in the process lifting the gaze of the region's scientific community with aspirations for Asia as the new locus of knowledge creation.' Devesh Kapur, Starr Foundation Professor of South Asian Studies at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies

The growing scientific research output from Asia has been making headlines since the start of the twenty-first century. But behind this science story, there is a migration story. The elite scientists who are pursuing cutting-edge research in Asia are rarely 'homegrown' talent but were typically born in Asia, trained in the West, and then returned to work in Asia. Asian Scientists on the Move explores why more and more Asian scientists are choosing to return to Asia, and what happens after their return, when these scientists set up labs in Asia and start training the next generation of Asian scientists. Drawing on evocative firsthand accounts from 119 Western-trained Asian scientists about their migration decisions and experiences, and in-depth analysis of the scientific field in four country case studies - China, India, Singapore and Taiwan - the book reveals the growing complexity of the Asian scientist migration system.

Part I. Contexts: 1. Introduction
2. Four Case Studies of Science in Asia
Part II. Circulations: 3. Leaving Home, Heading West
4. Learning Science in the West
5. Return to the Future or the Past?
6. Asian Women Scientists on the Move
Part III. Consequences: 7. New Scientific Research Systems in a Changing Asia
8. Shifting Scientific Cultures in a Changing Asia
9. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Science funding & policy [PDK], Medical sociology [MBS]