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2023-2024

Prof John T. Sidel publishes new blog post

Read Prof Sidel's post on the Southeast Asia Blog, discussing 'Southeast Asian Studies at the LSE: Historical Legacies, Enduring Structures, New Directions' to learn more about the strengths and role of SEAC in Southeast Asian Studies at LSE and beyond.

A mug, a laptop and some stationary on a desk

Work for SEAC: now recruiting Comms and Events Assistant

SEAC is recruiting an assistant to work on Communications and Events. If you're an incoming LSE graduate student looking for work, and have have experience in communications and/or event management please email seac.admin@lse.ac.uk for more information. This is a paid position for around 15 hours per week during term time (October 2023- June 2024).

Southeast Asia Working Paper 9: ‘Seasons of the Anthropocene’: Politicisation of the Haze Season in Southeast Asia is published.

Helena Varkkey, Felicia Liu, Thomas Smith, & Sophie Trott delve into the discursive framework of ‘seasonality’ surrounding the societal perception and response to haze, exploring ‘haze season’ that has emerged in Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singaporean societies to signify the recurring air pollution episode caused by the widespread burning of tropical peatlands.

SEAC announces Autumn Term Events

SEAC is delighted to announce our upcoming events over Autumn Term. Featuring a diverse range of topics, disciplines, and speakers, we look forward to welcoming you in person or online via Zoom.

All our events are free to attend and open to students, academics, and the wider public. Full details of all our events can be found here.

SEAC Associate, Prof Catherine Allerton published in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Prof Catherine Allerton has published 'Discordant temporalities of migration and childhood' in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Focusing on the children of Indonesian and Filipino migrants in Sabah, Malaysia, this article explores the contemporary clash between the temporalities of migration and childhood. This article follows on from Prof Allerton's delivery of the Malinowski Memorial Lecture in 2021, a video of which can be viewed here.

SEAC Associate, Dr Yimin Zhao hosts conference in Indonesia

Dr Yimin Zhao, alongside Overlooked Cities Collective collaborators, hosted the first in a series of events on “Overlooked Cities: Thinking and doing global urban studies differently.” in Bandung, Indonesia. The conference, held 6-8 September, also featured SEAC Associate Prof Hyun Bang Shin as one of two keynote speakers. Read more about the conference here.

SEAC Associate, Prof Duncan McCargo joins NTU

Prof Duncan McCargo is now Professor of Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. He joined NTU from the University of Copenhagen, where he served as Director of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies and Professor of Political Science from 2019 to 2023.

SEAC welcomes Prof John Sidel as SEAC Director

SEAC is delighted to welcome Prof John Sidel (Sir Patrick Gillam Chair in International and Comparative Politics) as the new Centre Director. He is a specialist on Southeast Asia and has conducted extensive research in Indonesia and the Philippines in particular.

You can learn more about Prof Sidel in our 'Spotlight On...' Series here.

2022-2023

Southeast Asia Working Paper 8: Questioning the traditional narrative over contemporary urban development in the Javanese royal city is published.

Read more from former Visiting Senior Fellow, Ofita Purwani here.

And, read Ofita's Blog: The traditional royal-sponsored urban development in Yogyakarta; why different from futuristic Gulf cities? here.

SEAC bids farewell to Graduate Intern, Danyun Xiong

Thank you and farewell to Danyun Xiong as her Graduate Internship with SEAC comes to an end. We wish her well as she takes up a position with UNICEF.

Prof Hyun Bang Shin steps down as SEAC Director

Having served as Director of the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre (SEAC) since August 2018, Prof Hyun Bang Shin now returns full time to the Department of Geography and Environment.

"I am grateful for my time with SEAC and am pleased to leave behind a stable, well-connected, and engaged Centre that is recognised as one of the most active Southeast Asia centres globally." Read Prof Hyun Bang Shin's full farewell message here.

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Fellows

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Fellow Dr Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz. At SEAC, Nicole has been looking at elite class formation in the Philippines over the last 200 years. Watch her recent SEAC seminar: bit.ly/3PUnJm1 Read her recent blog post: bit.ly/3XwSLlB

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Fellow, Dr Benjamin Lawrence. During his time at SEAC, Ben has been finalizing his book, titled In the Shadow of the Constitution: the Micropolitics of Constitutionalism in Cambodia. Watch his recent SEAC Seminar here: bit.ly/3NIALA3

Southeast Asia Working Paper 7: Beyond Nostalgia: The Marcos Political Comeback in the Philippines is published.

Read more from former Visiting Senior Fellow, Prof Julio Teehankee here.

SEAC bids farewell to Comms and Events Assistants Candee Chee and Yohana Kristina

SEAC says farewell and thank you to our Comms and Events Assistants Yohana Kristina and Candee Chee. Candee and Yohana are studying MSc Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship and MSc in Development Studies respectively and we wish them good luck as they finish their degrees!

SEAC Director, Prof Hyun Bang Shin presents at Informalizing Asia workshops

On 30 June, Prof Shin spoke at Saitama University, taking part in an International Workshop on Asian Urbanism and Urban Informality. The workshop looked at the dynamism and dilemma of Asian urban development as well as new features of the urban informality, and Prof Shin presented on Circulating Asian Urbanism. The report and recording of the workshop can be found here.

On 1 July, Prof Shin was the speaker at a workshop When Critical Urban Studies Meet Asian Studies: A Dialogue on New Directions of Knowledge Production in Globalizing Asia also at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo. He discussed critical urban studies, knowledge production and publishing. Full details here.

These two workshops were organised by the Informalizing Asia project. Further information here.

SEAC Associate, Prof John Sidel presented "Crisis at Catalyst: Introducing Urban Transport Reforms in the Philippines Amidst the Global Pandemic"

Prof Sidel presented a paper titled "Crisis at Catalyst: Introducing Urban Transport Reforms in the Philippines Amidst the Global Pandemic" at Move as One coalition's third-anniversary event. He highlighted challenges such as gridlock traffic and under-investment in mass transit systems, while acknowledging the opportunities for reform brought about by the pandemic. His recommendation emphasised the establishment of a bus rapid transit system that would shift from battery-operated public utility vehicles to a regularized system providing reliable public transport. Prof Sidel was then featured in local news and radio further discussing his recommendations, including on . Read more about it here.

You can also read a blog post written by Prof Sidel for the Southeast Asia Blog in 2020 on this topic: What are the challenges faced by urban transport in the Global South?

SEAC Associate, Dr Yimin Zhao awarded grant for "Overlooked Cities: Thinking and doing global urban studies differently" seminar series

Dr Yimin Zhao has received one of this year’s seminar series awards from the Urban Studies Foundation, together with other team members including Dr Isolde de Villiers (University of the Free State, South Africa), Dr Erwin Nugraha (Resilience Development Initiative, Indonesia), Dr Julia Wesely (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria) and Dr Hanna A Ruszczyk (Durham University, UK). With this award, they plan to organise a series of events on “Overlooked Cities: Thinking and doing global urban studies differently.” The first event will be held in September 2023 in Bandung, Indonesia, where Prof Hyun Bang Shin will be one of two keynote speakers. Read more about the grant here

SEAC Associate, Prof Katherine Brickell published paper titled "Slow violence, over-indebtedness, and the politics of (in)visibility: Stories and creative practices in pandemic times"

SEAC Associate, Prof Katherine Brickell recently published "Slow violence, over-indebtedness, and the politics of (in)visibility: Stories and creative practices in pandemic times" in Political Geography. In the paper, she shares insights and thoughts on the ‘doing’ of creative practice for representing and communicating lived experiences of slow violence. Read the paper here

SEAC Associate, Dr Koh Sin Yee co-organised Online Writing Workshop for Southeast Asian Early Career Social Science Researchers Studying Southeast Asia

SEAC Associate, Dr Koh Sin Yee co-organised an online writing workshop for a small group of social science ECRs who are based in and beyond Southeast Asia. The workshop was funded by the Women in Southeast Asian Social Sciences (WiSEASS) network and was held 6-10 March 2023. The workshop attracted 71 Expressions of Interest from ECRs based in 20 countries and regions (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, the Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, the UK, the USA, Zimbabwe), from which 20 participants were selected. Read more about the event here

SEAC Director, Prof Hyun Bang Shin spoke at multiple events about Southeast Asia

Prof Shin attended and spoke about Southeast Asia at multiple events:
He was the keynote speaker for the event "What is the East?" on 13th of June at University of Sheffield. The event is hosted by Southern Theorising Group (STingG), an initiative of the JUST Design Research and Action Group at the Sheffield School of Architecture.

He also spoke at the Humbolt University of Berlin on 15th of May about urban manifestations of China’s overseas investment titled "Fast-tracked city unbound? Speed, Scale, and Risk in China’s overseas investment".

New Publication from Prof Hyun Bang Shin and Dr Do Young Oh

SEAC Director, Prof Hyun Bang Shin, and SEAC Postdoctoral Associate, Dr Do Young Oh, co-authored University as real estate developer: comparative perspectives from the global east in GeoforumVolume 144. Examining comparatively two recent projects of university-led large-scale real estate development in South Korea and Singapore, this paper uses qualitative research methods to investigate how and why East Asian universities participate in real estate development projects; and how the universities pursue their material goals by negotiating with the state. The paper is open access and can be read here.

SEAC supported the Southeast Asia Political Scientist Training Academy at LSE

SEAC was delighted to host PhD Students plus Professor Meredith Weiss (SUNY Albany) and Professor Sarah Shair-Rosenfeld (University of Essex) for a workshop session on the morning of Tuesday, June 6th, with additional students patching in via Zoom from various parts of Southeast Asia. This workshop is part of the “Southeast Asia Political Science Academy” sponsored by the American Political Science Association and hosted by the University of Essex.

SEAC co-hosted Malaysia Futures Forum with Khazanah Research Institute in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Co-hosted with Khazanah Research Institute of Malaysia, this forum brought together leading scholars and policymakers to engage in a discourse regarding the possible ways in which these ‘futures’ could be imagined. Ideally, underwriting these ‘futures’ ought to be the commitment for ensuring or enhancing what we imagine to be the various forms of the common good or a life of value/ decent standard of living. Much of the discourse on development in this region have focused primarily on economic growth, without giving sufficient emphasis on its holistic aspects. This forum broadened the discourse, to put economic growth in its proper context, as part of the larger puzzle of development as a whole. Learn more here.

SEAC publishes two new Working Papers

SEAC is delighted to have recently published two new working papers in the Southeast Asia Working Paper Series.

"Scrutinising Nusantara: The Making of an Authoritarian City" by Dr Sulfikar Amir, a past Senior Visiting Fellow, critically examines Indonesia’s ambition to build Nusantara, and the challenges and fallacies around this project.

"Seasonality in the Anthropocene: On the construction of Southeast Asia’s 'haze season'" by Felicia Liu, Thomas Smith, Vernon Yian, & John Holden investigates the emergent social construction of the ‘haze season’ in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. This paper is an output from the SEAC Research Fund project of the same name.

SEAC Director Prof Shin speaks at OECD Development Centre – ISEAS Joint Hybrid Seminar

The Asian Regional Expert Meeting on Development, Disasters and Catastrophes (Am-DC) co-hosted by OECD Development Centre and ISEAS provides opportunities to discuss policy priorities, analytical approaches and data challenges. It contributes to narrowing the gap between policy research and practical policy implementation in disaster mitigation and response. Prof Hyun Bang Shin, SEAC Director spoke at the seminar to discuss the findings from the project: Modelling Flood Risk and Community Resilience in Rayong Province, Thailand on which Advisory Board Member Jonathan Rigg is also a collaborator. Read more about the research project here. Read full details on the hybrid seminar here.

SEAC Associate, Dr Yimin Zhao received funding for Overlooked Cities: Thinking and doing global urban studies differently project

SEAC Associate, Dr Yimin Zhao's Overlooked Cities: Thinking and doing global urban studies differently project received funding from the Urban Studies Foundation. More details on the project here.

