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Sydney School of Education and Social Work

Country: Indonesia

Project: Hearing voices: an art-based participatory study on children’s experiences of inclusion in primary schools in Indonesia

The study aims to understand current inclusive practices in three public primary schools in Indonesia through the lens of the children. A phenomenological inquiry is employed to examine children’s experiences about inclusion in their schools. In the data gathering process, individual drawings and collections of school photos taken by the children are used to encourage individual children and a group of children, with and without disabilities, to talk about inclusion, exploring what inclusion may mean for them, how they feel about it and how they enact it. Further, it also explores barriers, exclusionary practices, support and resources that the children have received and experienced. 

In the study, inclusion is referred to as an apprenticeship to build a sustainable community (Slee, 2010). We are challenged to create space for those who have been structurally denied a voice and to build civic engagement in democracy. It is important to develop inclusive services that reflect individual civil rights rather than individual needs and this involves listening to children’s perspectives (Jones, 2005). This study uses a phenomenological approach to meet its aim. Phenomenological research is an attempt to interpret the lived experiences of individuals with the purpose of understanding a phenomena (Creswell, 2013). In this study, art-informed methods are employed in order to draw on the richness of students’ experiences and ability to articulate their feelings through their own visual representations. The art-informed method is a systematic inquiry involving the researcher using some forms of direct art making as its primary mode (McNiff, 2011). 

The study aims to investigate students’ experiences of inclusion in reformed schools following a regulation on inclusive education. Findings and recommendations of the study may benefit teachers, principals, and policy makers, helping them to make informed decisions regarding future policy and practices of inclusion, in particular the future adoption of inclusive principles by regular public schools. Further, this study will bring a culture of more inclusive research on efforts to study inclusion in Indonesia by valuing the voice of children, especially children with special needs.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

I joined a postgraduate retreat conducted by the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre in late 2013 and became the Postgraduate Coordinator for a year. Engagements with the Centre and postgraduate students from Southeast Asia have broadened my interests as well as eagerness to learn more about the inclusive education movement in Southeast Asia.

Publications

• Andriana, E., Evans, D. (2015). Hearing Voices: An Art-based Participatory Study on Children’s Experiences of Inclusion at a Primary School in Indonesia. 1st International Conference on Special Education (ICSE), Bangkok, Thailand: SEAMEO SEN.
• Rawsthorne, M., Evans, D., Young, A., & Andriana, E. (2015). Learning Support in NSW Public Schools. Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney.
• Villeneuve, M., Evans, D., Sadirin, S., Andriana, E., Bonati, M., Little, C. Millington, M. (2016). Collaborative Action across Health and Education Sectors for Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Education: Establishing a Policy Vision and Research Agenda in Indonesia.

Scholarships

• Australia Awards Scholarship

Prizes and awards

• Australia Partnership Scholarship

Sydney School of Veterinary Science

Country: Cambodia

Project: Understanding smallholder farming households in Cambodia and identifying mechanisms to improve household income and reduce poverty

I’m part of the Mekong Livestock Research team that conducts animal health research projects in Cambodia and Laos. Our team has been working in these countries for a number of years with smallholder livestock owners to improve animal production, increase income and alleviate poverty. My PhD research is based in Cambodia where we have a project entitled ‘Village-based biosecurity for livestock disease risk management in Cambodia’. The project aims to improve village level biosecurity for livestock and reduce the incidence of diseases that limit productivity and affect household income. As part of this project, I am investigating smallholder farming households involved in the project, their socio-economic status and identifying ways in which they can improve their productivity to increase household income and living standards. 

My approach to this research is to conduct socio-economic surveys and case studies of households involved in the project and to conduct data analyses of existing and new data sets to determine household benefits of project interventions such as forage growing. The main expected outcome is that project households will increase their income and household status by improving livestock biosecurity and animal health and husbandry.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

I worked with the Mekong Livestock Research Team for my Honours project in 2012 where I investigated the socio-economic benefits of improved smallholder farming in Cambodia as part of a previous project entitled ‘Best Practice Health and Husbandry of Cattle, Cambodia’. During this time I spent 4 weeks in-country and travelled out to villages to conduct surveys and interview farmers. I was immediately drawn to Cambodia – despite everything that has happened it is a wonderful place and the people are so welcoming. Cambodia is a bit of a rough diamond – once you scratch the surface there is something very special about it.

Publications

• Ashley, K., Young, J.R., Sothoeun, S., Kea, P., Windsor, P.A. and Bush, R.D. (2015). Socioeconomic Impact of Forage Technology Adoption by Smallholder Cattle Farmers in Cambodia (in review).
• Murray, G., Ashley, K. and Kolesar, R. (2014). Drivers for Animal Welfare Policies in Asia, the Far East and Oceania, Revue Scientifique et Technique (International Office of Epizootics), 33(1): 77-83.
• Young, J. R., O’Reilly, R. A., Ashley, K., Suon, S., Leoung, V. I., Windsor, P. A. and R. D. Bush. (2014). Impacts on Rural Livelihoods in Cambodia Following Adoption of Best Practice Health and Husbandry Interventions by Smallholder Cattle Farmers, Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 61(1):1-14.

