Neuropolitical researcher and activist, author of „Vulnerable Minds: The Neuropolitics of Divided Societies“ (ColumbiaUP, 2022), studies the neurological foundations underlying racism, polarization and nationalism. She develops a novel neuropolitical language to address those who we are most opposed to politically (including the far-right), in an attempt to pitch the social contract anew in our highly divided times.  A second-generation German-Chinese, she received her degrees from the University of Cambridge and Columbia University, and has taught and researched in the US, Germany and Taiwan.

What happens in my brain when I dehumanize you? How can we achieve humanization of all of our conflicted identities through politics, literature and art? These are the main questions that drive Dr. Yu’s work at the intersection of political science, social neuroscience and literature. Next to her research work, Dr. Yu has been an artist-in-residence in Taipei, where she worked on her novel about the Chinese diaspora, ethnonationalism and democratization in China. She splits her time between Berlin and Taipei, where is engaged in anti-Asian racism activism and strengthening Taiwanese civil society.