EVENT

Register for our Ukraine and Taiwan experiences: The Resilience of Democracy panel with Ms. Oleksandra Matviichuk, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate!

Oleksandra Matviichuk is a human rights lawyer, head of the Center for Civil Liberties that works to defend freedom and human dignity in Ukraine and the OSCE region. She has experience in creating horizontal structures for massive involvement of people in human rights activities against attacks on rights and freedoms, as well as a multi-year practice of documenting violations during armed conflict. She is the author of a number of reports to various UN bodies, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE and the International Criminal Court.

After the beginning of Russian full-scale invasion, Matviichuk together with other partners created the ‘Tribunal for Putin’ initiative in order to document international crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in all regions of Ukraine, including the occupied territories.

 In 2016 she received the Democracy Defender Award for "Exclusive Contribution to Promoting Democracy and Human Rights" from OSCE. In 2017 she became the first woman to participate in the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program of Stanford University. In 2022 Oleksandra Matviichuk was awarded with the Right Livelihood Award, the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament and recognized as one of the 25th influential women in the world by Financial Times. In 2022 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for the work of her organization the Center for Civil Liberties. In 2025 she received the Dutch Auschwitz Award.

Chiao-Hui Su is a lawyer and legislator in Taiwan. Since 2016, she has served in the Legislative Yuan on the Education and Culture Committee and the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, and she currently serves on the Internal Administration Committee. Her legislative work focuses on advancing policies in the cultural and creative industries, strengthening education and healthcare, promoting environmental sustainability, shaping immigration and labor policy, and supporting emerging technologies, including space science,biotechnology, and artificial intelligence. Since 2020, Chiao-Hui has hosted Ottermama Chiao, a podcast featuring engaging stories and a fun, bite-sized Taiwanese language class for young children. Ms. Su will represent the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the 2026 New Taipei City mayoral election.

Hsiu-hua Shen is a feminist academic at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. Her research explores gender, migration, family, and border studies with a focus on Taiwan, China, and Taiwan-China relations. Her book on the widows of the 228 Massacre takes a gendered perspective on state violence and memory, offering influential insights that have reshaped interpretations of this pivotal event in Taiwan’s history. Hsiu-hua was the former president of Awakening Foundation, Taiwan. As conflicts and wars increasingly influence Taiwan and global politics, Hsiu-hua works across scholarship and activism to bring feminist insights to understanding and responses to crises.

Since August 2025, Tietz serves as the Director General for German Institute Taipei. He began his career in the German Foreign Service in 2000. From 2011 to 2012, he was the Deputy Head of the Division of International Civil, Economic, Trade and Tax Law, and from 2018 to 2021, he became the Head of the same division. He has served as Deputy Consul General in Hong Kong from 2015 to 2018, and Head of the Cultural and Press Section at the German Consulate General in San Francisco, USA, from 2006 to 2009. From 2002 to 2006, he was Head of Legal and Consular Affairs at the German Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. In 2004, he led the crisis team in Phuket following the tsunami in Southeast Asia. Prior to joining German Foreign Service, from 1998 to 2000, he served as Assistant to the Board at Allianz AG. In 1995, he became the youngest ever member of the Hamburg State Legislature, one of the 16 federal states of Germany. He holds a Master of Laws degree from Duke University in the USA and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Hamburg.