Scholarships

• Australian Postgraduate Award
• James Ramage Wright Research Top-Up Scholarship (2015)
• William and Catherine McIllrath Scholarship (2014)

Prizes and awards

• Crawford Fund Young Scholar (2014)

Faculty of Science

Country: Indonesia

Project: The impact of coffee certification on the livelihoods of producer communities in South Sumatra, Indonesia

Western consumers are reasonably familiar with the concept of certified coffee. Certified coffee is generally sold at a premium price for which a consumer can be assured of certain environmental outcomes and/or socio-economic outcomes favourable for producer communities. However, the true impact of these certification schemes has not always been rigorously evaluated by independent researchers. 

Quantitative assessment will be conducted through semi-structured, informal interviews across four villagers in coffee producing areas in South Sumatra Province and Lampung Province, Indonesia. 

The main expected outcome from this project is a more targeted roll-out of certification in producer communities, and ability to disperse more detailed information to consumers about the benefits that their purchase is fostering.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

Southeast Asia represented an opportunity for something different, besides my general interest in the growing relationship between Australia and the region.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Country: Singapore

Project: Do not try this at home: performance, performative and transgression in Singaporean oral history

Cheng's doctoral research explores oral history as performance: how, for instance, the oral history interview can be understood as an embodied, performative event. Additionally, performative oral history understood as such can be a ‘transgressive’ force. Keeping in mind the Anglo-American inflections in such a notion, Cheng critically recontextualises this idea in her home country Singapore. In doing so she hopes to come away with a potential framework for making Singaporean oral history which pays attention not only to the verbal saying (as is the current paradigm) but also the embodied doing: the performance in the heightened, charged space of the interview. The potential for oral history to open up new ways of thinking about our past, and the construction of it, will be explored in the context of largely top-down Singaporean historiography.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

During my first year of undergraduate study I took up Indonesian Studies, which was the closest alternative to learning Bahasa Melayu, Singapore’s national language. I ended up majoring in Indonesian Studies and it became a big part of my undergraduate degree ¬– a highlight was taking a historiography course in Universitas Gadjah Mada under Pak Bambang Purwanto, where I did my first oral history project. For my postgraduate career I decided to take what I’ve learned from my experiences in Indonesian Studies and focus on my home country.

Scholarships

• International Postgraduate Research Scholarship
• International Australian Postgraduate Awards

Prizes and awards

• Honours Class One and University Medal (2014)
• Dean’s List of Excellence in Academic Performance and JHM Nolan Memorial Prize for Proficiency in History (2013)
• Academic Merit Prize (2011 and 2012)

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Project: Civil society and legal activism in Southeast Asia

My project considers the ways that civil society promotes legal change and greater accountability for human rights in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and the Philippines. The project will examine local activists’ perspectives about the legal changes that are required in the transition from authoritarianism. This will include considering how activists both understand and seek to influence legal issues such as the enactment of human rights law, constitutional change, the establishment of human rights commissions and dealing with historical rights violations. The research findings will be used to better theorise the relationship between civil society and law reform in post-authoritarian countries that are in the process of transitioning towards greater respect for democratic principles and human rights. 

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

I first became aware of Southeast Asia when Indonesian was the only language on offer at the tiny high school I attended in rural NSW. This was introduced to us through a charming taped correspondence course, featuring gamelan and tropical fruits. It was only when I continued studying Indonesian as an undergraduate at the University of Sydney that I began to think about the complexity of the political events that had been happening at the time I was learning from these tapes – the fall of Suharto and the Timor-Leste independence vote. These transitions from authoritarianism fascinate me, and thinking about them led to my interest in human rights and social activism in the Southeast Asian region more broadly.

Scholarships

• Vice-Chancellor's Research Scholarship
• The Australian Government Research Training Program

Prizes and awards

• Juris Doctor Medal, University of New South Wales, 2015
• First place in Business Associations, University of New South Wales, 2015
• Dean’s List, University of New South Wales, 2014 and 2015
• First place in Business and Human Rights, University of New South Wales, 2014
• Research Grant from the Human Rights Centre, London School of Economics, 2014
• First place in Peoples’ Tribunals, University of New South Wales, 2014
• Hannah Fullerton travelling scholarship, University of Sydney, 2013
• Allens Prize for Best Performing Student in Stage 1 of the Juris Doctor Program, University of New South Wales, 2010
• Honours Class One and University of Sydney Medal 2009
• Christopher Cornelius Lewis Richards Memorial Prize for Indonesian Studies, University of Sydney, 2009
• FH Van Naerssen Memorial Prize for Indonesian Studies, University of Sydney, 2008
• Lyceum Prize in Memory of Glutom Flegg, University of Sydney, 2008
• Walter Reid Memorial Prize, University of Sydney, 2007 and 2008
• Academic Merit Prize, University of Sydney, 2007
• Asian Students’ Council’s 1963 Festival of Asia Prize for Proficiency in Indonesian Studies, University of Sydney, 2006