The project is a seminar series that expands on the term “overlooked cities” to mark the researchers' collective critique of the indifferent views on cities that are marginalised, off-the-map and under-theorised due to the logic of domination and control. This series aims to elaborate on counter-overlooking as a critical pathway to contest historical and contemporary neglect of cities and their dynamics – especially in Africa and Asia. The project will be hosting a seminar in Bandung, Indonesia in September 2023, the call for papers can be found here.

SEAC welcomes Danyun Xiong as Communications Assistant

SEAC welcomes Danyun Xiong as the centre's Communications Assistant. She holds a master’s degree in Anthropology and Development Management. Coming from Guangxi, China, she has years of professional experience in both the education sector and NGOs. She is passionate about migration, labour market, education, rural and community development.

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Fellows, Dr Lertchoosakul and Dr Chang

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Fellow, Dr Kanokrat Lertchoosakul and Senior Visiting Fellow, Dr Andy Scott Chang. Dr Lertchoosakul joined SEAC from 1 February to 30 April 2023. Learn more about her work here. Dr Chang joined SEAC from 30 January to 24 April 2023. Learn more about Dr Chang and his work here.

SEAC awards Dissertation Fieldwork Grants

SEAC is pleased to support seven students with Dissertation Fieldwork Grants this year. These grants provide funds for field research in the Southeast Asia region as part of students' assessed dissertations. Awardees research includes: The interrelationship between Social Policy, Confucianism and Loneliness among the elderly in Singapore; Losing or Winning? Development and Dispossession in Malaysia; and Understanding Indonesian Conservatives and Liberals' Moral Values to Viral Social Media Contents in the #SahkanRUUPKS Campaign. Find out more about the grant and awardees here.

SEAC welcomes Visiting Fellows, Dr Purwani and Dr Lawrence

SEAC welcomes Visiting Senior Fellow, Dr Ofita Purwani and Visiting Fellow, Dr Benjamin Lawrence.

Dr Purwani is at the Centre as Visiting Senior Fellow from 1 April to 30 June 2023. Dr Purwani's research at SEAC focuses on urban development in Yogyakarta after decentralisation. Learn more about her work here. Dr Lawrence is at SEAC as Visiting Fellow from 1 May to 31 July 2023. Dr Lawrence's research at SEAC focuses on the Micropolitics of Constitutionalism in Cambodia. Learn more about his work here.

SEAC Associate, Dr Hans Steinmüller co-awarded a £1.5m three-year grant from the British Academy

SEAC congratulates Dr Hans Steinmüller who is part of a group of 20 scholars that was awarded a £1.5m three-year grant from the British Academy on Chinese Global Orders. The team under grant leaders Leigh Jenco (LSE Government) and Hassan Karrar (Lahore) will focus on Chinese entanglements with different regions of the world to ask: what do Chinese global orders look like, where are they constituted, and from whose perspective?

Find out more about the project here

SEAC Associate, Dr. Kirsten Schulze co-published

SEAC Associate, Dr Kirsten Schulze presented a co-authored paper on ‘Indonesian jihadi training camps: Home and away’ at the 2023 International Studies Association conference in Montreal on 16th March 2023.

SEAC Associate, Dr Chris Chaplin spoke at the Faith and Climate Workshop

SEAC Associate, Dr Chris Chaplin spoke at the Faith and Climate Workshop hosted by State Islamic University Jakarta where he and other speakers discussed religious community responses to climate change and linking sense making and preventative activism.

SEAC Associate, Dr Hans Steinmüller published in the China Quarterly

SEAC Associate, Dr Hans Steinmüller published 'Introduction. Crises of Care in China today’ in China Quarterly. The introduction presents an overview of crises of care in China today, specifically as they affect the fields of kinship, health, and government. To study care ethnographically, we distinguish between the attentive and active dimensions of care: what people care about, and how they care for others. Acts of care always relate to larger concerns and general values, but they scale up in different ways. The imbalances that emerge are central to the politics of care which our contributors describe. Care as attentive co-growth engages different values, remakes inequality, and nourishes political life. The contributors use the same framework of attention, action, and politics to investigate crucial issues in Chinese society, including family, health, environment, ritual and animals. In all these fields care provides a privileged vantage point to understand social and moral change in China today.

Read the publication here

SEAC Associate, Dr Yimin Zhao co-published in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

SEAC Associate, Dr Yimin Zhao co-published an article titled 'Re‐arranging the urban: Forms, rhythms, politics' in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. Written by a collective of Asian based urban scholars, the essay explores the processes through which disparate dimensions of urban environments intersect with each other in a continuous process of re-arrangement. Working in tandem with other more familiar structural dimensions informing urban life, such re-arranging extends the forms of poitics and power making up the mundane operations of the city and its regions.

Read the publication here

Navigating the 'Where', 'When' and 'How' of Publishing in International Journals

SEAC Director, Prof Hyun Bang Shin, and SEAC Advisory Board chair, Prof Jonathan Rigg, spoke at an event hosted by Chulalongkorn University's Department of Geography on the challenges of getting published in international journals.

SEAC congratulates Kristian Karlo Saguin for receiving an AAG award

SEAC congratulates SEAC Associate, Dr Kristian Karlo Saguin for receiving the 2022 AAG Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography for his book 'Urban Ecologies on the Edge: Making Manila’s Resource Frontier'. His book is said to be "an outstanding work of geographical scholarship, balancing empirical and conceptual insights that contribute to current interests in urbanization, the infrastructure turn, and environmental change in cities of the Global South. The writing is lively, highly accessible, and nuanced, and it is likely to serve as a model for students seeking to examine other urban places across the globe."

You can watch Dr Kristian Karlo Saguin talk about his work here

Find out more about the award here

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Fellow Dr Helena Varkkey

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Fellow Dr Helena Varkkey. Helena is seen here with collaborators Dr Felicia Liu and Dr Tom Smith. You can learn more about Helena in our Spotlight On feature and in her recent Southeast Asia Blog post.

New paper published in the Southeast Asia Working Paper Series

Congratulations to Alia Salleh, winner of the SEAC Postgraduate Dissertation Prize 2022, who has published her dissertation "Does the ‘culture of property’ normalise eviction and demolition? The case of Kampung Sungai Baru, Kuala Lumpur" in the Southeast Asia Working Paper Series.

You can read her Working Paper here.

SEAC is delighted to welcome four new Visiting Fellows:

Dr Helena Varkkey (Visiting Fellow) is an Associate Professor of Environmental Politics at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya.
Dr Andy Scott Chang (Visiting Senior Fellow) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Singapore Management University.
Dr Kanokrat Lertchoosakul (Visiting Fellow) is an assistant professor at the department of government, faculty of political science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
Dr Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz (Visiting Fellow) is a Research Fellow at Clare Hall, Supervisor in World History, and the Executive Director of the Toynbee Prize Foundation.

2021 winner of SEAC Postgraduate Dissertation Prize published

SEAC is happy to announce that Gray Brakke, winner of the 2021 SEAC Postgraduate Dissertation Prize , has published his dissertation titled "Ambivalent Insurgencies: Citizenship, Land Politics, and Development in Hanoi and Its Periurban Fringe" as an article in Urban Studies. Read his article here.

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Professor Tamaki Endo

SEAC bids farewell to Professor Tamaki Endo (Saitama University) who was a Visiting Professor at SEAC until 31st January 2023. To learn more about Prof Endo's work you can read her Working Paper on Urban Redevelopment, Spatial Restructuring, and Displacement of Communities in Bangkok, and watch a video of her SEAC Seminar Urban Risk and Well-Being in Asian Mega Cities: Urban lower and middle classes in Bangkok, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

Dr. Catalina Ortiz co-designed exhibition: A Tale of Two Flower Markets: Bangkok-London

Photo exhibitions from two flower markets, Pak Khlong Talat in Bangkok and Columbia Road Sunday Flower Market in London, tell stories of the daily lives of people, traders, and reveal the transient and casual ways of using the space. Including the development of urban areas with different strategies. Check out the exhibition from 4th Feb till 12 Feb 2023 at Chakkraphet Road, Bangkok, Thailand. Find out more about the event here

SEAC Associates published in new volume How People Compare

The new volume How People Compare, edited By Mathijs Pelkmans and Harry Walker, features chapters by two SEAC Associates: Dr Nicholas Long authored a chapter "In Defence of Bad Comparisons? Comparisons and their Motivations in Indonesia’s Riau Islands"; and Dr Hans Steinmuller co-authored a chapter with Stephan Feuchtwang on "Implicit Comparisons, or Why it is Inevitable to Study China in Comparative Perspective".

Prof Katherine Brickell joins King's College London

SEAC congratulates Prof Katherine Brickell on her appointment at King's College London as a Professor of Urban Studies. She holds 20 years of area-focused expertise in Cambodia where she works on the changing geographies of home and work. She is a recipient of the 2014 RGS Gill Memorial Award, and 2016 Philip Leverhulme Prize, and journal editor of Gender, Place and Culture. Prof Brickell was Chair of the RGS-IBG Gender and Feminist Geographies Research Group (2016-2018).

Professor Shin spoke at CDRI event last December

SEAC Director, Professor Hyun Bang Shin, spoke at the Researcher Conversation Series: Meeting the Editors: Publishing in Leading Development Journals at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) in December 2022. At this event in Pnomh Penh, Prof Shin discussed publishing an academic/scholarly journal in leading development journals.

SEAC's Annual Report 2021/2022 is Published

SEAC's Annual Report details the full range of the Centre’s activities over the course of the year, offering you a reminder of last year's many activities, schemes, and successes.

The report can be read in full here.

Centre Associate, Dr Hans Steinmüller published article and blog post

How nation-states give complicity a bad name

Nation-state institutions have re-drawn the boundaries of complicity, accountability, and responsibility. This article illustrates the changes with a comparison of two fieldsites, the Wa State of Myanmar, where nation-state institutions are weak, and Hubei Province in China, where they are relatively strong.

Read the article here

Grace Is Incommensurability in Commensuration: The Semantics of Bwan among Three Generations of Wa and Lahu Prophets'

Abstract: Since the seventeenth century, prophets have reappeared periodically among the Wa and Lahu ethnic groups of mainland Southeast Asia. Exceptionally talented, these men built on the syncretic cults of runaway soldiers, secretive Buddhist sects, and Christian missionaries and became leaders of millenarian movements. Typically, in the Wa language, such leaders are said to be very strong and blessed, or full of grace (bwan). The prophets might be understood as reincarnations of mythical ‘men of prowess’ or as the representatives of the peripheral situation. However, both interpretations fundamentally misread the semantics of grace in Wa and neighbouring languages: a kind of cunning and strength that is so radical that it cannot be measured or mediated. Grace, here, is neither a ‘mediative concept’ (as Pitt-Rivers suggested), nor is it the consequence of Christian conversion. Instead, grace is the incommensurability that emerges at the margin of a world that is being measured.

Read the article here

Centre Associate, Dr. Sin Yee Koh published 2 articles

Global Competition Over Skills

This article in the International Encyclopedia of Education (Fourth Edition) provides a critical review of the rationale, strategies and consequences of the global competition over skilled human capital.

Read the article here

Contesting reproduction migration: Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) controversies during the COVID-19 pandemic

The article examines the controversies surrounding the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme during the COVID-19 pandemic and illustrates how stakeholders are rethinking the premise of lifestyle migration programmes. These varied contestations of the MM2H programme reveal the complexity of reproduction migration as a multifaceted phenomenon.

Download and read the article here

Attend Meeting the Editors: Publishing in Leading Development Journals featuring Professor Hyun Bang Shin

SEAC Director, Professor Hyun Bang Shin will join CDRI on Friday, 16th December 2022 at 10:00AM (UTC +7) for a discussion on publishing.

