SSEAC Newsletter
March 2021 edition
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Welcome to the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre's Newsletter.
Below you will get a glimpse of some of our current research projects, education initiatives, development programs, news, and past and upcoming events.
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Politics in Action 2021
Mark your calendar! Our annual Politics in Action Forum is back on Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 May 2021, streaming live updates on political developments in Southeast Asia to your very own screen.
Drawing upon expertise from around the world, these presentations will provide up-to-date information on Southeast Asia relevant to scholars, students, practitioners and the general public.
In this public forum, invited experts will provide an analysis of the current political situation in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and discuss the broader implications of events in these countries for our region.
In 2021, our exciting lineup of speakers include:
- Cambodia – Dr Astrid Norén-Nilsson (University of Lund)
- Indonesia – Dr Burhanuddin Muhtadi (Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University)
- Myanmar – Professor Melissa Crouch (UNSW Sydney)
- The Philippines – Professor Maria Ela L. Atienza (University of the Philippines-Diliman)
- Singapore – Dr Elvin Ong (National University of Singapore)
- Thailand – Professor Duncan McCargo (University of Copenhagen)
Each of our country-specialists will present for up to 15 minutes, followed by a short Q & A session. They are instructed to pitch their talk to an interested, but not necessarily academic, audience so the talks are able to be enjoyed by a wide range of people. These talks should be particularly valuable to non-political scientists working in one or more Southeast Asian countries.
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Asia Study Grant Success
Congratulations to Professor Adrian Vickers who has been awarded a competitive 2021 Asia Study Grant by the National Library of Australia for his research on Indonesian, Malaysian and Netherlands Indies sources on Australia from 1930–1970.
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Plastics recycling goes global
Mura Technologies in the United Kingdom has entered a commercial partnership with KBR, a global science and engineering firm, to deliver Cat-HTR™ plastics recycling technology to industrial and government customers in more than 80 countries.
Mura is the British licensee of the Cat-HTR™ process, which is owned by Australian company Licella Holdings, jointly founded by Professor Thomas Maschmeyer from the University of Sydney Nano Institute and School of Chemistry.
Professor Maschmeyer was last year awarded the 2020 Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in recognition of his outstanding commercial translational science in plastics recycling and renewable energy storage with battery technologies.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Duncan Ivison said: “It is wonderful to see that our more than 12 years of multi-disciplinary support for this innovative technology has helped facilitate this partnership of global importance.”
If you'd like to know more about Professor Maschmeyer's work, listen to his interview on SSEAC Stories where he talks about beating plastic pollution in Timor-Leste.
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2021 New Face of Civil Engineering
Each February, the American Society of Civil Engineers marks Engineers Week by honouring 10 young professionals as New Faces of Civil Engineering. Dr Opdyke was extensive expertise in the field of humanitarian engineering, with a particular focus on disaster risk reduction and resilience programs. He has volunteered with Engineers Without Borders on projects in India, Thailand, and Nicaragua. In 2014, he worked as an engineer for Build Change in the Philippines on housing reconstruction in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan. He then returned to the Philippines as a Peace Corps Response volunteer working on disaster risk reduction programs. His more recent work includes projects in Haiti, Bangladesh, and Timor-Leste. Dr Opdyke is also the SSEAC Philippines Country Coordinator.
If you'd like to know more about Dr Aaron Opdyke's work, listen to his interview on SSEAC Stories where he talks about disaster resilience and humanitarian response in the Philippines.
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RN Spann Scholarship Success
Congratulations to Omar Elkharouf who has been awarded the RN Spann Scholarship for his PhD research which looks at public policy models aiming to alleviate food system inequities. Omar is a PhD student with the Department of Government and International Relations and a Research Assistant for FoodLab Sydney in the Sydney Environment Institute. He has a passion for social/environmental justice, urban geographies, sustainable food systems and intersectionality, with a particular interest in Southeast Asia.
In 2014, Omar participated in a SSEAC interdisciplinary field school assessing public housing policy in Singapore. He describes this unique field-based experience as what propelled his interest in Southeast Asia, forming the basis of his involvement in a semester-long Indonesian Immersion Program, funded through a New Colombo Plan Mobility Grant in 2015. Building on these experiences, Omar deepened his engagement with Southeast Asia as a Faculty of Science Summer Scholar in 2017. During this time, he contributed to an ARC Discovery Project lead by Professor Bill Pritchard, entitled ‘Explaining food and nutrition insecurity under conditions of rapid economic and social change: A nutrition-sensitive analysis of livelihood decision-making in rural Myanmar’. Omar's subsequent Honours thesis aimed to assess the ways that civil society actors based in Myanmar conceive and describe the food problems in their rural agrarian communities, and therefore, the best means to address them. His current PhD research builds upon this substantial experience in the field of food studies to explore how different policy environments can enable or constrain the development of food-related social enterprises in the Australian context.
