Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS)Waseda University

Name

LI, Qiaoyan

Degree

Ph.D. in Sociology

HP (URL)

https://www.qiaoyanrosenberg.com/

Status

Assistant Professor

Research Topic

The Specified Skilled Worker Program and Integration Policies in Practice

With liberalization of guest worker programs progressing in the world, Japan established the Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) Program in 2018 to address the soaring labor shortage. Despite its expanded freedom and rights, the SSW program has not attracted adequate numbers of migrant workers to meet the burgeoning labor demand. This project seeks to understand migrant workers and their family members’ mobility choices and integration experiences in the SSW Program. I will adopt a multi-scale research approach to examine how different levels of integration policies intersect with institutions, shaping the decision-making of SSW workers and their family members’ mobility choices and settlement. It will shed light on how to address issues of social integration to attract and retain migrant workers, upon which Japan’s socio-economic sustainability and regional revitalization are dependent. Results from the project will have policy implications on how to improve Japan’s competitive advantages in the regional competition for migrant workers.

Education and Academic Employment

Education

Academic Employment

Fields of Research Interests

International Migration; Economic Sociology; Gender, and Reproductive Health and Rights; Labor Migration in Japan and East Asia; Citizenship and Integration; Labor Studies; Globalization and Human Rights; Ethnography; Comparative Historical Method.

Academic Publications

• Li Rosenberg, Qiaoyan. 2025. “Liberal Reform of Guest Worker Programs: Challenges to Labor Mobility Governance.” International Migration Review, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251363544
• Li Rosenberg, Qiaoyan. 2024. “The Control and Agency Dialectic of Guest Worker Programmes: Evidence from Chinese Construction Workers in Japan’s Technical Intern Training Program (TITP).” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 50 (16): 4215–33.
  https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2023.2208739
• Holbrow, Hilary J., and Qiaoyan Li Rosenberg. “Japan Has to Do More for Migrant Rights Than Drop ‘Intern’ Label.” Nikkei Asia, March 1, 2024.

Other Interests

Hiking, Running, Science Fiction Movie

Affiliated Academic Organizations

American Sociological Association (ASA)
Association for Asian Studies (AAS)
International Sociological Association (ISA)
International Studies Association (ISA)
Japan Association for Migration Policy Studies (JAMPS)
Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA)
Law and Society Association (LSA)
The Japan Sociological Society (JSS)

Awards

2025-2026 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University
2025  “United States-Japan Foundation Scholar” Dissertation Award
2024-2025  Dissertation Year Award, UCLA
2023-2024  Sasakawa Graduate  Fellowship, UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies
2023-2024  Dorothy L. Meier Dissertation  Fellowship, UCLA Department of Sociology
2023-2024  Paula Stone Legal Research Fellowship, UCLA Center for the Study of Women
2024  Graduate Student Travel Grant, Association for Asian Studies Conference Japan Studies
2023 & 2021 Summer Fellowship, UCLA Department of Sociology
2022  Notehelfer Prize for Best Unpublished Paper, UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies
2020-2021  Fulbright – Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
2019-2020  Graduate Research Mentorship, UCLA
2019   Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, UCLA
2018  Herbert and Helen Kawahara Fellowship, UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies
2018  Hiroshi Wagatsuma Memorial Fellowship, UCLA Asia Pacific Center
2017-2018  Graduate Student Fellowship, UCLA Department of Sociology
2014-2015  Japan Nitori International Scholarship