SEAC is delighted to welcome a new Centre Associate, Dr. Chris Chaplin.

He is an Assistant Professorial Research Fellow in the Religion and Global Society Research Unit at the LSE. He has spent over 14 years working on the region in both academic and other professional roles and specialises in the anthropology of maritime Southeast Asia. His research focuses on the convergence between global religious doctrines and local understandings of piety and faith, and how these influence contemporary ideas of religious belonging, solidarity, and social activism.

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SEAC was delighted to meet with a delegation from IPB University including Prof. Arya H. Dharmawan, Prof. Ujang Sumarwan, Dr. Nurmala K. Pandjaitan, Dr. Djuara Lubis, Dr. Eka Intan, and Dr. Alfian Helmi to discuss Southeast Asia research and possibilities for future collaboration.

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SEAC was pleased to welcome Prof Jonathan Rigg, Prof Anne Booth, Prof Chua Beng Huat, and Dr Suraya Ismail to LSE for SEAC’s Advisory Board meeting.

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Postgraduate Dissertation Prize 2022 Winner and Highly Commended Submission

SEAC is proud to announce that the winner of the Postgraduate Dissertation Prize this year is 'Does the ‘culture of property’ normalise eviction and demolition? The case of Kampung Sungai Baru, Kuala Lumpur' by Alia Salleh. Her dissertation questions prevailing narratives on redevelopment, reflecting her deep interest in urban development issues in her home-city, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

We would also like to highlight Itamar Carillo on her highly commendable dissertation "Rainfall shocks and cash transfer effects on stunting. A case study of Indonesia".

Find out more about the Postgraduate Dissertation Prize and past winners here.

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Fellows

SEAC bids farewell to Senior Visiting Fellows - Professor Julio Tehankee from De La Salle University, Dr Sulfikar Amir fromNanyang Technological University, and Visiting Fellow - Dr Gerard McCarthy from National University of Singapore

Professor Shin presented Urban Korea Inc.? A critical analysis of South Korea’s export of its urban development model to Kuwait

SEAC Director, Professor Hyun Bang Shin, spoke at Ca' Foscari University of Venice on 20th of October 2022 about the challenges faced by Korean firms and experts in the course of promoting the Kuwaiti new city construction project. The talk aimed to encourage a more plural understanding of heterogeneous urbanisation processes due to the growing influence of Asian urbanism and to show how urbanism as ideology, knowledge, and capital from one site is transferred to another in non-Western contexts.

SEAC hosted From Red Revolution to Red Solution: China and the Cold War Endgame in Indochina talk

On 5th of October 2022, SEAC hosted Dr Qingfei Yin (Assistant Professor of International History and SEAC Associate, LSE) who presented From Red Revolution to Red Solution: China and the Cold War Endgame in Indochina.

‘Isles and islands’ – an anthology of cultural flows between United Kingdom and Philippines is launched!

Prof Deirdre McKay, one of our centre’s Associates, is the lead editor for ‘Isles and islands’. This anthology explores the cultural relationships and shared knowledge circulating between the United Kingdom and the Philippines from the perspective of those who criss-cross that space. It brings together contributions from writers, artists, and academics – identifying as British, Filipino, Filipino-British and as global citizens – all working to make contemporary convergences visible.

The full anthology and interactive version will be available to the public on 2 November 2022.

Read ‘Contesting reproduction migration: Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) controversies during the COVID-19 pandemic’ by Nirmala Prabhakar and Sin Yee Koh

Read Nirmala Prabhakar and Sin Yee Koh's discussion how different Malaysia My Second Home stakeholder groups are contesting lifestyle migration as reproduction migration. Read the article here

Read ‘Sovereignty as Care: Acquaintances, Mutuality, and Scale in the Wa State of Myanmar’ by Dr Hans Steinmüller

Dr Hans Steinmüller, Associate Professor at LSE published an article titled ‘Sovereignty as Care: Acquaintances, Mutuality, and Scale in the Wa State of Myanmar’. The article describes the logic of personal relations that allows for the exercise of popular sovereignty in the Wa State and elsewhere. Read the article here

Reports from the ‘Depleted by Debt? Focusing a gendered lens on climate resilience, credit and nutrition in Cambodia and South India’ research project is published!

Two reports: Microfinance, over-indebtedness and climate adaptation and Trapped in the service of debt have been published on how household over-indebtedness needs to be understood and tackled in tandem with the climate crisis and the negative impacts these are both having on people’s health and well-being. Read and download the reports here

SEAC Welcomes Comms and Events Assistants

SEAC welcome Candee Chee and Yohana Kristina who joined SEAC in October as Comms and Events Assistants. Candee and Yohana are studying MSc Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship and MSc in Development Studies respectively and bring expertise and passion in comms, education, womens' and youth empowerment amongst other things. We look forward to working with them.

The Special Issue on Pandemic Politics (Volume 43, Issue 2) co-edited by Professor Julio Tehankee is now online!

The Special Issue on Pandemic Politics (Volume 43, Issue 2) of the Philippine Political Science Journal (PPSJ) co-edited by Professor Julio Tehankee, one of our centre’s visiting Senior Fellow, is now available online. #pandemic #covid #pandemicpolitics

Read the introductory article here

SEAC Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Sulfikar Amir publishes op-ed

Dr Sulfikar Amir, SEAC’s Visiting Senior Fellow has published an op-ed in Media Indonesia about the new capital project of Nusantara. You can read the article (in Bahasa Indonesia) here. Dr Amir also gave a SEAC Seminar on the topic of Scrutinizing Nusantara: The Fallacies of Indonesia's New Capital. You can watch the seminar here.

SEAC Welcomes Visiting Professor Tamaki Endo

SEAC is delighted to welcome Professor Tamaki Endo (Saitama University) who will be with SEAC until 31st January 2023, and will focus on urban inequality and the gig-economy during her time as Visiting Professor. Learn more about Prof Endo in SEAC’s Spotlight On... Series

Dr Yimin Zhao published in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

Centre Associate Dr Yimin Zhao published THE INFORMAL CONSTITUTION OF STATE CENTRALITY: Governing Street Businesses in (Post-)Pandemic Chengdu, China in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. This article was co-authored with former SEAC Postdoctoral Research Assistant Dr Yi Jin. You can read the article here.

LSEAAS Gala Dinner with LSE Director Baroness Minouche Shafik

On Wednesday 12 October, the LSE Alumni Association of Singapore will host a gala dinner to celebrate LSE Director Baroness Minouche Shafik's visit to Singapore. Minister for Health, Mr Ong Ye Kung will join as Guest-of-Honour, and alongside Baroness Shafik, will discuss the new social contract. This will be moderated by bestselling author and LSE alumnus Dr Parag Khanna. The event will also pay tribute to the memory of Prof Saw Swee Hock (1931-2021). Further information and the link to purchase tickets can be found here.

Prof Katherine Brickell publishes reports on Cambodia including insights from the ReFashion study

Centre Associate Prof Katherine Brickell has published a report from the ReFashion study Building Forward Worse: How COVID-19 has accelerated the race to the bottom in the global garment industry. Full details can be found here.

And, Prof Brickell has co-authored two reports from the Depleted by Debt? Project: Trapped in the Service of Debt: How the Burdens of Repayment are Fuelling the Health Poverty Trap in Rural Cambodia; and Microfinance, Over-indebtedness and Climate Adaptation: New Evidence from Rural Cambodia. Further info here.

Dr Sin Yee Koh published in the Urban Studies Journal

Centre Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh published The inversion of majority/minority at the de/reterritorialised urban higher education enclave: Xiamen University Malaysia in the Urban Studies Journal. You can read the article here.

Congratulations also to Dr Koh who joins the editorial boards of Global Networks and Springer's "Asia in Transition" book series.

SEAC Director gives talk to US-Asia Law Institute at NYU

On 22 September, Prof Hyun Bang Shin gave a talk on Urban Growth and Social Movements in Asia to the US-Asia Law Institute at NYU. You can watch the video here.

SEAC hosts Modelling Flood Risk research team

On 23 July SEAC was delighted to host Dr Chanita Duangyiwa, Dr Pannee Cheewinsiriwat, Dr Areerut Patnukao, and Dr Puttaporn Areeprachakun from Chulalongkorn University and Prof Jonathan Rigg (SEAC Advisory Board and Bristol Uni).

The team is working together on the British Council project: Modelling Flood Risk and Community Resilience in Rayong Province, Thailand. And, came together to discuss findings from two rounds of interviews with local experts and villagers, and plans for joint publications.

SEAC is delighted to welcome Prof Julio Teehankee, Dr Gerard McCarthy and Dr Sulfikar Amir

Prof Julio Teehankee (De La Salle University) joins SEAC as Visiting Senior Fellow and will focus on Authoritarian Nostalgia and the Marcos Restoration in the Philippines. You can learn more about Prof Teehankee's work at his SEAC Seminar on Wednesday 23 November.

Dr Gerard McCarthy (ARI-NUS) joins SEAC as Visiting Fellow to pursue research on the Politics of gig-economy in Southeast Asia; and hybrid political order in Asia.

Dr Sulfikar Amir (NTU) joins SEAC as Visiting Senior Fellow to Scrutinizing Nusantara: The Fallacies of Indonesia’s New Capital, and How Political Leadership Shapes Covid-19 Mitigation in Southeast Asia. You can learn more about Dr Amir's work at his SEAC Seminar on Wednesday 12 October.

2021-2022

SEAC Director gives talk in Virtual Geography Speaker Series

SEAC Director, Prof Hyun Bang Shin gives a talk at the Virtual Geography Speaker Series as he reflects on what it means to conduct academic writing as scholars in Asia. Further information can be found here.

SEAC Research Fund project covered by the European Geosciences Union

Congratulations to SEAC Associate Dr Tom Smith and Felicia Liu whose SEAC funded research project on 'Seasonality in the Anthropocene: social constructions of Singapore's 'haze season'' was presented at EGU22 and has been covered in the EGU Blog.

SEAC Announces 2022 Undegraduate Research Fellowship

SEAC is delighted to announce the 2022 Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Kesha Menon Jayadeep will be working with SEAC Associate, Prof. Catherine Allerton on her project Migration and Childhood in Sabah and beyond. Full details can be found here.

SEAC Director, Prof Hyun Bang Shin returns from a visit to Southeast Asia

During April to June 2022 SEAC Director, Prof Hyun Bang Shin undertook visits to Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. This included: working on a new research project Modelling Flood Risk and Community Resilience in Rayong Province, Thailand; engaging with LSE alumni in Bangkok and Singapore; meeting with SEAC affiliates; and undertaking academic engagement. You can read further details about the visit here.

SEAC Director, Prof Hyun Bang Shin undertales new research project

Prof Shin is collaborating with colleages at Chulalongkorn University (a team of geographers led by Dr Pannee Cheewinsiriwat), the University of Sussex (Dr John Barlow and Dr Yi Wang), and the University of Bristol (Prof Jonathan Rigg) on a new Research Project: Modelling Flood Risk and Community Resilience in Rayong Province, Thailand.

Combining expertise in climate science, physical geography, social science and economics, the partnership team will use high-resolution climate modelling to develop flood risk maps, research how government policies have shaped communities’ responses to flooding and how community knowledge and resilience can be applied to creating better flood management policies for the government and private sector in Thailand.

SEAC Director, Prof Hyun Bang Shin to present at International Symposium on Sustainable Urban Renewal

On Saturday 18 June, Prof Shin will speak about Whose renewal? Critical reflections on the aspirational politics of urban changes on a panel chaired by SEAC Associate Dr Yimin Zhao, at the International Symposium on Sustainable Urban Renewal at Renmin University.

SEAC announces the launch of the Southeast Asia Working Paper Series

SEAC is delighted to launch our new Southeast Asia Working Paper Series which publishes critical and constructive dialogues on region-related affairs. The goal of the Southeast Asia Working Paper Series is to showcase work-in-progress research by the SEAC community, and is open to contributions from all disciplines that SEAC engages with. Find out more here.

