The 2022/23 Dissertation Fieldwork Grant scheme is now open.
SEAC considers applicants from any discipline, using any methodology and selecting any site within the Southeast Asia region (normally classified as countries that are member states of ASEAN) in which the fieldwork is to be conducted. Considering the given pandemic circumstances, 'remote fieldwork' also can be considered.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to pay close attention to LSE and governmental news and health and safety updates, in and in liaison with their dissertation supervisors, in order that appropriate duty of care, for both themselves and any research participants, is ensured.
Eligibility:
- For taught postgraduate students, applicants must be currently enrolled at LSE and due to undertake dissertation fieldwork in the 2022/23 academic year.
- For undergraduate students, applicants can either be second or third year undergraduates currently enrolled at LSE and who are due to take an assessed final year dissertation as part of their degree. For second year undergraduates, proposed fieldwork can take place at any time until the start of Lent Term in the 2023/24 Academic Year.
Application instructions
Applications for the Dissertation Fieldwork Grant are now open. Interested students should submit a completed SEAC Dissertation Fieldwork Grant Application Form to SEAC Centre Manager Katie Boulton (seac.admin@lse.ac.uk) by 13 February 2023.
Important notes
- SEAC will be contacting your Dissertation Supervisor during the review process to acquire their confirmation of your forthcoming overseas field research. We would encourage you to approach your Dissertation Supervisor when preparing your application so that they are aware in advance.
- Please also note that fieldwork is likely to involve the submission of Health and Safety Risk assessments as well as an ethics review. It is the responsibility of the applicant and the applicant’s Department to ensure that those processes have been completed before fieldwork commences.
SEAC was delighted to recieve so many competitive applications for the 2021/22 grants. The nine student awardees were selected based on the strength of their applications, and their proposed dissertation fieldwork and research.
Alexia Faugeroux
Degree: MSc Development Management
Proposed fieldwork location: Cambodia
Topic: Impact evaluation of single-sex schooling on gender equality in education: a case study of Toutes à l’école in Cambodia
Michelle Yue Huang
Degree: MSc Conflict Studies
Proposed fieldwork location: Myanmar
Topic: Mobilisation and Resistance Post-Democratisation: Continuity, Change, and Learning in Myanmar’s Spring Revolution
Chen En Lee
Degree: MSc Sociology
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore and Malaysia
Topic: Is it just for the money: A look at Malaysian cross-border workers in Singapore
Dianwidhi Michelle Pranoto
Degree: MSc in Media and Communications (Data and Society)
Proposed fieldwork location: Indonesia
Topic: Exploring the Influence of Socio-cultural Predictors of Digital Exclusion on Outcomes of Digital Engagement between the Western and Eastern Part of Indonesia
Xiao Tong Quek
Degree: MSc International, Social and Public Policy
Proposed fieldwork location: Indonesia and Malaysia
Topic: The socio-economic impacts of mitigation policies implemented post-ratification of ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution on smallholder farmers in Indonesia and Malaysia
Pavla Yzabelle Tan
Degree: MSc Gender, Media and Culture
Proposed fieldwork location: Philippines
Topic: Nationalist Discourses in the 2022 Philippine Elections: The (Re)Construction of the Nation by Leading Presidential Candidates Leni Robredo versus Bongbong Marcos
Jeffrey Tong
Degree: MSc Regional and Urban Planning Studies
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore
Topic: Governing Urban Nature-based Solutions: An Analysis of High-rise Green Infrastructure Regulation in Singapore
Myra Torcheux
Degree: MSc Human Rights and Politics
Proposed fieldwork location: Cambodia
Topic: Transnational Justice and Politics in the Cambodian Diaspora
Sophie Worrall
Degree: MSc Environmental Policy and Regulation
Proposed fieldwork location: Malaysia
Topic: Drivers of sustainable palm oil certification? Case study of Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) and barriers for smallholder uptake
For this year, with in-person student fieldwork strictly limited, our 12 awardees impressed with innovative research and methods to work around travel restrictions.
Awardees have also been encouraged to pay close attention to LSE and governmental news and health and safety updates, in and in liaison with their dissertation supervisors, in order that appropriate duty of care, for both themselves and any research participants, is ensured.
Gray Brakke
Degree: MSc Urbanisation and Development
Proposed fieldwork location: Vietnam (remotely)
Topic: Strategic Differentiation: The Dialectic of Urban Citizenship and State Authority in Hanoi and Its Periurban Fringe
Read Gray's blog post on his fieldwork here.
Marcus Chee
Degree: MSc International Affairs
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore and Malaysia (remotely)
Topic: British Colonial gaze in the Malaya Command 1939-1942
Soon Yung Low
Degree: MSc Applied Social Data Science
Proposed fieldwork location: Malaysia (remotely)
Topic: Ethnic Stereotypes in Malaysia: A quantitative measure based on word embedding
Jeremiah Magpile
Degree: MSc Local Economic Development
Proposed fieldwork location: Philippines (remotely)
Topic: Is Pasig City ready for Industry 4.0? The role of institutions in enhancing workforce technology readiness
Amanda Munoz Gamage
Degree: MSc Human Rights
Proposed fieldwork location: Across Southeast Asia (remotely)
Topic: Exploring the production of knowledge in Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) – A case study of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APFWLD)
Read Amanda's blog post on her fieldwork here.
