Chiu Yubin is an associate professor at the Department of Social Development at National Pingtung University in Taiwan and has a PhD in sociology from Essex University in the UK. Prior to his academic career, he was a union organizer and served as the first general secretary of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (2000–01). He was also the founding member of the Taiwan Tertiary Education Union in 2012 and has served as a member of national executive council since. His research interests focus on comparative labour movements, the sociology of work and employment, social movements and NGOs in new democracies.