PESHAWAR: Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University of Malakand, Dr Murad Ali, has been awarded the prestigious Taiwan Fellowship 2026, becoming only the fourth Pakistani scholar to receive the highly competitive award and the first from the country to be selected in the past five years.
The fellowship, sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is among the most prestigious international research programmes in Asia. It supports leading foreign scholars undertaking advanced research on Taiwan, the Asia-Pacific region, cross-strait relations, and other subjects of strategic and global significance. Each year, around 100 scholars from more than 90 countries are selected through a rigorous international competition.
Dr Murad selection is being viewed as a recognition of his scholarly contributions to the fields of international relations, China studies, and Sinology. Over the years, he has established himself as one of Pakistan’s leading voices on China’s rise, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and evolving Sino-Pakistan relations.
An accomplished academic and researcher, Dr Murad is the author of two internationally acclaimed books, The Politics of US Aid to Pakistan and Sino-Pakistan Partnership Under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Burden of Expectations. His research has appeared in leading international journals and has contributed significantly to scholarly debates on regional connectivity, development cooperation, and geopolitical transformations across Asia.
As part of the fellowship, Dr Murad will conduct advanced research in collaboration with Professor Dr Chang-Ling Huang, Director of the Global Asia Research Centre (GARC) and Professor of Political Science at National Taiwan University, the country’s highest-ranked and most prestigious university. The collaboration is expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of emerging political, economic, and strategic dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region.Academic circles have termed Dr Murad selection a significant milestone.