Publications

• “A Right to Truth in Customary International Law?” Court of Conscience 2015, 8
• “Disability Rights in Indonesia? Problems with Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, Australian Journal of Asian Law, July 2014, 14(1)
• “Imprisoned in Indonesia”, a Special Edition of Inside Indonesia, August 2013
• “Values and the Institutionalisation of Indonesia’s Organic Agriculture Movement”, in Social Activism in Southeast Asia (ed. Michele Ford, Routledge 2012)
• “Women and Development”, a Special Edition of Inside Indonesia, July 2012

The University of Sydney Medical School

Country: Lao PDR

Project: Determinants of maternal and child nutrition in Lao PDR

Despite more than a decade of rapid economic growth, Lao PDR continues to have some of the poorest maternal and child nutrition outcomes on both a regional and global scale. Investments in hydropower, mining and plantations have provided opportunities for the country, but such economic activities have also brought risks and uncertainties to the poor and vulnerable. Of particular concern are the unequal effects of resource development on people’s access to food and their nutritional wellbeing. 

The purpose of this research is to assess the associations between key immediate, underlying and distal basic factors, and maternal and child nutrition in the Nam Ngum Watershed in Laos and to translate these findings into recommendations to aid the development of policies and programs that seek to tackle food and nutrition insecurities in rural Laos.

The study will employ a mixed-methods research approach. Quantitative data analyses will be conducted using an existing data set from a cross-sectional survey conducted in the Nam Ngum Watershed, Laos in 2014. Multi-level modeling will be used to assess the relationships between determinants of maternal and child under-nutrition at the community, household and individual level.

The findings from the quantitative analyses will be used to purposively select a sub-sample of households identified as having a child under the age of 5 that is malnourished and to develop the interview checklist for the qualitative data collection at the household and individual levels. In-depth interviews with mothers of the children younger than five years, Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with their fathers, and direct observations of infant feeding, care practices and health related behaviours in these households will be conducted to collect information on the ways in which households experiencing malnutrition perceive and experience food and nutrition insecurity.

With a growing population and continued investments into large-scale resource developments, Laos faces intensified competition over its already limited natural resources, which could exacerbate the existing nutrition and food security problems. To effectively address these issues in Laos, reliable and timely information on the status of food and nutrition security within the communities experiencing these resource pressures is vital.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

Upon completing a Masters of International Public Health at the University of Sydney in 2010, I was successful in obtaining a position as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development in Lao PDR. During my time in Laos, I worked on maternal and child nutrition programs. Both my Masters and work in the region cultivated my desire to further my studies and continue working in the Southeast Asia region.

Publications 

• Muthayya, Sumithra, Jessica Hall, Jack Bagriansky, Jonathan Sugimoto, Daniel Gundry, Dipika Matthias, Shane Prigge, Peter Hindle, Regina Moench-Pfanner, and Glen Maberly. Rice Fortification: An Emerging Opportunity to Contribute to the Elimination of Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency Worldwide”. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 33, no. 4 (2012): 296-307.

Faculty of Science

Country: Cambodia

Project: The architecture of collapse: using network theory to understand the decline of complex civilisations

The project aims to employ a systems theory approach in the analysis of the devolution of complex, low-density societies. Using the Khmer Empire as a case study, it will investigate the power of a subset of systems theory – network theory – in explaining the structural and spatial disintegration of the kingdom. 

The project will use palaeo-environmental techniques to reconstruct landscape histories (and from which infer settlement occupation histories) of a number of peripheral settlements throughout the Empire from the beginning of the Angkor period to the Empire’s collapse, and onward through Cambodia’s transition to modernity.

Moving beyond the reductionist approach of causal correlation models and toward one that captures the broader, dynamic principles at work in human-environment systems (without ignoring the more complex and multivariant inputs specific to each case), this project will provide necessary insight into the resiliency or vulnerability of complex societies and contribute to the understanding of the processes governing complex systems in general.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

I was interested in the decline and collapse of ancient civilisations and this project based on Angkor seemed like a really interesting research opportunity.

Publications

• Hall, T, Penny, D, Hendrickson, M, Cooke, C and Hua, Q (in review). Iron and Fire: Geoarchaeological History of a Khmer Peripheral Centre During the Decline of the Angkorian Empire, Cambodia. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Scholarships

• Australian Postgraduate Award

Faculty of Science

Country: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam

My project seeks to reconstruct the past climates, ecosystems and land-use (especially burning regimes) of the monsoonal dry forests of north-east Cambodia over the past 6,000 years. These ecosystems form part of the broader mainland south-east Asian lowland dry forest ecoregion that extends from Thailand, across Cambodia and southern Laos into western Vietnam. 