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Promotions galore!
Congratulations to our many academic members from across the University who successfully applied for academic promotion in 2020, including:
Level E
- Damien Field, Faculty of Science
- Gregory Fox, Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Elizabeth New, Faculty of Science
- Siegbert Schmid, Faculty of Science
- Daniel Tan, Faculty of Science
Level D
- Michelle Dickson, Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Paul Hick, Faculty of Science
- Zakia Hossain, Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Alejandro Montoya, Faculty of Engineering
- Joyce Nip, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- Debra Shirley, Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Warren Reed, Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Justin Scanlan, Faculty of Medicine and Health
Level C
- Sinead Boylan, Faculty of Science
- Ernest Ekpo, Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Alycia Fong Yan, Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Denny Lie, Faculty of Arts and Social Science
- Sophie Loy-Wilson, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- Sophia Maalsen, Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning
- Marnee McKay, Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Rizal Muslimin, Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning
- Helen Parker, Faculty of Medicine and Health
- Aim Sinpeng, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- Elisabeth Valiente-Riedl, Education Portfolio
- Sophie Webber, Faculty of Science
If you are a SSEAC member who successfully applied for academic promotion in 2020 but your name does not feature in the list above, please accept our sincere apologies. Send us an email to let us know and we'll feature you in our next newsletter!
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Exploring the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrants across the Asia-Pacific
Emeritus Professor Philip Hirsch from the School of Geosciences is part of an international team exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on migrants in the Asia-Pacific region with funding from USAID.In Southeast Asia, the impact of COVID-19 has been particularly severe for migrant workers, who have found themselves un- or under-employed and sometimes stranded as economic activity has shut down and borders have closed. Through a wide-ranging desk-based study of the impact of COVID-19 on migrant resilience, Emeritus Professor Hirsch is taking on the mainland Southeast Asia section of the study, and bringing in four main dimensions: what does it mean in terms of governance/rights, gender, public health, and the environment?
If you'd like to know more, read Emeritus Professor Philip Hirsch's blog post looking at how the pandemic impacts the livelihood resilience of migrants who come from places dependent on an already vulnerable natural resource, namely fisheries. He explains how the precarity of fishing-based livelihoods helps us understand what drives people to seek work elsewhere in the first place, the extent to which natural resource-based occupations can provide a cushion for those affected by the economic impacts of the pandemic, and the need to identify causes of natural resource degradation in order to plump up that cushion to help migrants better cope with future shocks.
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Uncovering the roots of homophobia and transphobia in Malaysia
Dr Shawna Tang from the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies is investigating how rising levels of homophobia and transphobia in Malaysia are being validated by Islamic LGBTIQ research. Malaysia is fast becoming a hub for Islamic LGBTIQ research. Yet according to the reports of local activists wary of this development, the LGBTIQ community are facing unprecedented levels of threat to their own safety. Some activists suspect that rising levels of homophobic and transphobic aggression in Malaysia might be linked to the emergence of new institutional networks seeding the violence. Funded by a 2019 SSEAC Cluster Grant, Dr Tang's research examines how political-economic and socio-cultural conditions enable anti-LGBTIQ knowledge production to thrive in Malaysia, and potentially be exported to other parts of Southeast Asia.
In addition to this research, Dr Tang is also co-editing the Routledge Handbook of Queer Southeast Asia with Dr Hendri Yulius Wijaya.
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Journey in Blue: Whither opposition politics in Singapore?
What does it take to join opposition politics in Singapore and enter Parliament? What is the future of politics in Singapore, especially after the Workers’ Party won the most seats for the opposition since independence at the 2020 general election? Join Yee Jenn Jong, the former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament of the Workers’ Party, and author of Journey in Blue, a new landmark book on his political journey, in conversation with the London-based political analyst Hoe-Yeong Loke. Besides sharing his personal experiences, Yee will reveal the workings of Singapore’s leading opposition party, as it thrives in a landscape dominated by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) for over six decades.
