PhD Student Workshop

The Southeast Asia Centre (SEAC) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is delighted to partner with the Association of Southeast Asian Studies (ASEAS) to host a workshop for PhD students across the UK working on Southeast Asia.

Following on from the success of the workshop hosted at the LSE last June 2025, this workshop is designed to allow UK university-based research students working on the region to present their work among their peers for feedback and to provide a broader opportunity for sharing ideas and information related to ongoing doctoral research focused on Southeast Asia.

Thank you to those who have submitted paper proposals. Please find the schedule below:

Panel 1 - The Political Economy of Development and Growth in Southeast Asia, SAL.B.13

• 9:30am-10am: Andy Chin (King’s College London), “Industrial Policy, Appropriate Technology Transfer, and Upgrading in Malaysia’s Semiconductor Industry”
• 10:00am-10:30am: Jettawat Pravat (King’s College London), “Latecomer Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Structural Constraints and Bottom-Up Agency in the Case of Thailand”
• 10:30am-11am: Natalie Page (University of Bath), “The Political Economy of Agricultural FDI and Food Security in Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia”
• 11am-11:30am: Fandi Achmad (University of Oxford), “The 3S Learning Framework: A Digital Learning-by-Exporting Mechanism”
• 11:30am-12pm: Dythia Sendrata (King’s College London), “Regional Productive Capabilities, Growth, and Inequality: An Economic Complexity Perspective on Indonesia”

Panel 2 - Gender and Society in Southeast Asia, SAL.B.11

• 10am-10:30am: Alifia Marina Syarfi (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London), “Women’s Access to Labour Demand under Supply-Side Constraints in Indonesia’s Gendered Labour Market Structure”
• 10:30am-11am: Jesita Ajani (University of Oxford), “Broadcasting Norms: State Media, Intrahousehold Dynamics, and Child Welfare in Indonesia’s New Order Regime (1967-1998)”
• 11am-11:30am: Kevin Tan (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London), “Uneven Reorganisation of Social Reproduction: A Case Study of Households in the Philippines and Singapore”
• 11:30am-12pm: Kuan Huai Pa (King’s College London/National University of Singapore), “Negotiating Womanhood: Women in Leftist Movements and Student Activism in Peninsular Malaysia, 1960s-70s”

Panel 3 - Understandings and Experiences of Power, Religion, and the Environment in Southeast Asia, SAL.B.09

• 10am-10:30am: Anita Lateano (University of Westminster), “Beyond the Reef: Ethnographic Perspectives on Coral Restoration and Governance in North Sulawesi”
• 10:30am-11am: Said Effendy (University of Cambridge), “The Life of a Document: Changing Ethics of Interaction Among the Kensiu of Kedah, Malaysia”
• 11am-11:30am: Wayne Huang (University of California at Santa Cruz), “'To Be Seen, Not Counted’: Obscure Economies in Islamic Sumatra”
• 11:30am-12pm: Wisarut Wongnom (University of Leeds), “Affective Mobilisation of Thai Hyper-Royalist Vigilantism in Contemporary Thailand”

Lunch break - 12pm-2pm, SAL.B.13

Panel 4 - Communications, Education, and Knowledge in Southeast Asia and Southeast Asian Studies, SAL.B.13

• 2pm-2:30pm: Anh Dinh-Hong (University College London), “When the Popularity of Podcasts in Vietnam is Party Rooted from the Long-Established Radio-Listening Habits of Vietnamese People: From Wartime Communal Radio and Public Loudspeakers”
• 2:30pm-3pm: Dwinanda Ardhi (King’s College London), “State Scholarship and Talent Building in Indonesia”
• 3pm-3:30pm: Charlene Song (University College London), “Constructing Patriotic Southeast Asian Studies: Critical Perspectives on the Field in Chinese Universities since 2022”

Panel 5 - The Politics of Space in Southeast Asia, SAL.B.11

• 2pm-2:30pm: Anusha Arumugam (LSE), “Scales of Wartime Political Order: Myanmar’s Civil War”
• 2:30pm-3pm: Hanh-An Trinh (LSE), “Speculative Atmospheres: Real Estate Events and the Narratives of Building a Better Nation”
• 3pm-3:30pm: Huda Mahmoud (University of Cambridge), “Identity and shaping liveability in the port city: The Malaysian Case”

Panel 6 - Sustaining Unsustainable Labour Conditions in Indonesia, SAL.B.09

• 2pm-2:30pm: Irfan Asgani (University of Cambridge), “Controlling Labour, Extracting Value: Labour Regime in Indonesia’s Nickel Frontier”
• 2:30pm-3pm: Putu Agung Nara Indra Prima Satya (University of Amsterdam), “The Unfulfilled Hopes and Racial Tensions in a Chinese Project in Indonesia: Case Study of Ciharapan Power Plant”
• 3pm-3:30pm: Mireille Marcia Karman (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London), “How Informality Sustains the Waste Management System: The Case of Informal Workers of the Recycling Industry in Bandung”

Informal discussions & networking - 3:30pm-5pm, all three rooms

*Banner photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

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