It uses a palaeo-environmental approach to reconstruct past climatic and ecological dynamics for the region. Specifically, the sediments from two crater lake cores (taken from the heart of the south-east Asian dry forest ecoregion) are dated using radiocarbon techniques, and sampled for geochemical, sedimentological, charcoal, and plant microfossil (pollen and spores) analysis in order to reconstruct climate, land-use and forest dynamics through time. 

Understanding how South-east Asian dry forests respond to climatic and land-use forcing is important for predicting the future behaviour of these systems in the face of change, and will assist in providing traction for the development of policy around the protection and management of these forests.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

My interest in north-east Cambodia was largely driven by the usual lowland monsoonal forests that occur within the region. In particular, I became interested in why these mostly closed ecosystems occur as relatively continuous units in a climatic zone that tends to favours more open communities in other parts of the world, particularly when burnt.

Publications

• Hamilton, R. and Penny, D. 2015. Ecological History of Lachlan Nature Reserve, Centennial Park, Sydney, Australia: A Palaeoecological Approach to Conservation. Environmental Conservation. 42: 84-94.
• Birtles, P.J., Hore, J., Dean, M., Hamilton, R., Dahlenburg, J., Moore, J., and Bailey, M. 2013. Creating a Liveable City – The Role of Ecosystem Services in State of Australian Cities Conference: Refereed Proceedings. Ruming, K., Randolph, B. and Gurran, N. (eds). State of Australian Cities Research Network. Sydney, NSW.

Scholarships

• Australian Postgraduate Award

Prizes and awards

• Sydney Southeast Asia Centre Conference Fund (2015)
• Edgar Ford Memorial Scholarship for Academic Achievement (2009)
• Coffey Geosciences Scholarship for Academic Achievement (2008)

Faculty of Pharmacy

Country: Indonesia

Project: Investigation to practice change in Australian and Indonesian community pharmacy: an insight for the development of community pharmacy practice in Indonesia

Within the past six decades, the practice of community pharmacy has changed dramatically, marked by the increasing attention to delivering professional services in addition to the traditional dispensing of medications. This change undoubtedly provided a new wave of challenges for the community pharmacy industry. In the international context, community pharmacy in Australia has been a frontrunner in practice change. Although there were some substantial issues associated with the change, overall, community pharmacy in Australia has played a significant role on the frontline of the healthcare system, particularly as the most accessible primary provider in healthcare. On the other hand, community pharmacy in Indonesia has entered a new era of healthcare under the universal coverage system. Although there are few opportunities available in the current system, there is potential that community pharmacy in Indonesia may play a greater role in the healthcare agenda. Therefore, this study investigates the practice change in both Australia and Indonesia with the objective of gaining insights into developing the practice of Indonesian community pharmacy.

The project adopts the theoretical framework developed by Walt and Gilson by understanding the context, content and process of policy and practice change in pharmacy through the role of actors at the micro level (individual pharmacist), meso level (institutional community pharmacy network) and macro-government level (national policy). Therefore, a qualitative study in the form of in-depth semi structured interviews with a wide-range of key stakeholders in the pharmacy and healthcare system is proposed to extract information, experiences and the future agenda of both countries. This method allows the research team to align the theoretical approach with the real-life experiences of the key players, which further cultivates understanding on how the system works and how it can be improved.

With the increasing number of pharmacy graduates and pharmacy outlets in Indonesia, it is expected that the outcome of this research may provide alternatives for the practice model of community pharmacy in Indonesia. In the other words, the need for community pharmacy to advance may well be facilitated by this research by looking at the key aspects required for pharmacy to change across three levels (micro-meso-macro).

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

Southeast Asia is one of the most progressive regions in the international setting. In addition, by the end of 2015, it will become one of the largest economic societies under the ASEAN Economic Community. While this initiative without a doubt implies huge opportunities for development in the region, Southeast Asia still faces fundamental problems particularly related to healthcare delivery. As an Indonesian and pharmacist, I am concerned with how to optimise the role of the pharmacist and pharmacy network to improve the level of healthcare in the community. Therefore, I am investing time and knowledge to research the complex relations in community pharmacy with a primary mission to create a model of community pharmacy that can contribute to the well-being and health of all.

Publications

• Andi Hermansyah, Erica Sainsbury, Ines Krass. (2015). Community Pharmacy and Emerging Public Health Initiative in Developing Southeast Asian Countries. Health and Social Care in the Community (Accepted for Publication 30 July 2015 – doi: 10.1111/hsc/12289).
• Andi Hermansyah, Umi Athiyah, Catur Dian Setiawan, Mufarrihah. (2013). Are Patients Willing to Ask for Generic Drug Substitutions? International Journal of Pharmacy Teaching and Practices, 4(4): 832-837.
• Andi Hermansyah, Anila I. Sukorini, Catur D. Setiawan, Yuni Priyandani. (2012). The Conflicts between Professional and Non-professional Work of Community Pharmacists in Indonesia. Pharmacy Practice, 10(1): 33-39.
• Puspitasari, H. P., Faturrohmah, A. and Hermansyah, A. (2011). Do Indonesian Community Pharmacy Workers Respond to Antibiotics Requests Appropriately? Tropical Medicine & International Health, 16: 840–846.