Luisa Pineda
Degree: MSc Media, Communication and Development
Proposed fieldwork location: Philippines (remotely)
Topic: Feminist media activism in the Philippines:Communication, community, and collective action amid COVID-19
Read Luisa's blog post on her fieldwork here.
Safira Prabawidya Pusparani
Degree: MSc Public Policy and Administration
Proposed fieldwork location: Indonesia (remotely)
Topic: Do women run the world (of policymaking)? Uncovering the dichotomy of descriptive and substantive gender representation in Indonesia's legislation processes post-2014 and 2019 elections
Read Safira's blog post on her fieldwork here.
Ili Kaiyisah Mohammad Rahan
Degree: MSc Environment and Development
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore (remotely)
Topic: Food for thought: Analyzing Singapore’s food resilience strategies
Dominic Rose
Degree: MSc Applied Social Data Science
Proposed fieldwork location: Thailand, Cambodia (remotely)
Topic: Using Deep Learning and Google Street View to Identify Poverty in Southeast Asia
Gabbie Santos
Degree: MSc Political Sociology
Proposed fieldwork location: Philippines (remotely)
Topic: How does the embourgeoisement of a rising Filipino middle class reshape labour politics and massmobilisation in the Philippines, and what are the political implications?
Read Gabbie's blog post on his fieldwork here.
Joshua Tham
Degree: BA History
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore (remotely)
Topic: Counter-Communist Efforts by the Catholic Church in Post-War Singapore, 1948-70
Nicholas Williamson
Degree: MSc Health and International Development
Proposed fieldwork location: Thailand (remotely)
Topic: A Qualitative Study on the Politics of Abortion Legalisation in Thailand
Important note from SEAC:
While any in-person fieldwork will inevitably be reconsidered, including cancellation, due to the current pandemic, we would like to congratulate the 10 successful applicants of SEAC’s 2019/20 LSE Southeast Asia Student Dissertation Fieldwork Grant based on their original proposals. Awardees have been assured that SEAC is very much aware of significant restrictions and that we will be sympathetic to any changes to the nature, scope and timing of their proposed research, including researching remotely if appropriate. Awardees have also been encouraged to pay close attention to LSE and governmental news and health and safety updates, in liaison with their dissertation supervisors, in order that appropriate duty of care, for both themselves and any research participants, is ensured.
Rahma Anggraini
Degree: MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies
Proposed fieldwork location: Indonesia
Topic: Contestation within Civil Society and Policy Changes: Examining the Impact of Advocacy by Different Women Groups to the Bill Legalization Process in Indonesia
Hayli Chiu
Degree: BSc Environment and Development
Proposed fieldwork location: Malaysia
Topic: Individual Decisions in Agent-Based Models: An Analysis of the Influence of Southeast Asian Haze Episodes on the Migration Patterns in Malaysia
Jonathan Formella
Degree: Columbia-LSE Dual MA/MSc in International and World History
Proposed fieldwork location: Vietnam
Topic: Exhumed Furies: Maoist Radicalism in the Chinese and Vietnamese Revolutions
Saanjh Gupta
Degree: MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore
Topic: Hawker Centre Redevelopment and Singaporean National Identity, 1968-86
Zhen Jun Al Lim
Degree: MSc Urbanisation and Development
Proposed fieldwork location: Thailand
Topic: Phuket’s Smart City Surveillance: an investigation of its Eagle Eyes CCTV Network
Woon Wei Look
Degree: MSc City Design and Social Science
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore
Topic: What is homelessness? Defining homelessness and a critical examination of governmental responses in Singapore
Rishik Elias Menon
Degree: MSc Criminal Justice Policy
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore
Topic: Crime Prevention and the Compliance-Industrial Complex: Analysing the Ideas, Interests and Institutions which Influence Singapore’s Anti-Money Laundering Regime
Cheyenne Ong
Degree: BSc in History and International Relations
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore and Malaysia
Topic: The extent to which Communists influenced the Chinese middle school students’ movement in Singapore from 1954-1961
Leanne Sajor
Degree: MSc Inequalities and Social Science
Proposed fieldwork location: Philippines
Topic: Topographies of resistance: implications of the Human Rights Impact Assessment on movements against inequalities in the Manila Bay Project
Johanna Sutton
Degree: MSc Urbanisation and Development
Proposed fieldwork location: Singapore
Topic: Making cities more resilient: blue-green infrastructure and governance
Tiffany Bennett
Degree: MSc Development Management
Fieldwork location: Cambodia
Topic: Belonging on the Margins: Exploring National Identity Among Cham Muslims in Rangsei Village, Cambodia
Lazarus Chok
Degree: BA Geography
Fieldwork location: Singapore
Topic: Terminal estates: An ethnographic study of planned obsolescence in public housing estates in Singapore
Ming Kit Lim
Degree: MSc Public Administration and Government
Fieldwork location: Singapore
Topic: Engendering Participatory Governance in Paternalistic States: A Case Study of ‘Our Singapore Conversation’
Rio Grace Otara
Degree: MSc in Gender, Development and Globalization
Fieldwork location: Philippines
Topic: Life Histories of Muslim Women Leaders of the Bangsamoro Islamic Women’s Auxiliary Brigade in the Philippines
Katie Parkinson
Degree: MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies
Fieldwork location: Thailand
Topic: Constructing ‘Home’ in Exile: Perspectives of Shan Refugees in Thailand