When: Thursday 18 March 2021, 8am London time / 4pm Singapore time / 7pm Sydney time
Where: Online via Zoom
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Make your voice heard: Understanding the cultural perspectives and experiences of female genital mutilation/cutting among affected communities in New South Wales
Join Dr Ngatho Mugo for a discussion of her essential research aiming to understand how the practice of genital cutting is affecting the lives of girls, women, and men in New South Wales.
Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) is a deep-rooted cultural practice involving partial or total removal of or injury to the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. FGM/C is traditionally practised in more than 30 countries; mostly in Africa, the Middle East, and some parts of Asia, including six ethnic population from Southeast Asian countries. In New South Wales, 8.8% (14,687) of women and girls from the countries with a high prevalence rate of FGM/C were estimated to have undergone or be at the risk of FGM/C in 2018. Yet to our knowledge, the views and opinions of the affected communities about the FGM/C and preventive approaches/strategies are not investigated enough.
When: Thursday 8 April 2021, 9am CEST / 5pm AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
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Of rice and men: How food production is driving antimicrobial resistance amongst fungi in Vietnam
Join Dr Justin Beardsley to explore the problem of resistant fungal infections in Vietnam, how agricultural practices are contributing, and what can be done to manage the risks.
Fungal infections are amongst the leading infectious disease killers globally. They result in more deaths than malaria, and almost as many tuberculosis. However, they are often overlooked, and receive less research attention and funding than viral or bacterial infections. Over the past decade, this has started to change as the emergence of resistance in fungal pathogens has caused global alarm. New, resistant organisms have emerged, and old familiar ones have become harder to treat - agricultural antifungal use is thought to be driving these trends.
When: Thursday 15 April 2021, 9am CEST / 5pm AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
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Training animal disease detectives in the Asia-Pacific to prevent the next pandemic
Join Associate Professor Navneet Dhand for a discussion of his work aiming to prevent and contain the spread of zoonotic and animal diseases in the Asia-Pacific, which have the potential to cause tremendous social and economic harm on a national, regional or even global scale.
Infectious diseases are emerging at a fast pace due to a range of factors including rapid population growth, urbanisation, land use change and encroachment on wild habitats. Similar to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of the emerging infectious diseases originate from animals. The infectious agents usually circulate in wildlife and domestic animals before spilling over to the human population. Therefore, it is critical to look for these pathogens in animal populations before they get a chance to spill over to the human population.
We have established the Asia Pacific Consortium of Veterinary Epidemiology (APCOVE) to train veterinarians and para-veterinarians in eight countries of the Asia-Pacific to prevent, detect and respond to the threat of infectious disease so that emerging infections can be contained at the animal source.
In this talk, I will discuss our plans to strengthen the existing on-the-job training programs for veterinarians and para-veterinarians in the target countries by developing learning resources and support materials, providing training for facilitators and mentors and by supporting networks of local experts to share existing resources and knowledge.
When: Thursday 22 April 2021, 9am CEST / 5pm AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
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Viral stigma and mass media: Community experiences of COVID-19 prevention and infection in Vietnam
Join Dr Shannon McKinn for an insight into how Vietnam's public health campaigns around COVID-19 prevention have influenced the spread of the pandemic, not always in the most straightforward ways.
Vietnam controlled both an initial and a second wave of COVID-19 through a strategy of extensive temperature screening and testing; strict, targeted lockdowns; and an extensive public communication campaign. We explored community experiences of the public health response and communication around COVID-19, including experiences of stigma. Considerable negative public attention has been focused on the behaviour of individuals infected with or exposed to COVID-19. Public health messaging has associated preventive behaviour with responsible citizenship. Those associated with the disease whose behaviours were considered to be in conflict with the social expectations established by the government’s public health response have been subject to moralistic claims and evaluations in the media and within their communities. The emphasis on responsible citizenship and public disclosure of personal information as part of the contact tracing process appears to have legitimised the stigmatisation of individuals. While fear of stigma may have had some positive impacts on the behaviour of some individuals, this may have significant detrimental ramifications for the social meanings of COVID-19, engagement in testing, and long-term recovery.
When: Thursday 29 April 2021, 9am CEST / 5pm AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
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Object-Based Learning Workshop for Postgraduates
Southeast Asia remains as vibrant, important and engaging as ever, and we are keen to share our passion for this region with postgraduate students from across the University. Recognising that international travel remains heavily restricted, the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre has partnered with the University’s new Chau Chak Wing Museum to bring Southeast Asia to you.