Scholarships

• Australia Awards Scholarship

Prizes and awards

• Allison Sudradjat Prize

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Country: Indonesia

Project: Life cycle and sociocultural change: a study of the impact of female transnational labour migration on a Javanese village

My PhD investigates the interplay between the agency of Indonesian women and the society they inhabit by exploring transnational labour migration from the New Order era onwards. My research uses an interdisciplinary approach that highlights the interplay of self and society/culture, the interplay of time and place, and multiple-destination migration. I seek to examine the cultural, social, and human-geographical challenges that village women have faced and how they handle these challenges by using survival strategies that draw on social rules and resources. Recognising that is only possible to understand the local and the global by examining the way they interact, I aim to show how female labour migration affects village communities. In order to do so, I analyse the changing cultural framework that these women use to interpret their world, the struggles that they have experienced in and against their changing social context, and the nature of the human agency that they have developed and deployed to attain their life goals. 

To understand the interplay between the agency of Indonesian women and the changing social, cultural and geographical structure, my research employs Giddens’ structuration theory. To avoid determinism and voluntarism, and in line with its adoption of a research strategy that blends interdisciplinary, macroscopic thinking with biographical analysis to attain a more complex understanding of transnational labour migration, this study employs mixed methods that are borrowed from anthropology, social history and human geography. This investigation uses a) anthropological and geographical fieldwork, b) social-history research on the basis of archives, oral testimonies and material culture; and c) biographical analysis. My research I use my linguistic skills in both Indonesian and Javanese (including its various levels).

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

The challenges I faced as a young lecturer at The State of Surabaya made me realise that even to understand the interrelations of gender, sports, and society in contemporary Indonesia, I could not depend on just one discipline (Psychology). I became aware that I needed academic training in interdisciplinary and area-based approaches, focusing on Southeast Asia, so I completed an MA in Southeast Asian Studies at Ohio University and am currently pursuing a PhD at The University of Sydney.

Publications

• Nurchayati. Bringing Agency Back In: Indonesian Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia. Asian-Pacific Migration Journal 20, no. 3-4: 479-502.
• Ford, Michele and Nurchayati. Daughters, Mothers, Wives, and Workers: Indonesian Women, Work and Care. In Women, Work and Care in the Asia-Pacific, edited by Marian Baird, Michele Ford, Elizabeth Hill and Nicola Piper (forthcoming).
• Nurchayati. East Javanese Women Housemaids in Saudi Arabia, 1990s-2010s: Transnational Labour Migration, Survival, Community, and Identity. In Departing from Java: Javanese Identity in the Diaspora, edited by Peter Meel and Rosemarijn Hoefte (forthcoming).

Scholarships

• Endeavour Prime Minister's Australia Asia Incoming Postgraduate Scholarship

Prizes and awards

• Academic Achievement Scholarship (PPA), Universitas Airlangga
• Research Grant, DP2M Dikti Diknas (Indonesian Ministry of Education)
• Graduate Recruitment Scholarship, Ohio University
• Travel Grant, WGS Graduate Student Association Conference, Ohio University
• Travel Grant, Asia Research Institute, the National University of Singapore
• Conference Fund, Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, the University of Sydney

Sydney School of Veterinary Science

Country: Lao PDR

Project: Progressing smallholder large ruminant productivity and transboundary disease risk management for poverty reduction in Northern Lao PDR

Future food security and poverty reduction remain complex challenges as a result of rapid urbanisation and the increasing demand and trade in livestock products, as well as risks from global financial shocks and climate change impacts. Smallholder livestock farmers are important in addressing those challenges. In the northern upland areas of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR or Laos), large ruminant production is one of the most important livelihood activities for smallholders farmers and is increasingly recognised as a national priority, both in terms of addressing rural poverty and reducing reliance on shifting cultivation. This economic sector remains under-developed, feeding into the deficiency and disease outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease and Haemorrhagic Septicaemia. Moreover, the limited knowledge of smallholder farmers on large ruminant health and production are major constraints to large ruminant advancement in Laos. These challenges require an enhanced understanding of how to manage the many health and husbandry constraints that compromise smallholder livestock productivity. My PhD aims to examine and document the progress of these interventions through an assessment of improvements in farmer awareness of biosecurity and many other aspects of their large ruminant production system, as well as to identify key extension strategies that can address the identified gaps in knowledge of biosecurity and transboundary disease management - particularly FMD - in Northern Laos.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

I come from a farming background and a rural area of central Lao PDR. Growing up helping my grandfather on the paddy fields surrounded by cattle and buffalo during the school holidays, it has always been my intention to research cattle and buffalo health and production, food security and rural development in Lao PDR.