SEAC's Research Fund Awardee Announced

Congratulations to the latest awardee of SEAC’s Research Fund, Professor Neil Lee (Professor of Economic Geography, Department of Geography and Environment, LSE) who alongside Augustin Boey (PhD Candidate, LSE) will undertake the project Tech beyond Silicon Valley: Examining the development of Singapore’s high-tech ecosystem.

SEAC Announces Advisory Board

SEAC is delighted to announce our inaugural Advisory Board. We welcome Prof Beng Huat Chua (NUS), Prof Anne Booth, (SOAS), Dr Suraya Ismail, (Khazanah Research Institute), and Prof Jonathan Rigg (University of Bristol, and NUS) and look forward to their contributions to the work of the Centre.

SEAC welcomes new Centre Associates

SEAC welcomes Dr Fenella Cannell, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at LSE, and Dr Qingfei Yin, Assistant Professor of International History (China and the World) at LSE who are new Centre Associates. We look forward to their contributions and to working with them in the years ahead.

SEAC is delighted to announce our Dissertation Fieldwork Grant awardees for 2022.

Congratulations to the ten students who have been awarded funds to support their fieldwork in Southeast Asia. More information can be found here.

The Centre congratulates SEAC Associate Dr. Sin Yee Koh for joining the Editorial Board for academic journal Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (TIGB).

Dr. Koh has been appointed following an open application process and will support the journal’s editors over the next two years, setting the strategic direction of the journal, adapting editorial guidelines, and promoting the journal and its papers to prospective readers and authors.

Join Prof. Hyun Bang Shin for a memorial lecture on “The Politics of Property and Asian Urban Futures” in this forthcoming symposium hosted by Urban Research Plaza, Osaka City University.

Date: Sat 12 Feb, 2022

Time: 11.20am-12.30pm Japan Time

Click here for more information and here to register.

Join SEAC Associate Dr. Catalina Ortiz for a discussion on "Urban Design Otherwise: Reframing Spatial Justice Through Decolonial Inspirations and Living Heritage".

Date: Saturday, 12 February, 2022

Time: 9.45am-11am UK Time

Click here for more information and to register.

SEAC welcomes new Visiting Fellow Dr Lin Hongxuan

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Lin Hongxuan, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, joins the Centre as Visiting Fellow from 31st January 2022 for a year.

During his fellowship his research will focus on the historical production and circulation of progressive Islamic ideas across the Malay Archipelago.

Read more on Dr Lin and his interests in our Spotlight On... Series.

SEAC Director, Prof. Hyun Bang Shin and SEAC Associates Dr. Sin Yee Koh and Dr. Yimin Zhao hosted a two day workshop on the Urban Agency of Global China

This workshop concluded the British Academy funded project and gave attendees the opportunity to listen to some of the key findings of the research as well as broader discussions on global China and urban development.

Recordings of the panel presentations and roundtable on day 2 can be found here and here.

SEAC welcomes our new graduate Communications intern, Tianzi Liu.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Tianzi (Tansy) to the team. She will be assisting with the Centre's events programme and providing support for all SEAC communications from January 2022.

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin publishes new edited volume on COVID-19 in Southeast Asia

The book features the work of 38 contributors, more than 30 of whom originating from Southeast Asia or based therein. This new edited volume compiles reflections on the following three themes: (1) Urbanisation, digital infrastructures, economies, and the environment; (2) Migrants, (im)mobilities, and borders; and (3) Collective action, communities, and mutual action.

Read more and download your copy here.

SEAC publishes its Annual Report for 2020/2021

The annual report can be found here and provides you with the full range of the Centre’s activities over the course of the year. It offers a reminder of last year’s many successes and the diverse contributions from across our community.

SEAC says goodbye to Visiting Fellow Dr Junjia Ye

Dr Junjia Ye, Assistant Professor in Human Geography at Nanyang Technological University, finished her Visiting Fellowship in January. We thank her for her important contributions to the Centre's work.

Read more on Dr Ye and her interests in our Spotlight On... Series.

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Fellow Dr Jayde Roberts

Dr Jayde Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Urbanism in Asia at UNSW, completed her Visiting Fellowship in December 2021. We thank her for her important contributions to the Centre over the term.

Read more on Dr Roberts and her interests in our Spotlight On... Series.

SEAC wishes farewell to Visiting Fellow Dr Emma Colven

Dr Emma Colven, Assistant Professor of Global Environment at the University of Oklahoma, completed her time at the Centre as Visiting Fellow in December 2021. We thank her for her important contributions to the Centre over the term.

Read more on Dr Colven and her interests in our Spotlight On...Series.

SEAC announces the 2021 Winner of the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre Postgraduate Dissertation Prize on Southeast Asia

Gray Brakke wins the postgraduate dissertation prize this year for his work on the Vietnamese state and urban citizenship.

Find out more here.

SEAC launches the Southeast Asian Waters Series

The first event featured a fascinating talk from Prof. Eric Tagliacozzo on technology, imperialism and maritime Asia.

A video recording of this event is available here.

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SEAC welcomes new Visiting Fellow Dr Joseph Scalice

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Joseph Scalice, Postdoctoral researcher at Nanyang Technological University, joins the Centre as Visiting Fellow from 15th November 2021 to 30th April 2022.

During his fellowship his research will focus on Philippine politics, Communism and the Sino-Soviet Split.

Read more on Dr Scalice and his interests in our Spotlight On... Series.

SEAC hosted a roundtable on Southeast Asia's Contentious Polls

SEAC hosted this workshop with the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) on Southeast Asian electoral management in comparative perspective.

A video recording of this event is available here.

SEAC hosted the final event of the Southeast Asia Forum

SEAC held an event showcasing some of the on-going work of PhD researchers at LSE. The talks featured researchers came from the Departments of Anthropology, Economic History, and Geography and Environment, discussing lifelong journeys of self-transformation amongst Catholic nuns in Indonesia, the financing of the Manila Trade (1668-1828), and the experience of ride-hailing drivers during the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Further details and a recording of this event can be found here.

Southeast Asia Forum - Day 4

SEAC invited project leaders Dr Sin Yee Koh and Prof. Katherine Brickell, and associated (undergraduate) research fellows to present their findings about work, life and migration in the COVID-19 era, examining the gendered contingencies amongst Cambodian garment workers and the trends of lifestyle migration in Malaysia. Further details and a recording of this event can be found here.

Southeast Asia Forum - Day 3

SEAC held an event reflecting on the impact of the late Professor Saw’s philanthropy at LSE. With the world in flux after a global pandemic, the discussion looked at how philanthropy plays an increasingly important role in society. Further details of this event can be found here.

SEAC's Southeast Asia Forum continued

SEAC held a roundtable discussion on Comparative Urbanism for Southeast Asia on day 2 of the Forum. The event, held in collaboration with the Urban Salon, featured emerging scholars whose work engages with urbanising sites across Southeast Asia and beyond. Further details and a recording of this session can be found here.

SEAC began the Southeast Asia Forum

SEAC held a discussion of two research projects awarded by the SEAC Research fund. Dr Tom Smith and Felicia Liu discussed the haze season in Singapore and Dr Omar Mcdoom spoke on kleptocratic elites.

A video recording of the event is available here

SEAC hosted the book launch for Prof. John Sidel's new title

SEAC held a discussion with three invited speakers on the new book: Republicanism, Communism, Islam: Cosmopolitan Origins of Revolution in Southeast Asia by Prof John Sidel (SEAC Associate)

You can find a video recording of this event here

SEAC welcomes new Visiting Fellow Dr Junjia Ye

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Junjia Ye, Assistant Professor in Human Geography at Nanyang Technological University, joins the Centre as Visiting Fellow from 4th October 2021 to 3rd January 2022.

During her fellowship her research will focus on surveilance and bordering in Singapore.

Read more on Dr Ye and her interests in our Spotlight On... Series.

SEAC welcomes new Visiting Fellow Dr Jayde Roberts

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Jayde Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Urbanism in Asia at UNSW, joins the Centre as Visiting Fellow from 27 September 2021 to December 2021.

During her fellowship her research will focus on public space in Yangon and Mandalay.

Read more on Dr Roberts and her interests in our Spotlight On... Series.

SEAC welcomes new Visiting Fellow Dr Emma Colven

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Emma Colven, Assistant Professor of Global Environment at the University of Oklahoma, joins the Centre as Visiting Fellow from 27 September 2021 to December 2021.

During her fellowship her research will focus on flooding and real estate in Jakarta.

Read more on Dr Colven and her interests in our Spotlight On...Series.

SEAC welcomes Centre Manager, Charles Tocock

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Charles Tocock as SEAC Centre Manager from 16 August 2021. Charles has a strong history at LSE, having previously worked for Research and Innovation. Charles will be covering Katie's maternity leave until mid-2022.

SEAC Director, Professor Hyun Bang Shin, to give Keynote Speech at International Institute for Asian Studies Symposium

On 1 September, Prof Shin will deliver a keynote speech on Neighborhood Transformation in East Asian Cities: Is 'Gentrification' the Right Frame of Reference? at the International Institute for Asian Studies Symposium.

SEAC announces call for expressions of interest for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, funded by the European Commission, is designed to to support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research. SEAC welcomes expressions of interest by post-doctoral candidates who wish to apply for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to be hosted at SEAC. Further details can be found here.

SEAC welcomes Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Shanthi Thambiah

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Shanthi Thambiah, Associate Professor in the Gender Studies Program, at the University of Malaya, will be joining the Centre as Visiting Senior Fellow from 15 July to 15 October 2021. Dr Thambiah's research at SEAC will focus on the emotional interconnectedness and governance of Indonesian and Malaysian Migrant Domestic Workers.

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Joanne Lim

SEAC bids a fond farewell to Dr Joanne Lim whose time as Visiting Senior Fellow at SEAC comes to an end in July. We have thoroughly enjoyed Dr Lim's time with us, and thank her for her contributions to the Centre.

Thank you to SEAC's Graduate Interns

SEAC bids farewell to our three Graduate Interns: Gray Brakke, Ili Mohammad Rahan, and Luisa Pineda who complete their internships with SEAC in May and June. We are thankful for all their contributions to and hard work for the Centre and wish them the best as they complete their Master's degrees.

SEAC bids farewell to Visiting Senior Fellow Professor Tamaki Endo

SEAC bids a fond farewell to Professor Tamaki Endo whose time as Visiting Senior Fellow at SEAC comes to an end in June. We have thoroughly enjoyed Prof Endo's time with us, and thank her for her contributions to the Centre.

SEAC Visiting Senior Fellow, Dr Joanne Lim speaks about Digital Interventions on Urban Societal Challenges in Southeast Asian Communities

On Wednesday 16 June, SEAC's Visiting Senior Fellow, Dr Joanne Lim (Associate Professor in Communications, Media and Cultural Studies, and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia) delivered an online SEAC Seminar on Digital Interventions on Urban Societal Challenges in Southeast Asian Communities. Full details including a recording of the event can be found here. Dr Lim also hosted an "Author meets ECRs" small group discussion with PhD Students to further explore her research.

SEAC Director, Professor Hyun Bang Shin is published in Global Urbanism: Knowledge, Power and the City

SEAC Director, Professor Hyun Bang Shin's chapter 'Theorising from where? Reflections on De-centring Global (Southern) Urbanism’ is published in Global Urbanism: Knowledge, Power and the City edited by Michele Lancione and Colin McFarlane. In it, Prof Shin reflects on attempting to interrupt Global North-South binaries. Further information can be found here.

SEAC Associate Dr Jurgen Haacke writes about The United Kingdom, Southeast Asia, and the Indo-Pacific ‘tilt’

SEAC Associate, Dr Jurgen Haacke (Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, LSE) has written for the Philippine Strategic Forum about Britain and it's increasing role in the Southeast Asia region "The United Kingdom, Southeast Asia, and the Indo-Pacific ‘tilt’". The full article can be read here.

SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh is published in the International Migration Review Journal

SEAC Associate, Dr Sin Yee Koh (Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, Monash University Malaysia) has recently published "Disrupted Geographic Arbitrage and Differential Capacities of Coping in Later-Life: Anglo-Western Teacher Expatriates in Brunei" in the International Migration Review Journal. The full article can be found here.

SEAC Associate Prof John Sidel publishes Republicanism, Communism, Islam: Cosmopolitan Origins of Revolution in Southeast Asia (Cornell University Press, 2021)

Congratulations to SEAC Associate, Professor John Sidel who recently published his new book, which has been reviewed by the New Yorker and launched via an online book launch online book launch hosted by the Council on Southeast Asia Studies at Yale University.

SEAC announces call for expressions of interest for Newton International Fellowship

The Newton International Fellowship Scheme is designed to select the very best early career postdoctoral researchers from all over the world and enable them to work at UK research institutions for two years. SEAC welcomes expressions of interest by post-doctoral candidates who wish to apply for the Newton International Fellowship to be hosted at SEAC. Further details can be found here.

SEAC collaborates with the South Asian Centre on Military Myanmar: Fearing Freedom

On 27 May the South Asia Centre, in collaboration with SEAC, will host a panel discussion with academics and activists on the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021 overturning the results of the recent elections, thus jeopardising the future of democracy in the country. Further details can be found here.

SEAC welcomes Senior Visiting Fellow, Dr Joanne Lim

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Joanne Lim, Associate Professor in Communications, Media and Cultural Studies, and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia, will be joining the Centre as Visiting Senior Fellow from 4th May 2021 to 2nd July 2021. Dr Lim’s research will focus on digital interventions in Southeast Asian cities.

SEAC's Research Fund Awardee Announced

Congratulations to the latest awardee of SEAC’s Research Fund, Dr Thomas Smith (Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Environment, LSE) who alongside Felicia Liu (PhD Candidate, Kings College London) will undertake the project Seasonality in the Anthropocene: social constructions of Singapore’s ‘haze season’.

SEAC Announces 2021 Undegraduate Research Fellowships

SEAC is delighted to announce the 2021 Undergraduate Research Fellowships. Angbeen Abbas will be working with SEAC Associate Prof. Katherine Brickell on her project ReFashion Study: Social Protection and the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in the Cambodian Garment Industry. Jimin Oh will be working with SEAC Associate Dr. Sin Yee Koh on her project Lifestyle Im/mobilities in/to Malaysia in the COVID-19 Era. Full details can be found here.

SEAC Associate Dr Yimin Zhao announced as an Editor for CITY journal

Congratulations to SEAC Associate, Dr Yimin Zhao (Assistant Professor in Urban Planning and Management, Renmin University of China) who has been made an Editor of CITY journal. Full details here.

Dr Andrea Pia awarded SEAC's Seminar and Networking Grant

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Andrea Pia, (Assistant Professor, Dept of Anthropology, LSE) has been awarded SEAC's Seminar and Networking Grant to organise an event on Justice After Carbon: A collaborative investigation of civil society’s perceptions of China-led Hydropower Projects in South-East Asia

Al Lim is honoured for his LSE Southeast Asia Blog Post

Congratulations to Al Lim whose blog 'New Narratives for Food Insecurity' has been given a Merit Award by the Stories of a Pandemic Initiative from The Majurity Trust.

SEAC Announces 2021 Student Dissertation Fieldwork Grants

SEAC is delighted to announce the 12 Students who have been awarded Dissertation Fieldwork Grants to support their regionally focused dissertation research. With the ongoing pandemic, these students impressed with their innovative research and methods to work around travel restrictions. We look forward to seeing how their research progresses. Full details can be found here.

SEAC Associate, Dr Catherine Allerton to deliver The Malinowski Lecture for the Department of Anthropology

On Thursday 20 May 2021, Dr Allerton will lecture on "Discordant Temporalities of Migration and Childhood". Exploring the contemporary clash between the temporalities of migration, and those of childhood, Dr Allerton will first focus on the children of Indonesian and Filipino migrants in Sabah, Malaysia, and then on theorising the experiences of children in other contexts. This event is free and open to all. More information can be found here.

Laura Antona is honoured for her LSE Southeast Asia Blog Post

Congratulations to Laura Antona whose blog 'The New Normal or Same Old?: The Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Live-in Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore' has been given a Merit Award by the Stories of a Pandemic Initiative from The Majurity Trust.

SEAC Associate Professor Duncan McCargo presented at Columbia University's conference Thailand Update: Protests Revisited

On Monday 15 March, Prof McCargo kicked off a two-day conference with a key talk with Thongchai Winichakul to discuss Thongchai's important new book Moments of Silence: The Unforgetting of the October 6, 1976, Massacre in Bangkok (Hawaii 2020). They reflected on how the student protests of 2020 may be understood through the lens of political struggle, mass protest and state violence in Thailand. More information here.

Winner of Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia UK Postgraduate Dissertation Prize announced

On 12 March, SEAC announced the winner of its 2021 UK Southeast Asia Postgraduate Dissertation Prize, Madhumitha Ardhanari (LSE) for her dissertation entitled, " Sand extractivism and its inequalities: Elite scripts in the Singaporean demand for sand". Leonard Yip (University of Cambridge) and Al Lim (LSE) were given Highly Commended awards.

SEAC Director to participate in Dislocating Urban Studies Workshop

SEAC Director, Hyun Bang Shin will lead a session on day 2 of Dislocating Urban Studies upcoming workshop places 'off the map': bringing to light the hidden locations of urbanisation, taking place 18-19 March 2021.

SEAC welcomes Centre Manager, Katie Boulton

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Katie Boulton as SEAC Centre Manager from 8 March 2021. Katie has a strong history at LSE, having previously worked for the International Inequalities Institute. She is looking forward to becoming part of the SEAC community.

SEAC thanks Dr Do Young Oh for his contributions as Interim Centre Manager.

We are grateful to Do Young for all his hard work and dedication. Do Young will continue working with SEAC on the "Asian Capital and the Rise of Smart Urbanism" research project.

SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz to organise and chair working paper launch

On 9th March 2021, Dr Catalina Ortiz (UCL) will chair the launch of a working paper entitled, "Trajectories of spatial violence in Southeast Asian cities." SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin will be a discussant. You may book your slot for the upcoming virtual event here.

SEAC Director and Associates publish working paper as part of the Centre’s "The Urban Spectre of Global China" research project

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin and SEAC Associates Dr Sin Yee Koh and Dr Yimin Zhao have published their working paper as part of the Centre's "The Urban Spectre of Global China" research project, funded by the British Academy. The paper entitled, "The micropolitics of speculative green urbanism at Forest City, Iskandar Malaysia" can be accessed here.

SEAC Seminar Series: Book Launch of "Thinking and Working Politically in Development: Coalitions for Change in the Philippines"

On 10th February 2021, SEAC hosted a Book Launch for the 2020 book "Thinking and Working Politically in Development: Coalitions for Change in the Philippines," written by SEAC Associate Prof John Sidel (Sir Patrick Gillam Professor of International and Comparative Politics at LSE) and Jaime Faustino (The Asia Foundation). You may view the event here.

SEAC appoints new Graduate Intern for communications and events

We are pleased to announce that Luisa Pineda joined the Centre as Graduate Intern for communications and events from January 2020.

SEAC Associate Dr Hans Steinmuller published articles in Social Anthropology and Critical Asian Studies

SEAC Associate Dr Hans Steinmüller recently published an article titled "The Moral Economy of Militarism: peasant village, military state, and Chinese capitalism in the Wa Region of Myanmar" in Social Anthropology. Dr Steinmüller also published article titled "The Golden Triangle is in the papers" in Critical Asian Studies.

SEAC Associate Dr Deirdre McKay appointed to REF Sub-Panel

SEAC Associate Dr Deirdre McKay (Keele University) has been been appointed to the Research Excellence Framework or REF Sub-Panel 25, Area Studies (Main Panel D), for the 2021 exercise. Dr McKay also published a paper together with Elyse Stanes, Nicole Githua, Xiaoyu Lei and Simon Dixon entitled, "On Global Plasticity: Framing the Global Through Affective Materiality" in New Global Studies.

SEAC Seminar Series: Flooding and the Politics of Property Rights in Jakarta

On 27th January 2021, SEAC hosted a research seminar chaired by SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin. Prof. Gavin Shatkin (Professor at the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, and the School of Architecture, at Northeastern University) spoke on "Flooding and the Politics of Property Rights in Jakarta." You can watch a recording of the event here.

SEAC appoints new Graduate Intern for research

We are pleased to announce that Ili Rahan joined the Centre as Graduate Intern for research from January 2020.

SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh delivers online seminar and workshop

As part of the Urbanisation, Planning and Development Seminar Series at Department of Geography and Environment (LSE), SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh (Monash University Malaysia) conducted a seminar last 4th March entitled "The Interurban Migration Industry: ‘Migration Products’ and the Materialisation of Urban Speculation at Iskandar Malaysia". Dr Koh's article was also published in Urban Studies.

Dr Koh also co-organised a five-day online workshop, "Education and Migration: Publication and Grant Writing Workshop for Asia-based Early Career Researchers," last 14-18 December 2020.

SEAC Associate Dr Yimin Zhao published articles in Urban Geography and Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society

SEAC Associate Dr Yimin Zhao published an article entitled, “Folding Beijing in Houchangcun Road, or, the topology of power density” in Urban Geography. Dr Zhao also published an article entitled, “Jiehebu or Suburb? Towards a translational turn in urban studies” in Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society.

SEAC Seminar Series: Book Launch of "Home SOS: Gender, Violence and Survival in Crisis Ordinary Cambodia"

On 20th January 2021, SEAC hosted a Book Launch for the 2020 book 'Home SOS: Gender, Violence and Survival in Crisis Ordinary Cambodia', written by SEAC Associate Prof. Katherine Brickell (Royal Holloway, University of London). This event invited four panellists to discuss the book and Prof Brickell responds to them. This event was by SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin. More details about the event can be found here.

SEAC appoints new Graduate Intern for COVID-19 and Southeast Asia project

We are pleased to announce that Gray Brakke joined the Centre as Graduate Intern for the COVID-19 and Southeast Asia project from January 2020.

SEAC Seminar Series: “Foreign, ‘Fresh' and 173cm: The Commodification of Domestic Workers in Singapore”

On 9th December, Dr Laura Antona (ESRC Research Fellow, University of Oxford) spoke on how employment agencies commodify and sell domestic labourers, shaping their relationships with their employers and the spaces in which they live and work: namely, the home space. More information about the seminar can be found here.

SEAC Associate Dr Catherine Allerton published an article in Critique of Anthropology

Dr Catherine Allerton (LSE Department of Anthropology) recently published an article titled "Invisible children? Non-recognition, humanitarian blindness and other forms of ignorance in Sabah, Malaysia" in Critique of Anthropology. This article is freely accessible from here.

SEAC Associate Prof Danny Quah spoke at the United Nations' event

SEAC Associate Prof Danny Quah (National University of Singapore) was invited to speak at the "Rebirthing the Global Economy to Deliver Sustainable Development" roundtable, convened by the United Nations Secretary-General on 23rd November 2020. You can watch the roundtable here.

On 11th December, Prof Quah also delivered a guest lecture titled "Global Power Shift to Asia: Great Power Competition in the Marketplace for World Order" for LSE Department of International Development's Cutting Edge Issues in Development Thinking & Practice series, co-convened by SEAC Associate Prof James Putzel. You can watch his guest lecture here.

SEAC meets with LSE Student Union Society representatives

On 8th December, SEAC held its termly meeting LSE SU Society representatives including ones from ASEAN, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines to discuss plans for continued engagement between the Centre and LSE student societies.

