Ya Hsuan (Wendy) Lin, Recipient of the 2026 Best Undergraduate Paper in International Development Studies Prize
The Institute for the Study of International Development congratulates Wendy Lin, recipient of this year’s Best Undergraduate Paper in International Development Studies Prize. Wendy is a Joint Honours International Development Studies and Cultural Studies graduate with a minor in East Asian Language and Literatures. She received the award for her honours thesis, “來來去去 – Coming and Going: A Qualitative Study on First- and 1.5-Generation Taiwanese Return Migration.”
Based on original qualitative research, Wendy’s thesis includes 17 in-depth interviews conducted across Canada and Taiwan. Through analyses of migrants’ navigating of life-course transitions, intergenerational care, and transnational belonging, the paper foregrounds return migration as an element of global householding that is shaped by care responsibilities and flexible citizenship. The committee commended Wendy’s thesis project for its ambition and its effective integration of material gained through interviews with migrants in Canada and Taiwan. Her work stood out for its nuance and for its focus on return migration as an issue that is too often overlooked in the scholarly literature.
Wendy originally submitted the thesis as part of her INTD 491 Honours Thesis course, supervised by Professor Maria Hwang.