Publications

• Nampanya, S, Khounsy, S., Abila, R., Phonvisay, A., Young, J.R., Bush, R.D. and Windsor, P.A. 2015: Improving Smallholder Food Security Through Investigations of Carcass Composition and Beef Marketing of Buffalo and Cattle in Northern Lao PDR, Tropical Animal Health and Production, 47: 681-89
• Nampanya, S, Khounsy, S., Abila, R., Young, J.R., Bush, R.D. and Windsor, P.A. 2015: Financial Impacts of Foot and Mouth Disease at Village and National Levels in Lao PDR. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, doi:10.1111/tbed.12319.
• Nampanya, S, Khounsy, S., Abila, R., Dy, C. and Windsor, P.A. 2014: Household Financial Status and Gender Perspectives in Determining the Financial Impact of Foot and Mouth Disease in Lao PDR. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, doi:10.1111/tbed.1228.1
• Nampanya, S, Khounsy, S., Rast, L., Young, J.R., Bush, R.D, and Windsor, P.A. 2014. Progress in Smallholder Large Ruminant Productivity to Reduce Rural Poverty and Address Food Security in Upland Northern Lao PDR. An Prod Sc, 54: 899–907.
• Young, J.R, Soun, S, Rast, L, Nampanya, S, Windsor, P.A and Bush, R.D. 2014. Benefit-Cost Analysis of Foot and Mouth Disease Control in Large Ruminants in Cambodia, Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, DOI: 10.1111/tbed.12292.
• Nampanya, S, Young, J.R., Khounsy, S., Bush, R.D, Windsor, P.A. 2014. The Food Security Challenge for the Buffalo Meat Industry: Perspectives from Lao PDR, Journal of Buffalo Science, 3(2): 38-47.
• Bush, R.D., Page, B., Macdonald, T., Young, J.R., Nampanya, S, Soun, S., Khounsy, Henry, L.A., Thomson, P.C., Windsor, P.A. 2014: Target Feeding for Improving Smallholder Beef Production in the Mekong Region: Lessons from Cambodia and Lao PDR. An Pro Sc:http://dxdoi.org/10.1071/AN14133.
• Young, J.R., Nampanya, S., Khounsy, S., Bush, R.D., Windsor, P.A. 2014. Improving Trade in Large Ruminants and Products by Transboundary Animal Disease Control in Lao PDR, GSTF International Journal of Veterinary Science (JVet), 1: 8-17.
• Nampanya, S., Khounsy, S., Phonvisay, A., Young, J.R., Bush, R.D., Windsor, P.A. 2013. Financial impact of Foot and Mouth Disease on Large Ruminant Smallholder Farmers in the Upper Mekong Region. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, doi:10.1111/tbed.12183.
• Nampanya, S., Khounsy, S., Rast, L., Windsor, P.A. 2013. Promoting Transboundary Animal Disease Risk Management through Multiple Large Ruminant Health and Husbandry Interventions in Upland Lao PDR. Tropical Animal Health and Production. 46(2): 439-446.
• Nampanya, S., Richards, J., Khounsy, S., Inthavong, P., Yang, M., Rast, L., Windsor, P.A. 2013. Investigation of Foot and Mouth Disease Hotspots in Northern Lao PDR. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 60 (4): 315-329.
• Rast, L., Lee, S., Nampanya, S., Toribio, J., L, Khounsy, S., Windsor, P.A. 2013. Prevalence and Clinical Impact of Toxocara vitulorum in Cattle and Buffalo Calves in Northern Lao PDR. Tropical Animal Health and Production: 45(2): 539-546.
• Khounsy, S., Nampanya, S., Inthavong, P., Yang, M., Khamboungheung, B., Avery, M., Bush, R., Rast, L., Windsor, P.A. 2012. Significant Mortality of Large Ruminants due to Hypothermia in Northern and Central Lao PDR. Tropical Animal Health and Production 44(4): 835-842.
• Nampanya, S., S, Soun., L. Rast., Windsor, P.A. 2011. Improvement in Smallholder Farmer Knowledge of Cattle Production, Health and Biosecurity in Southern Cambodia between 2008 and 2010. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 59(2): 117-127.
• Nampanya, S., Rast, L., Khounsy, S., Windsor, P.A. 2010. Assessment of Farmer Knowledge of Large Ruminant Health and Production in Developing Village-Level Biosecurity in Northern Lao PDR. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 57(6): 420–429.

Scholarships

• Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) John Allwright Fellowship (PhD) (2012-2016)

Prizes and awards

• Australia Awards Scholarship (2006 – 2009)

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Country: Vietnam

Project: Social networks: opportunities or obstacles? A case study of Vietnam-South Korea temporary labour migration

The study aims to explore the positive and negative aspects of Vietnamese migrant workers’ migration networks during all phases of migration to South Korea, including pre-departure, staying abroad and returning home.

The main pillars of the theoretical approach of this study are the theory of social capital and social networks analysis. These theoretical approaches help to categorise the different kinds of social capital and social networks generating different kinds of resources and support, primarily based on gender, legal status and non-citizen status of Vietnamese migrant workers. These theoretical approaches are employed since the study aims to examine how social networks are formed and how Vietnamese migrant workers can approach and obtain resources from these networks. 

