[citation needed] Born in Taiwan, she was brought up in New Zealand.
She began her academic career at the University of Otago, where she completed a master's degree in 1987,[3] then moving to Oxford, initially as a research fellow funded by the Rhodes Trust.
[4][5] In 2021, she called for anti-racism training across Oxford University, relying on personal anecdotal material.
[6] She launched the #RaceMeToo Twitter campaign to draw attention to racism allegedly faced by affected academics.
[7] A notable doctoral student of Chen-Wishart is Jodi Gardner, Brian Coot Chair in Private Law at the University of Auckland.