Using the Museum’s rich and varied collections, and working inside the Museum itself, we invite you to join us for a special object-based learning workshop just for University of Sydney postgraduate students. The workshop will provide a unique opportunity to come together as a community of researchers, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the Chau Chak Wing Museum’s collections and facilities.
When: Friday 30 April 2021, at 2:00-4:00pm (AEDT)
Where: Chau Chak Wing Museum
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Object-Based Learning Workshops for Academics and Research Affiliates
Southeast Asia remains as vibrant, important and engaging as ever, and we are keen to share our passion for this region with researchers from across the University. Recognising that international travel remains heavily restricted, the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre has partnered with the University’s new Chau Chak Wing Museum to bring Southeast Asia to you.
Using the Museum’s rich and varied collections, and working inside the Museum itself, we invite you to join us for an object-based learning workshop relating to your area of research. They will provide a unique opportunity to come together as a community of researchers, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the Chau Chak Wing Museum’s collections and facilities.
When: Multiple dates throughout Semester 1, 2021
Where: Chau Chak Wing Museum
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Postgraduate Research Workshop: Your research in context
Postgraduate students researching Southeast Asia at an Australian or Nordic research institution are invited to attend this online workshop, which aims to create awareness and encourage students to think about the context of their research.
In each session we invite academic experts to share their insights and experiences on how your research will benefit from a deeper engagement with each of these themes. The sessions will include opportunities to discuss your own research in small, facilitated, group discussions and to ask questions of our experts. Each session will be supplemented with some key readings to help students better integrate these ideas into their research approach, methodology, and publication plans.
When: 3-6 May 2021
Where: Online
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ECR Mini Writing Retreat
Early career researchers researching Southeast Asia at an Australian research institution are invited to attend a mini writing retreat at the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre. This retreat is designed to provide you with some much-needed company and motivation to continue with your research in what has been a challenging year. Travel grants are available for participants travelling from outside Sydney, NSW.
When: Friday 7 May & Saturday 8 May 2021
Where: The University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus
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5th Conference on Human Rights
The Sydney Southeast Asia Centre is delighted to partner with Universitas Jember in Indonesia to organise the 5th Conference on Human Rights on the theme of “Human rights and Human Security in Asia during the COVID-19 Pandemic”.
Due to be held online and in-person on 24-25 November 2021, the conference aims to provide a platform for academics, human rights activists and practitioners to explore current human rights issues in Southeast Asia and beyond.
The call for papers is now open until Friday 30 April 2021.
When: Thursday 25 & Friday 26 November 2021
Where: Online and in-person at Universitas Jember, Indonesia
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SSEAC Writing Retreats
In December 2020, SSEAC organised three exclusive writing retreats for Sydney-based academics and students with research interests in Southeast Asia. Held on the beautiful grounds of Acre Eatery in Camperdown, these retreats were designed to provide SSEAC members with some much-needed company and motivation to continue with their research in a challenging year.
From 2-4 December 202-, SSEAC hosted 18 postgraduate students from across the University of Sydney for three days of structured writing time, facilitated workshops, yoga and meditation classes, and informal discussions and debriefing sessions. The retreat was extremely well-received by the students who reported that the event enhanced their motivation and writing performance. Many praised the opportunity to network with peers to share their struggles sustaining research and writing during the pandemic, and discuss coping strategies. One of the participants described that "[the retreat] provided me with collective strength and spirit, and encouraged me to focus on my research."
The following week brought together 11 Early Career Researchers from six different faculties and schools across the University of Sydney for two and a half days dedicated to helping them disconnect from the noise around them, reconnect with each other, and make inroads on their writing projects. In addition to dedicated writing time, the retreat provided the opportunity to unwind and stimulate creative thinking with an arts and crafts corner, and offered professional development sessions. Multiple thematic workshops were held with the assistance of University of Sydney academics sharing their experiences in writing successful grant applications, adapting to the different styles of academic writing, planning one's academic career, etc. The retreat concluded with a networking lunch during which each participant was paired up with a mid-career peer for academic mentoring. According to one of the participants, "as always, this SSEAC retreat was extremely well organised and valuable experience. The extended writing periods alone made the retreat worthwhile but the workshops were also highly informative. [...] I hope I get a chance to attend another SSEAC retreat in future!"