To comprehensively understand how and why social networks are formed, how these networks’ functions change throughout the entire migration cycle, how resources are generated, the accessibility of Vietnamese migrant workers to these resources and networks, and whether social networks always benefit or also cause problems for participants, the study relies on a qualitative methodology in which individual migrant workers are the units of analysis. The key methods for data generation for this study are interviews and observations from fieldwork conducted in Vietnam and South Korea in 2013 and 2015. 

Based on the findings, the study hopes to provide insights into the social networks of Vietnamese migrant workers, contributing to knowledge of social capital and social networks of migration research, particularly temporary labour migration. In addition, the study expects to contribute to theories of social capital theory and social network analysis since these theoretical approaches do not address issues of migration, especially temporary labour migration.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

My home country is Vietnam. I hope my studies may contribute to the sustainable development of Vietnam and enhance mutual understanding between Vietnam and other countries.

Publications

• Nu Nguyet Anh Nguyen & Nicola Piper. 2013. Migrant Support Networks from a Gender Perspective: A Case Study of Low-Wage Vietnamese Workers in Korea” in a Series Perspectives on Asian Migration: Transformations of Gender and Labour Relations, edited by Sara Poma Poma & Katharine Puhl, pp. 64-69. Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.
• Nguyen Nu Nguyet Anh. 2010. Life of Vietnamese Brides in Korea, in The Update on ASEAN and Korean Studies, edited by Ingon Trebuil, pp. 242-286. ASEAN University Network.

Scholarships

• Australian Development Scholarship
• Australia Leadership Awards Scholarship

Prizes and awards

• Academic Exchange Fellowship Program under ASEAN-ROK Academic Exchange Program  from ASEAN University Network (2009)
• Toshiba Scholarship for Master’s Student from Toshiba Corporation (2008)
• ASEAN University Network for Exchange International Student Program (2004)
• Scholarship from Sumitomo Corporation (2004) 

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Country: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Timor-Leste

Project: Making histories: the organising principles of traditional historical texts in Southeast Asia

The project characterises how traditional historical texts of equatorial Southeast Asia were organised as texts. By comparing written histories from different regions and in different languages, I investigate whether there was a common set of conventions for structuring the past in texts. I focus on temporal organisation that is produced through a range of textual devices. My study makes use of manuscript traditions, mediated by colonial and postcolonial scholarship, spanning the 16th to 19th centuries. I pay particular attention to the histories of hegemonic courts: Melaka, Gelgel (east Bali) and Mataram, since the texts emerging from these courts have central and privileged positions within the relevant genres of historical texts. By examining these texts in a comparative manner, the project brings a richer understanding of how Southeast Asian pasts were produced and organised.

The project is a comparative textual study of historical texts. It uses methods of literary analysis, generalising over many historical works, to construct a schema for how these works are temporally organised. Its methodology is therefore closely related to that of the historians labelled by Alun Munslow as “deconstructionists”, such Hayden White, Frank Ankersmit and Roger Chartier. This way of doing history, active since the 1960s, studies the past as a product of textual practices, broadly understood to include writing, speech, performance and other means of commemoration. 

My source materials are traditional manuscripts, books and performances, which use regional languages of equatorial Southeast Asia, such as classical Malay, archaic and modern Javanese, Balinese and Makassarese. To characterise the textual properties of these sources, I am developing my facility with these languages while making use of available translations and scholarly editions. I draw on skills from the disciplines of philology, archivism, literary criticism and anthropology to describe and explain how traditional histories were made.

The research argues for new perspectives in Southeast Asian history and historical theory, based on a conviction that traditional texts should be valued more highly by the historical profession. This project may provide a pathway beyond the impasse faced by many scholars of these texts: whether to treat them as reliable historical sources or as ahistorical cultural products. By advocating for an expanded definition of historicity that includes alternative methods of temporal organisation, I show how narrowly-construed Western criteria for historicity are unsuited to Southeast Asian texts. This work is therefore part of the vast and vital project of decolonising history in postcolonial Southeast Asia.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

I have a family connection to Bali and went to primary school there, where the state-dominated history curriculum gave a fascinating though compromised vision of the region’s pre-modern past. Growing up, my interest in Indonesia deepened out of both general fascination with the mechanisms of time and specific desire to understand the complexities of the politics and culture of the country and the region.