SEAC bids farewell to Graduate Intern, Malvin Kaur

SEAC Graduate Intern Ms Malvin Kaur departs the Centre this winter after finishing her four-month internship at SEAC. We are thankful for all of her contributions to SEAC and wish her the very best in her future career.

Roundtable on Postcolonial Urbanism and History of Southeast Asia

On 25th November, SEAC hosted a roundtable event to promote a better understanding of postcolonial urban histories in Southeast Asia while seeking an opportunity to locate them in different disciplines including urban history and urban studies. Dr Kah Seng Loh (Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia), Dr Su Lin Lewis (Senior Lecturer in Modern Global History at the University of Bristol) and Dr Do Young Oh (SEAC) were invited as panellists. You can watch the video of the event here.

SEAC Associate Prof Katherine Brickell has been awarded "Research Project of the Year" by the Times Higher Education Awards

Prof Katherine Brickell (Royal Holloway, University of London)'s research project "Blood Bricks" has been awarded "Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences" by the Times Higher Education Awards 2020. You can find more information about her project and the award here.

Prof Brickell also published a co-authored article titled "Diffuse Drivers of Modern Slavery: From Microfinance to Unfree Labour in Cambodia" in Development Change.

Prof Brickell's co-edited "The Handbook of Displacement" is also recently published by Palgrave McMillan.

SEAC Seminar Series: “Nalehmu Urbanism: The informal, intimate and relational economies of Yangon Street Vending”

On 17th November, Dr Jayde Lin Roberts (Senior Lecturer in Built Environment, University of New South Wales) spoke on street vending as an integral part of Yangon’s urbanism. The video of this seminar is accessible here.

SEAC Seminar Series: “Theorising the City in and from Southeast Asia”

On 11th November, Dr Rita Padawangi (Senior Lecturer at Singapore University of Social Sciences) spoke on urban experience from city neighbourhoods to connect with theorising the city in and from Southeast Asia. The video of the event is accessible here. This seminar was followed by a research master class for early career researchers on 13th November, covering the challenges of conducting research under the pandemic.

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin delivered a keynote speech

On 6th November, SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin delivered a keynote speech at "Making and Unmaking of Speculative City: Urban Politics in South Korea" virtual symposium, sponsored by the Academy of Korean Studies, York University’s Korean Office for Research and Education, Center for the Study of Korea at the University of Toronto, and School of Cities at the University of Toronto. Prof Shin’s keynote was titled “Whiter progressive urban futures? Critical reflections on the politics of temporality in Asia”.

SEAC 2019/20 Annual Report has been published

Please check out the recently published SEAC's 2019/20 Annual Report summarising various activities of the Centre during the 2019/20 academic year. You can download and read the report from here.

SEAC Associate Dr Deirdre McKay appointed Deputy Director of the Keele Institute for Social Inclusion

SEAC Associate Dr Deirdre McKay (Keele University) has become Deputy Director of the Keele Institute for Social Inclusion. She will chair the University's Public Engagement with Research network and will introduce the new Community-Centred, Collaborative methodologies (C3M) Network.

Dr McKay also recently spoke on the issue of e-waste in the BBC World Business Report on 26th November 2020.

New article by SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh

SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh (Monash University Malaysia) published a new co-authored article "Multicultural reflexivity: university students negotiating ‘pockets’ and ‘strings’ of multiculturalism in Malaysia" in Children's Geographies.

A paperback edition of her co-edited volume "New Chinese Migrations: Mobility, Home, and Inspirations" was also recently published.

LSE Southeast Asia Week 2020

SEAC's flagship event LSE Southeast Asia Forum was held as a week-long series of online discussions titled LSE Southeast Asia Week from 26th to 30th October. You can recap its exciting programme from here. Recordings of events are available from each event page.

Two COVID-19 and Southeast Asia Seminars

As part of SEAC's COVID-19 and Southeast Asia project, SEAC invited several contributors for two seminars, titled 'Marginalised and Vulnerable Groups and Strategies for Mutual Support During Covid-19' and 'The Experiences of Southeast Asia’s Migrant Workers, Asylum Seekers, and Refugees During Covid-19' on 19th and 21st October respectively. You can access the videos of the seminars from SEAC's Publications and Media page.

SEAC Seminar Series: “The Production of Jakarta’s Water Crisis: A Political Ecology of Speculative Urbanism”

On 14th October, Dr Emma Colven (Assistant Professor of Global Environment, University of Oklahoma) spoke on how Jakarta’s “water crisis” is experienced in socially and spatially uneven ways. The video of this seminar and reflections written by Dr Emma Colven and Al Lim can be found here.

SEAC Associate Prof Katherine Brickell published a blog post regarding her new book 'Home SOS: Gender, Violence and Survival in Crisis Ordinary Cambodia'

In this post, published in Geography Directions, Professor Brickell summarises her recent book 'Home SOS: Gender, Violence and Survival in Crisis Ordinary Cambodia' where she explores the home as a political polarising entity. You can read her post here to learn more about her book.

Everyday Justice in Myanmar: Informal Resolutions and State Evasion in a Time of Contested Transition

On 9th October, SEAC co-hosted an event with LSE South Asia Centre to discuss the diverse views regarding state-society relations in Myanmar. SEAC Associate Dr Hans Steinmuller (LSE Anthropology) moderated the event. You can watch the video of the event here.

SEAC Seminar Series: “Mapping Transdisciplinary Data for Spatial Justice: Migration and Urbanization in Vietnam and Beyond”

On 7th October, Dr Annette Kim (Associate Professor, Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California; Director, Spatial Analysis Lab) spoke on her research projects in Ho Chi Minh City and connected them to projects in Beijing, Shanghai and Los Angeles to home in on the global commonalities and contextual specificities. The video of the event is accessible here. This seminar was followed by a research master class on 16th October regarding transdisciplinary spatial ethnography and critical cartography.

SEAC Associate Dr Tom Smith published a co-authored article

Dr Tom Smith's (LSE Geography & Environment) recently published a co-authored article 'Arctic fires re-emerging' in Nature Geoscience, urging to put more international effort to manage a changing fire regime in the vulnerable Arctic.

New working paper by SEAC Associate Dr Yimin Zhao

SEAC Associate Dr Yimin Zhao (Renmin University of China) published a new co-authored working paper 'Sanxian: re-/un-thinking Chinese urban hierarchy with a medium-sized city' with SEAC ECR Network member Dr Yi Jin in Geography and Environment Discussion Paper Series, published by LSE Department of Geography and Environment.

SEAC Associate Prof John Sidel re-launched his personal website

Prof John Sidel recently re-launched his personal website. Please visit johntsidel.co.uk to learn his research and writings, his courses, and his various activities in the realm of public outreach.

SEAC Seminar Series: Decolonsing Higher Education Roundtable

On 30th September, as the first event of the seminar series, SEAC hosted an online roundtable discussion themed around 'decolonising higher education' in relation to the Southeast Asian region and beyond. This roundtable invited three speakers whose research is rooted in such effort of decolonising higher education, addressing the structural power inequalities of knowledge production.

SEAC has re-launched LSE Southeast Asia Blog

SEAC is bringing the SEAC Blog in house from the Medium to be in line with those of other centres and institutes, while contributed pieces will enjoy greater visibility and exposure. The new address for the LSE Southeast Asia Blog is https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/seac/.

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin was invited as a discussant for a book launch

On 25th September, SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin spoke as a discussant at the book launch for 'On the Margins of Urban South Korea: Core Location as Method and Praxis', jointly organised by Jesook Song (University of Toronto) and Laam Hae (York University).

SEAC welcomes new Management Committee members

From the 2020/21 academic year, Prof. Kent Deng (SEAC Associate; LSE Dept. of Economic History) and Prof. Steve Gibbons (ex-officio; Head of the LSE Dept. of Geography and Environment) joined the SEAC Management Committee.

SEAC Research Officer and Interim Centre Manager Dr Do Young Oh published a new article in the Journal of Urban History

Dr Oh's new article titled 'The University and East Asian Cities: The Variegated Origins of Urban Universities in Colonial Seoul and Singapore' explores and compares the development of colonial urban universities in Seoul and Singapore for the purpose of examining the multifaceted and scaled socio-political relationships in colonial cities.

Former SEAC Associate late Prof Sylvia Chant's article published in Area

Late Prof Chant's article titled 'Geography and gender, hindsight and foresight: A feminist development geographer's reflections on: “How the Other Half Lives: The Geographical Study of Women”' is a must-read for everyone who remembers her and her extraordinary scholarship as a feminist development geographer. Another discussion paper titled 'Missing Girls’ in Urban Slums of the Global South? Exploring the Intersections Between Puberty, Poverty and Gender Inequality', co-authored with Dr Jordana Ramalho (UCL), was also published.

New article by SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz published in Environment and Urbanization

SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz (University College London) published a co-authored article analysing civil society responses to COVID-19’s impacts on informal settlements in Latin American cities, titled 'Mapping repertoires of collective action facing the COVID-19 pandemic in informal settlements in Latin American cities'.

New commentary by SEAC Associate Prof Tim Forsyth published in Environmental Conversation

SEAC Associate Prof Tim Forsyth published a co-authored commentary 'Who gets to imagine transformative change? Participation and representation in biodiversity assessments' published in Environmental Conversation. The article discusses the emerging challenges for biodiversity assessments.

New article by SEAC Associate Dr Nicholas Long published in Medicine Anthropology Theory

SEAC Associate Dr Nicholas Long recently published an article, focusing on an anthropological critique of ‘social distancing’, titled 'From social distancing to social containment: Reimagining sociality for the coronavirus pandemic'.

SEAC Associate Prof John Sidel published a new book and a new article

Prof John Sidel published a co-authored book, titled 'Thinking and Working Politically in Development: Coalitions for Change in the Philippines', reviewing the Coalitions for Change's diverse initiatives in the Philippines. Prof Sidel also recently published an article titled 'Averting “Carmageddon” through reform? An eco-systemic analysis of traffic congestion and transportation policy gridlock in Metro Manila' in Critical Asian Studies, providing a holistic analysis of traffic congestion in Metro Manila.

New article by SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh published in Asian Studies Review

SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh recently published a co-authored article, titled '“Mandarin Fever” and Chinese Language-learning in Brunei’s Middle Schools: Discrepant Discourses, Multifaceted Realities and Institutional Barriers'. The article investigates how a surge in Chinese language-learning worldwide has unfolded in Brunei, a Muslim and English–Malay bilingual majority country.

SEAC Associate Dr Tom Smith published two co-authored articles

Dr Smith's (LSE Geography & Environment)'s co-authored article 'Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore' was published in Environmental Science & Policy. Dr Smith also recently published another co-authored article titled 'An optimal environment for our optimal selves?: An autoethnographic account of self‐tracking personal exposure to air pollution' in Area.

New article by SEAC Associate Dr Deirdre McKay published in Modern Languages Open

SEAC Associate Dr Deirdre McKay (Keele University) published an article exploring how digital objects have contributed to attempts to rework the history of the Martial Law era, titled 'Decorated Duterte: Digital Objects and the Crisis of Martial Law History in the Philippines'.

SEAC to welcome Visiting Senior Fellow, Dr Tamaki Endo

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Tamaki Endo, Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Saitama University, will be joining the Centre as Visiting Senior Fellow from 1st October 2020 to 25th June 2021. Dr Endo’s research will focus on urban inequality in Thailand.

SEAC appoints new Graduate Intern for COVID-19 and Southeast Asia project

We are pleased to announce that Malvin Kaur joined the Centre as Graduate Intern for COVID-19 and Southeast Asia project from September 2020.

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship support scheme

SEAC has launched a new postdoctoral fellowship support scheme to offer an opportunity to early career researchers to be based at SEAC for their independent research project. SEAC will support a selected candidate to strengthen the candidate’s application for the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship.

