Life Path and Cultural Bridge: Vietnam Studies Development Program at NTHU

Since 2023, this center has been led by Associate Professor Chen Ruihua from the Institute of Sociology to implement the "Vietnamese Research Talent Development Program," aimed at nurturing a new generation of scholars in Vietnamese studies and promoting higher education exchanges between Taiwan and Vietnam. This year marks the third year of the program, which, in its first two years, was supported by our university's R&D Office through the Spark Project. During this period, participants have been trained and organized into research teams and have also traveled to Ho Chi Minh City for language learning and preliminary field investigations. Beginning in 2025, the program will be integrated into our university's USR “REAL-X: A Sustainable Development Support System from Migration to Livability.” During the summer, six team members will return to Vietnam to conduct interviews and surveys in cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Research topics include museum memory politics, contemporary Vietnamese art, post-war literary thoughts, literary museums, platform economy, street labor, and coffee culture. During the investigation, the team has engaged in exchanges with multiple departments at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, deepening academic cooperation. In the future, the team will organize workshops to consolidate field results and hold numerous events related to Vietnamese studies, continuing to promote research and talent development.