From 9-11 December 2020, SSEAC then hosted a writing retreat for Mid-Career Researchers based in the Greater Sydney region. 12 academics in various disciplines from the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney. For two and a half days, the participants were provided with time and space to make meaningful progress on an academic output, regular check-in sessions, as well as a fantastic workshop by Professor Warwick Anderson who discussed the importance of, and strategies to, decolonise Southeast Asia knowledge practices and cultures. In the words of the participants, "[the retreat] adds value by letting you leave you usual writing environment and reflect on your writing practice and how to be most productive", and "if you throw yourself into the retreat, by setting and sticking to your writing goals, you'll leave it feeling on top of your writing plans for the year ahead!"
SSEAC will be hosting more writing retreats in 2021 - keep an eye out for registrations! You can already register for our ECR mini writing retreat on 7-8 May 2021.
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The Storytelling State: Performing Life Histories in Singapore
On 5 February 2021, SSEAC partnered with AcademiaSG to co-organise the performing of life histories in Singapore. Kicking off AcademiaSG's Junior Scholar Seminar, the webinar featured SSEAC alumni Dr Nien Yuan Cheng, who is currently an Honorary Associate at the School of Literature, Art and Media at the University of Sydney. Drawing upon her practical experience and extensive research into theatrical, contemporary and everyday performances in Asian contexts, Dr Cheng argued that oral histories of everyday Singaporeans are more widely circulated in the nation’s mediascape than ever before. She charted Singapore’s development into a storytelling state over the last decade, where the embodied performances of stories are systematically deployed as a new mode of governance. Responding to her presentation, Assistant Professor Charlene Rajendran (Nanyang Technological University) further explored how new performance forms contribute to Singapore's identity.
You can catch up on this discussion on YouTube.
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SSEAC Object-Based Learning Workshops for Undergraduate Students
On 4 March 2021, SSEAC held its inaugural object-based learning workshop for undergraduate students, organised in partnership with the Chau Chak Wing Museum. The workshop was attended by 34 students from across the University, representing a wide array of disciplines, including archaeology, architecture, media studies, political science, nursing, radiography and more. Over five stimulating weeks, the students will have the opportunity to explore the Museum’s rich and varied collections, hear the objects' stories, and network with peers from across the University. Through these workshops, they will learn about themes relating to economic and social development, environment and resources, health, heritage and the arts, and state and society within the context of Southeast Asia.
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 | Rethinking Rural Livelihoods and Food Security in Myanmar with Assistant Professor Mark Vicol
After decades of economic and political isolation, Myanmar’s rural economy is rapidly shifting from a narrow reliance on low-productivity agriculture, to a more diverse array of farm and non-farm activities. This transition poses urgent policy and scholarly questions for the analysis of inequality, livelihood patterns and food security among the country's rural population. Despite some gains, poverty, landlessness, access to non-farm job opportunities, and food insecurity remain significant challenges for rural Myanmar.
Assistant Professor Mark Vicol caught up with Dr Thushara Dibley to discuss his work investigating the changing relationships between livelihood patterns, land, poverty, and food security in Myanmar, arguing that in order to create impactful change, we need to rethink food and nutrition security and adapt to the local context.
If you'd like to know more, you can also read Assistant Professor Mark Vicol's blog post about the role of agriculture as a driver of social and economic transformation, | |  | Phaptawan Suwannakudt: A Thai Contemporary Artist on Identity, Power, and the Space In-Between
As a Thai-Australian woman artist, Phaptawan Suwannakudt has long battled prejudice and discrimination relating to her gender. This disappointment with society’s dictates features at the heart of Phaptawan’s artistic practice. Spanning more than four decades, Phaptawan’s rich body of work includes paintings, sculptures, and installations, informed by Buddhism, women’s issues and cross-cultural dialogue. Now her talents are on display on the global stage once again, in ‘ The National 2021: New Australian Art’ from 26 March to 5 September 2021. In this episode of SSEAC Stories, Phaptawan Suwannakudt chats to Dr Natali Pearson about identity, power, and placemaking in the space in-between, recounting how she overcame hurdles to her artistic education and practice in what was once a male-dominated art scene, to become one of Australia’s and Thailand’s most prominent women artists.
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 | Decolonising Conservation Practices and Research: Seeing the Orangutan in Borneo with Dr June Rubis
Around the world, orangutans are widely recognised as an iconic species for environmental and wildlife conservation efforts. The rainforest in the Malaysian state of Sarawak is one of last remaining habitats of the nearly extinct Bornean orangutan. While conservation efforts have made the region a top priority for protecting orangutans, these efforts often sideline the indigenous peoples who live along the great apes.