New book by SEAC Associate Prof Katherine Brickell

SEAC Associate Professor Katherine Brickell (Royal Holloway University of London) just published '"Home SOS: Gender, Violence, and Survival in Crisis Ordinary Cambodia". The book provides a profound insight from Prof Brickell's 15-year fieldwork in Cambodia regarding domestic violence and forced eviction.

New co-edited volume by SEAC Associate Dr Kirsten Schulze

SEAC Associate Dr Kirsten Schulze (LSE International History) co-edited "Exporting Global Jihad: Critical Perspectives from Asia and North America" with Dr Tom Smith (Portsmouth). It is one of the two volumes that looks at the extent and nature of global jihad from the hinterlands of jihad beyond the traditionally viewed Middle Eastern "centre", published by I.B. Tauris. The volume also contains a co-authored chapter by Dr Schulze.

SEAC welcomes Interim Centre Manager, Dr Do Young Oh

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Do Young Oh as Interim SEAC Centre Manager from 1st July 2020. Dr Oh has a strong history of engagement with SEAC, including as a Visiting Fellow in 2017/18 and Centre Coordinator in 2018/19 as well as his current role as Research Officer.

SEAC launches a new research project COVID-19 and Southeast Asia

SEAC is excited to launch a new research project, COVID-19 and Southeast Asia. The project aims to reflect upon what the crises mean for urbanisation, governance and connectivity in Southeast Asia, and to contemplate post-COVID-19 urban futures.

Dr Lee Mager moves to the LSE Department of Geography & Environment

SEAC Centre Manager Dr Lee Mager moves to the LSE Department of Geography and Environment as Deputy Departmental Manager. SEAC has been benefited from Dr Mager's outstanding contributions. We wish him all the success.

SEAC bids farewell to Graduate Intern, Miss Margherita Scalisi

Miss Margherita Scalisi (Graduate Intern: Communications and Events) departs the Centre this Summer after finishing her nine-month internship at SEAC. We would like to express our wholehearted gratitude for her tireless and enthusiastic contributions to SEAC's successes, and wish her the very best in her future career.

New article by SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh published in International Migration Review

SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh (Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, University of Monash Malaysia) has published an article in International Migration Review, entitled, "Disrupted Geographic Arbitrage and Differential Capacities of Coping in Later-Life: Anglo-Western Teacher Expatriates in Brunei"

New LSE COVID19 blog by SEAC Associate Prof. John Sidel

SEAC Associate Prof. John Sidel (Professor of International and Comparative Politics at the Department of Government and the Department of International Relations, LSE) has published a blog article on the current challenges facing urban transport in the Global South in the context of COVID19, with a focus on the Philippines.

Post COVID-19 Futures of the Urbanising World poster for sm

Event: Post COVID-19 Futures of the Urbanising World

On 3 June 2020, Dr Creighton Connolly (Senior Lecturer, University of Lincoln), Prof Roger Keil (Professor, York University, Toronto), Dr Deirdre McKay (Reader, Keele University, and Chair of ASEAS UK), and Dr Rita Padawangi (Senior Lecturer, Singapore University of Social Sciences) discussed the impact of COVID-19 on changing relationships between cities and their hinterlands in global urbanisation processes. The event was part of LSE's online public event series, "COVID-19: The Policy Response" and was chaired by SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin. More information can be found here.

New SEAC blog article: "Human Rights as the Foundation of Good Governance: The Ironies of the Philippine Experience"

The latest SEAC blog is on the topic of human rights and governance in the Philippines by Prof. Nymia Pimentel Simbulan, Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) of University of the Philippines Manila, and Executive Director of the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights).

This article is based on the Governance Keynote talk Prof. Simbulan delivered at the 2019 LSE Southeast Asia Forum.

SEAC Associate Prof Katherine Brickell co-authors new article in Transactions.

SEAC Associate Professor Katherine Brickell (Royal Holloway University of London), co-authored with Dr Laurie Parsons a new article in Transactions, entitled "The ghost in the machine: towards a spiritual geography of debt bondage and labour (im)mobility in Cambodian brick kilns".

ECR Network member Frega Ferdinand Wenas Inkiriwang publishes new article in The Pacific Review

New article by LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network member Frega Ferdinand Wenas Inkiriwang (PhD Candidate, Department of International Relations, LSE) published in The Pacific Review, entitled "‘Garuda shield’ vs ‘sharp knife’: operationalising Indonesia’s defence diplomacy".

Announcement of new LSE PhD support fund for 2020/21

SEAC is excited to announce a new SEAC fund for LSE PhD students, named the SEAC PhD Research Support Fund, to be launched in the 2020/21 Academic Year, providing up to £2,000 towards field research expenses in Southeast Asia once fieldwork can be resumed, and up to £500 towards conference (including online registration) expenses.

SEAC Associate Dr Nicholas Long co-authors report on New Zealand and COVID-19

SEAC Associate Dr Nicholas Long (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, LSE) co-authored a new report, titled "Living in bubbles during the coronavirus pandemic: insights from New Zealand" on New Zealand's 'social bubbles' policy response to COVID-19.

New DPU Fellowship publication edited by SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz

The latest DPU/ACHR/CAN Fellowship booklet, "Grounded Learning: people-centred approaches to housing in Yangon and Yogyakarta", edited by SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz (Associate Professor, UCL) and Dr Barbara Lipietz (Associate Professor, UCL), has just been published and is available for download.

SEAC Associate Prof. Jonathan Rigg awarded RGS Victoria Medal

Congratulations to SEAC Associate Professor Jonathan Rigg (Chair in Human Geography at the School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol), who has been awarded the Royal Geographical Society Victoria Medal for his long-term and influential research in development geography with a focus on Southeast Asia.

SEAC's Research Fund awardee announced

We are pleased to announce the latest awardee of SEAC’s Research Fund, Dr Omar McDoom (Assistant Professor,Department of Government, LSE). Dr McDoom's 18-month project is entitled, “The Kleptocrat’s Accomplice? The Political Economy of Professional Intermediaries and the Plunder of Poor Countries”.

New SEAC blog article: Is China Buying up Southeast Asia?

The latest publication in SEAC's blog is by Dr Guanie Lim's (Nanyang Centre for Public Administration, Nanyang Technological University) on the subject of China's investment in Southeast Asia, which is based on the talk he gave at the 2019 LSE Southeast Asia Forum.

SEAC meets with LSESU Student Society leaders

Despite difficulties arranging face to face meetings, SEAC held its regular termly meeting with LSE Students' Union leaders of Southeast Asia student societies, with the Malaysia, Singapore and ASEAN student societies represented.

New article by SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz published in The Bartlett Development Planning Unit blog

SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz (University College London) published an article, co-authored with Professor Camillo Boano (University College London), on the need to frame housing as the pivotal ‘infrastructure of care’ in the age of COVID19 and after, titled "‘Stay at Home’: Housing as a pivotal infrastructure of care?".

SEAC student dissertation fieldwork grant awardees announced

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 and in liaison with their dissertation supervisors, in order that appropriate duty of care, for both themselves and any research participants, is ensured.

New article published by SEAC Director and Associaties in City

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin has co-authored an article with SEAC Associates Dr Sin Yee Koh (Monash University Malaysia) and Dr Yimin Zhao (Remnin University), titled "Whither progressive urban futures?Critical reflections on the politics of temporality in Asia" published in City.

SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin quoted in The New York Times article

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin has been quoted in The New York Times article "From Dhaka to Gaza: How Do You Socially Distance in a Crowd?".

Winner of Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia UK Postgraduate Dissertation Prize announced

On February 24th, SEAC announced the winner of its inaugural UK Southeast Asia Postgraduate Dissertation Prize, Isabelle Lim (University of Cambridge), for her dissertation entitled, "Planting Feet: Environmental Imagination in the Poetry of Edwin Thumboo". Joshua Chee (LSE) was given the Highly Commended award.

SEAC welcomes new Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Dr Murray Mckenzie

SEAC is pleased to welcome Dr Murray Mckenzie, who joins SEAC today as Postdoctoral Research Assistant, working on the Centre's British Academy-funded project, "The Urban Spectre of Global China Mechanisms, Consequences, and Alternatives for Urban Futures".

SEAC appoints two new Undergraduate Research Fellows

SEAC has appointed two new Undergraduate Research Fellows. Ms Anya Popattanachai (Department of International History, LSE) and Mr Vernon Yian (Department of Government, LSE) will be working with SEAC Associates Dr Thomas Smith (Department of Geography and Environment, LSE) and Prof. Duncan McCargo (University of Copenhagen) respectively.

SEAC represented at 2020 ASEAN Youth Summit

On 15th February 2020, at the 2020 ASEAN Yotuh Summit, SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin and SEAC Associate Dr Thomas Smith (Department of Geography and Environment, LSE) moderated panels on Educational Inequality and Sustainable Finance. Moreover ECR Network member Dr Pon Souvannaseng (Centre for Crisis Studies & Mitigation, University of Manchester) spoke on the sustainable finance panel.

SEAC Associate Prof James Puztel chairs LSE SU Malaysia Club event

On 14th February 2020, LSE Associate Prof James Putzel (Department of International Development, LSE) chaired a LSE SU Malaysia Club event titled "Nation building through democratic action" with guest speakers from the Democratic Action Party.

SEAC Associate Dr Hans Steinmüller speaks at Dr David Brenner's book launch on civil war in Mayanmar

On 12th February 2020, SEAC Associate Dr Hans Steinmüller (Department of Anthropology, LSE) spoke at Dr David Brenner's book launch "Rebel Politics: A Political Sociology of Armed Struggle in Myanmar’s Borderlands" on the changing dynamics of the civil war in Myanmar.

SEAC welcomes Prof. Kent Deng as new Centre Associate

SEAC is pleased to welcome Prof. Kent Deng, Professor in Economic History in the LSE Department of Economic History as the newest Centre Associate. Prof. Deng leads the LSE postgraduate module "Economic Development of East and Southeast Asia" and his research interests and writing include the rise of the literati in the economic life of pre-modern China and the maritime economic history of Asia.

Public Lecture: "Diminishing Globalisation, Rising Digitalisation : Central Bank Policy Responses"

On 10th February 2020, SEAC hosted a Public Lecture by Dr. Perry Warjiyo, Governor of Bank Indonesia, Indonesia's Central Bank, chaired by SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin, on the topic of contemporary central bank policy responses to diminishing globalisation and rising digitalisation. Further details can be found here.

SEAC Director's winter activities blog

In December 2019-January 2020, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin undertook several overseas trips relating to SEAC's research projects as well as engagement and outreach activities for the Centre, which you can read about here.

ECR Network member Jiayen Lai publishes article in Environmental Impact Assessment Review

ECR Network member Jiayen Lai (PhD Candidate, University of Edinburgh) has published an article co-authored with with Dr Alistair Hamilton (Scotland's Rural Colllege), titled "For whom do NGOs speak? Accountability and legitimacy in pursuit of just environmental impact assessment" in Environmental Impact Assessment Review.

ECR Network member Dr Gunjan Sondhi to convence in next RGS-IBG Annual Conference

ECR Network member Dr Gunjan Sondhi (Open University) will convene the session "Of migration and markets: economic geographies of mobility and migration" at the next Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with IBG.

ECR Network member Dr Mara Nogueira joins Birkbeck, University of London as Lecturer

ECR Network member Dr Mara Nogueira has joined Birkbeck, University of London as Lecturer in Urban Geography. Dr Nogueira will be directing the new interdisciplinary MA/MSc Cities Programme.

SEAC Director speaks at UCL Workshop for British Academy project on living heritage in Myanmar

On 3rd February 2020, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin spoke on the topic, "Neoliberal Urbanism and Social Movements Responses to Housing Struggles in Asia" for a UCL workshop on the new British Academy-funded project on living heritage and spatial violence in Myanmar, led by SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz (Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL).