Prizes and awards

• F.H. Van Naerssen Memorial Prize (2014)
• Physics Honours Scholarship (2013)
• Dean’s List of Excellence (2012)
• Academic Merit Prize (2009, 2010, 2012)
• Outstanding Achievement Scholarship (2009 – 2013)

School of Life and Environmental Sciences

Country: Timor-Leste

Project: Discovering the links between village chickens and human diets and nutrition in Timor-Leste

The government of Timor-Leste is battling to reduce chronic undernutrition, currently affecting 50% of children under 5 years. A limiting factor in achieving a high-quality diet is the low consumption of nutrient-rich animal-source foods. Although a large proportion of households own scavenging chickens, flock sizes are small due to high rates of disease and predation. The control of Newcastle disease is expected to decrease flock mortality, increasing the availability of village chickens and eggs for household consumption and sale. This research project monitors the effect of Newcastle disease vaccination on village chicken flocks, and investigates the relationships between village chickens and maternal and child diets and nutrition. This research also examines food availability in rural areas of Timor-Leste across the seasons, and aims to identify the barriers to consuming a high-quality diet, particularly in infants and young children. 

This research is important because although human nutritional outcomes are often cited in programme outlines, to date there are few animal health programmes that rigorously monitor the effect on diets and nutrition. 

This is a mixed methods research project, with qualitative data collected through key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Quantitative data includes seasonal collection of dietary diversity and anthropometric data for mothers and children, as well as haemoglobin measurements for children. Chicken flocks are monitored monthly for flock size and activity, including sale, consumption and loss through mortality or predation.

It is hoped that improving the health of village chickens increases production and gives households more opportunity to consume chickens and eggs, however, sale of the chickens and purchase of other foods that increase variety and nutrient content of local diets is also a favourable outcome. 

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

Growing up, I used to always hear of the struggles in Timor-Leste on the radio as they fought for independence. As an adult, reading the history of this new nation gave me a greater understanding of the struggles they have overcome, and inspired me to actively contribute to the continued advancement of Timor-Leste.

Publications

• Wong, JT., de Bruyn, J., Bagnol, B., Grieve, H., Li, M., Pym, R., Alders, RG. 2017. Pym, R., Alders, R.G. (2017) Small-scale poultry and food security in resource-poor settings: A review. Global Food Security, in press. DOI: 10.1016/j.gfs.2017.04.003
• Bagnol, B., Naysmith, S., de Bruyn, J., Wong, J., Alders, R. (2016). Effective animal health programming requires consideration of and communication with those at the human-animal interface. CAB Reviews, 11, 1-7.
• Alders, R., de Bruyn, J., Wingett, K. and Wong, J.  2016.  Veterinarians, One Health and the nexus between disease and food security.  Veterinary Public Health Journal by the IVSA 6, 22-25.
  
• de Bruyn J, Wong JT, Bagnol B, Pengelly B, Alders RG. Family poultry and food and nutrition security. CAB Reviews 2015; 10: 1-9.

Scholarships

• The Australian Government Research Training Program

Faculty of Science

Country: Cambodia and Thailand

Project: Producing scales of resistance: transboundary community-based responses and resistance to Mekong River mainstream dams in the Lower Mekong Basin

My research project aims to examine the translocal assemblages, spaces and processes through which selected Thai and Cambodian riparian communities have endeavoured to influence decision-making processes surrounding the controversial Xayaburi Dam and the Don Sahong Dam, located on the mainstream of the Mekong River in Laos. First, the project aims to identify and trace the shifting spaces of participation and resistance that are located within, and shaped by, the broader political-economic and institutional assemblages of governance within the Lower Mekong Basin. Second, the project will examine the strategies, tactics and practices that the Thai and Cambodian riparian communities have come to use in their campaign against mainstream dams to target national governments, dam developers, private financiers, and the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission. This will be contextualised within the dynamics and relationships between the riparian communities and the transnational advocacy networks that they are entwined with. Lastly, the project will examine how the efforts of the Thai and Cambodian riparian communities have influenced and re-assembled the politics of environment surrounding hydropower development on the Mekong River’s mainstream.

Overall, the project will shed some light on the potential for change in the seemingly relentless push for large mainstream hydropower dams on the Mekong River.

How did you become interested in Southeast Asia?

When I was an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, I took part in a six-week Geography field studies programme to Thailand, and a one-week field trip to Cambodia. Through these programmes, I was introduced to fascinating perspectives of Southeast Asia that I was previously completely unaware of. We visited cities, rural villages, and the borderlands, while learning about the complex and fluid social, cultural, economic, environmental and political geographies that made up these myriad land and water-scapes. We had many opportunities to learn about the lives of the (extra)ordinary people in these countries and to understand their everyday lives, their aspirations, and their struggles. These eye-opening experiences made me realise that there was so much more to know about the fascinating region that I live in.

Publications

• Grundy-Warr, C., Sithirith, M., and Yong, M.L. (2014). Volumes, Fluidity and Flows: Rethinking the ‘nature’ of Political Geography. Political Geography.
• Yong, M.L. and Grundy-Warr, C. (2012). Tangled Nets of Discourse and Turbines of Development: Lower Mekong Mainstream Dam Debates. Third World Quarterly, 33 (6): 1037-1058.

Scholarships

• International Postgraduate Research Scholarship
• Australian Postgraduate Award

Prizes and awards

• Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize, NUS (2014)
• NUS Department of Geography Book Prize (2008)
• Dean’s List, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore (2007-2008)