Dr June Rubis speaks with Dr Natali Pearson about her lifelong work in orangutan conservation, and reflects on mainstream conservation narratives, politics, and power relations around orangutan conservation in Sarawak and elsewhere in Borneo. In describing the more-than-human relations that link the indigenous Iban people and endangered orangutans, Dr Rubis encourages us to rethink our relationship to the environment, and to learn from indigenous knowledge to decolonise conservation and land management practices.
| |  | Combating African Swine Fever in Timor-Leste: A Discussion with Associate Professor Paul Hick
Since it first arrived in Asia in 2018, African swine fever virus has caused a devastating pandemic resulting in more than a quarter of the global pig population being killed by this disease. As there is currently no vaccine or treatment for this disease, which has a nearly 100% mortality rate in infected pigs, a strong focus has been placed on preventative biosecurity measures. But this strategy has proved particularly challenging in Timor-Leste, where pigs often roam freely around villages.
In this episode, Associate Professor Paul Hick speaks to Dr Thushara Dibley about his work reducing the impact of African swine fever and other animal diseases on local livelihoods in Timor-Leste.
Photo credit: Rimantė Paulauskaitė via Flickr
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 | Trading Birds of Paradise: A Brief History by Dr Jude Philp
Long praised for their splendid plumage, birds of paradise are a rare sight only to be found in the remote rainforests of New Guinea and associated islands. They are among the earliest animals to have the inglorious honour of obtaining legal protection against their trade. While the trade in the species is more than a millennium old, it was only in the late 19th century that globalisation pushed some bird of paradise species towards extinction.
In this episode, Dr Jude Philp, Senior Curator at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, explores the dark history of the trade in birds of paradise, the destruction of their habitat, and the ways in which local people have tried to protect the species.
| |  | Reducing Poverty through Digital Finance Schemes in Myanmar with Dr Russell Toth
Financial inclusion has been one of the most prominent issues on the international development agenda in recent years, as access to payments, remittances, credit, savings and insurance services have been shown to improve economic resilience and livelihoods. While bank account access remains low in many developing countries, widespread access to mobile phones is providing a platform to push financial access even into remote areas. The Covid-19 pandemic has only reinforced the importance of digital finance, which provides a safe, socially-distanced means to transact, including for distribution of social assistance transfers.
Dr Russell Toth talks to Dr Thushara Dibley about his work on digital finance schemes and how owning a mobile phone can help lift people out of poverty in Myanmar.
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Farewell to our Postgraduate Representative Wayan Jarrah Sastrawan
Our best wishes for the future go out to our Postgraduate Representative Mr Wayan Jarrah Sastrawan. Mr Sastrawan recently completed his PhD under the guidance of Professor Adrian Vickers and Emeritus Professor Peter Worsley, investigating the development of historical writing in equatorial Southeast Asia up to the 17th century. We want to thank him for his dedication to Southeast Asian Studies and promotion of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre throughout his studies at the University of Sydney, and particularly in his role as SSEAC Postgraduate Representative in 2019-2020.
Mr Sastrawan will soon be taking up a position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the prestigious École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) in Paris, France. He plans to stay engaged with the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre and will be continuing on as an Affiliate member in the School of Languages and Cultures.
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Welcome to our new Postgraduate Representative Daniel Howell
Welcome to Mr Daniel Howell, who is stepping in as our new SSEAC Postgraduate Representative! Daniel is a PhD candidate in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences working on integrated plant disease management for rice in Northwest Cambodia. His PhD research is aligned with an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research funded project: “Sustainable intensification and Diversification in the lowland system in Northwest Cambodia.”
Daniel has extensive experience in biology and plant science, and has contributed to a range of projects in Australia and Southeast Asia, including quantifying the population of the endangered Blue Mountains water skink, managing the fruit fly facility at the Charles Perkins Centre, relocating a fruit bat community in Avalon, investigating photosynthesis of an epiphytic fern species in Thailand, and researching a wide range of plant diseases in Northwest Cambodia.
Daniel looks forward to engaging with fellow students and staff in Southeast Asian Studies, and contributing to the community by offering new and innovative ideas to strengthen communication between postgraduate students affiliated with SSEAC.
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SSEAC is connecting with thousands of individuals and organisations engaging in Southeast Asia every month on social media. Join the conversation to share your work, hear about our latest events and seminars, and be the first to know about grants, research, and opportunities in Southeast Asia.
If you have a recently published article, book review, or interview that you'd like to share with a Southeast Asia-focused community, let us know! Email sseac@sydney.edu.au with the details, or tag us in your tweet @seacsydney.
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