Science on the Move: Talent Circulation in an Age of Global Competition and Risk

• In Event: Asian American Scientists and US-Asian Scientific Interaction

English Abstract

Against the backdrop of mounting global competition and bilateral geopolitical tensions between the US and China, this project explores circular migration among highly skilled Chinese professionals in the biopharmaceutical industry, a critical national security asset for both countries. Through a mixed-method and multi-sited comparative study in two major biotech cities, Boston and Shanghai, I identify the emigration, immigration, and return migration processes that are situated in personal and political considerations. I will address the following overarching question: why do these highly skilled Chinese biotech workers make varied and unsettled migration decisions, and what social inequalities does this yield? Specifically, I ask (1) why, how, and when does brain circulation for high-tech Chinese workers take place? (2) what social inequalities does the biotech industry preference yield? (3) how does this migratory workforce interpret and make meaning from their complex experiences of both the “American Dream” and the “Chinese Dream?

Author

• Shunan You