Public Lecture: Less Poverty, More Precarity: Squaring the Circle of Southeast Asian Development

On 30th January 2020, Professor Jonathan Rigg (Chair in Human Geography at the School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol) delivered a public lecture on the evolving nature of poverty in Southeast Asia over the past four decades. This event was co-hosted with the LSE Department of Geography and Environment and chaired by SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin. Further details can be found here.

Southeast Asia Discussion Series: Enclave Urbanism and Transnational Zones in Southeast Asia

On 28th January 2020, SEAC hosted its first Lent term event with Dr. Jana M. Kleibert (Acting Head of Department, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space and Humboldt University of Berlin), who spoke on enclave urbanism and transnational zones in Southeast Asia. Further details can be found here.

SEAC welcomes Singapore High Commissioner to LSE

On 27th January 2020, Her Excellency Ms Foo Chi Hsia, High Commissioner of Singapore to the United Kingdom, visited LSE to discuss SEAC's work and the School's engagement with Singapore, as well as the UK's evolving relationship with the Southeast Asia region. The meeting comprised:

H.E. Ms Foo Chi Hsia, High Commissioner of Singapore to the UK
Mr Leon Lau, Second Secretary (Political) of the High Commission of Singapore to the UK
Prof. Hyun Bang Shin, LSE SEAC Director
Prof. Simon Hix, LSE Pro-Director for Research
Prof. John Sidel, LSE SEAC Associate
Dr Lee Mager, LSE SEAC Manager
Ms Fiona Rose, LSE Associate Director of Leadership Philanthropy,
Ms Sharon Bray, LSE Philanthropy Manager

SEAC Associate Dr Nicholas Long gives a talk at Emerging International Leaders programme

On 24th January, SEAC Associate Dr Nicholas Long (LSE) gave a talk entitled “Freedom of Religion in the Shadow of Assimilation: The Case of Indonesian Confucianism” to participants on the Emerging International Leaders programme on Freedom of Religion and Belief at Cumberland Lodge. This programme, run in partnership with the Chevening and Commonwealth Scholarship schemes, aims to empower international postgraduate students (predominantly from the Global South) to become advocates of human rights in their universities and home countries. The talk drew on Dr Long's research into Indonesian Confucianism which was recently published open access in Anthropological Forum.

SEAC to host 50th anniversary ASEAS UK Conference at LSE in 2020

SEAC is excited to announce that we will host the 2020 Association of Southeast Asian Studies (UK) Conference, celebrating ASEAS UK's 50th year. The conference is on the theme of Prosperity and Precarity in Southeast Asia and will take place at LSE on 4-6 September 2020. Further details will be announced in due course, and the Call for Panels is now open.

ECR Network member Dr Khoo Ying Hooi publishes new article in the Journal of International Studies

LSE-Southeast Asia ECR Network member Dr Khoo Ying Hooi (University of Malaya) published a new article, co-authored with Yu Sin Huong (University of Malaya), on human rights and state sovereignty in Indonesia, titled "Human Rights, State Sovereignty, and the Death Penalty: Indonesia’s Diplomacy Approach on Bali Nine".

New article published by ECR Network member Frega Wenas Inkiriwang in the Australian Journal of International Affairs

ECR Network member Frega Wenas Inkiriwang (PhD Candidate, LSe Department of International Relations) has just published a new article on on US-Indonesia defence relations, titled "The dynamic of the US–Indonesia defence relations: the ‘IMET ban’ period" in the Australian Journal of International Affairs.

SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh publishes new article in Children's Geographies

SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh (Monash University Malaysia) has published a new article with co-author Prof. Anita Harris (Alfred Deakin Institute) on multiculturalism in relation to university students in Malaysia, titled "Multicultural reflexivity: university students negotiating ‘pockets’ and ‘strings’ of multiculturalism in Malaysia" in the journal Children's Geographies.

SEAC Undergraduate Research Fellowship: Call for Applications

Applications are invited for two SEAC Undergraduate Research Fellows in 2019/20, for up to 75 hours paid work on projects led by SEAC Associates Prof. Duncan McCargo and Dr Thomas Smith. The deadline for applications is 30th January 2019.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of SEAC Associate Prof. Sylvia Chant, which is a loss not only to SEAC and LSE but to the world. The impact of Prof. Chant's scholarship has been nothing short of extraordinary, as highlighted in this wonderful tribute to her life. SEAC extends our heartfelt condolences to Sylvia's family.

SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz awarded British Academy grant for project on Myanmar

SEAC Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz (University College London) has been awarded a British Academy grant for her project "Framing Living Heritage as Tool to Prevent Spatial Violence" researching spatial violence, housing rights and cultural heritage in Myanmar.

The project, of which Dr Ortiz is Principal Investigator, is part of the British Academy's 2019 programme entitled "Heritage, Dignity and Violence".

New article published by SEAC Associate Dr Haacke and former SEAC Researcher

New article by SEAC Associate Dr Jürgen Haacke and former SEAC Researcher John Harley Breen on UK-Southeast Asia relations published in Contemporary Southeast Asia, entitled "From benign neglect to effective re-engagement? Assessing British strategizing and policies towards Southeast Asia since 2010’". The research for this paper was financially supported by SEAC.

New SEAC Common Room revealed

On 9th December 2019, as part of the Centre's relocation to Sheffield Street directly overlooking the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre, the brand new SEAC Common Room was revealed, which will become available to book for meetings for SEAC Staff, Associates and LSE Student Union Societies representing the Southeast Asia region.

New SEAC Undergraduate Research Fellowships

On 2nd December 2019, SEAC received funding from the LSE Eden Centre for Educational Enhancement for up to two LSE Undergraduate Research Fellows in the 2019/20 Academic Year. The successful students will get the opportunity to work directly with SEAC Associates on their projects. Full details will be available next term.

Book Launch: "Neoliberal Urbanism, Contested Cities and Housing in Asia"

On 3rd December 2019, SEAC, along with the Department of Geography and Environment, co-hosted the book launch for the 2019 book “Neoliberal Urbanism, Contested Cities and Housing in Asia”. The event was chaired by SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin, and Co-Editor Dr. Yi Ling Chen (Assistant Professor of Global and Area Studies and Geography, University of Colorado Boulder) and other contributors presented their insights on Vietnam, Taiwan and Korea. Further details can be found here.

SEAC Masterclass: Research as part of democratization and urban transformation

On 2nd December 2019, SEAC hosted its second research masterclass of the academic year with Dr Yi-Ling Chen (University of Wyoming), who gave insights and advice to students on conducting academic research in collaboration with civil society and activist organisations. Further details can be found here.

SEAC Associate wins Stirling Prize for Best Published Work in Psychological Anthropology

On 29^th November 2019, SEAC Associate Dr Nicholas Long (Department of Anthropology, LSE) has won the Stirling Prize for Best Published Work in Psychological Anthropology, for his article 'Suggestions of Power: Searching for Efficacy in Indonesia's Hypnosis Boom’ in the journal Ethos.

SEAC Associate runs Southeast Asia training workshop for UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office

On 25th November 2019 SEAC Associate Dr Nicholas Long (Department of Anthropology, LSE) ran a workshop for the FCO on the subject “Culture and Politics in Southeast Asia”.

SEAC Public Lecture: Who is the Middle Class, and what are they up to? Reflections from Jakarta

On 28th November 2019, Professor AbdouMaliq Simone (Senior Professorial Fellow, Urban Institute, University of Sheffield and Honorary Professor of Urban Studies, University of Cape Town) spoke on the making of an urban middle class across Southeast Asia. Further details can be found here.

SEAC Director speaks at Media@LSE seminar on gentrification

On 28th November 2019, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin Discussant along with Prof. Myria Georgiou, for a Media@LSE Research Dialogue seminar on "Urban Imaginaries of Gentrification", with guest speaker Prof. Christoph Lindner (Barlett, UCL).

SEAC Masterclass: Researching Digital Media

On 25th November 2019, SEAC hosted its first research masterclass of the year led by SEAC Senior Visiting Fellow Dr Merlyna Lim (Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Digital Media and Global Network Society, Carleton University) and Chaired by Dr Bingchun Meng (Associate Professor and Deputy Head, Department of Media and Communications, LSE), on the topic of researching digital media. Further details can be found here.

seac lsesu meeting 22 Nov 19 small for web

SEAC meets with LSE Student Union Society leaders

On 22nd November 2019, SEAC held its termly meeting with LSESU Society leaders to discuss plans for further engagement between the Centre & LSE students from Southeast Asia in the coming year (students from Left - Right ): Yiyan Lim (Malaysia Club); Diego Sayas (Filipino Society); Wu You (ASEAN Society)

Southeast Asia Discussion Series: Civil society elites and Cambodian civil society today

On 21st November 2019, Dr. Astrid Norén-Nilsson (Associate Senior Lecturer at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University) spoke on processes of elite formation within Cambodian civil society today as well as patterns of interaction between civil society elites and other elites, building on ongoing research for a comparative project on civil society elites in Cambodia and Indonesia. Further details can be found here .

SEAC Director Chairs LSE Student Union talk with Malaysia MP YB Tony Pua

On 15th November 2019, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin Chaired a talk by YB Tony Pua (Political Secretary to the Minister of Finance of Malaysia, and Member of Parliament for Damansara) on "The Middle Income Trap", hosted by the LSESU Malaysia Club.

SEAC announces next application round of LSE Student Dissertation Fieldwork Grant

The 2019/20 call for applications for SEAC's LSE Southeast Asia Student Dissertation Fieldwork Grant is now open, available to undergraduate and taught master's students at LSE undertaking fieldwork research in the Southeast Asia region as part of their assessed dissertation.

SEAC Director speaks at final Plenary of UCL Urban Frontiers Conference

On 13th November, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin spoke at the concluding Plenary of the three-day UCL conference entitled, "At the frontiers of the urban: thinking concepts and practices globally",

New ECR Network member Charles Dunst publishes article in Foreign Policy

New LSE-Southeast Asia ECR Network member Charles Dunst has published an article in Foreign Policy on Cambodia's strained and complex relations with major powers.

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin gives public lecture at the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research public lecture series.

On 8th November 2019, SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin gave a public lecture at the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) public lecture series at University College London. The talk was entitled "The political economy of (neo-) developmental urbanisation: reflections on Asian urbanism".

In May 2019, Hyun was invited to join the editorial board of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

SEAC hosts Southeast Asia Discussion Series on social media and politics in Southeast Asia with Dr Merlyna Lim

On 7th November 2019, SEAC hosted the talk "Algorithmic Enclaves: Social Media and Politics in Southeast Asia", part of its Southeast Asia discussion Series. The guest speaker was Dr Merlyna Lim, Senior Visiting Fellow at SEAC, and it was chaired by SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin. View and listen to the presentation here.

SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh's book included in LSE Review of Books' recommended list

SEAC Associate Dr Sin Yee Koh's book, entitled "Race, Education and Citizenship: Mobile Malaysians, British Colonial Legacies and a Culture of Migration", has been featured in the LSE Review of Books list of 15 recommended books on histories of imperialism.

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin participates in BA roundtable on Theorising Urban Violence

On 30th October 2019, Prof Hyun Bang Shin, Centre Director, participated in the British Academy expert roundtable on Theorising Urban Violence, which took place at the British Academy. The expert roundtable was chaired by Professor Ash Amin, Fellow of the British Academy and Head of the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge.

SEAC Associate Dr Thomas Smith to take part in LSE Research Showcase 2019

On 19th November, SEAC Associate Dr Thomas Smith (Department of Geography and Environment, LSE) will present his work on palm oil agricultre's environmetal impact in Southeast Asia at the 2019 edition of LSE Research Showcase.

Dr Do Young Oh joins SEAC as Research Officer

Dr Do Young Oh has joined the Centre as Research Officer on the new SEAC research project ‘Asian Capital and the Rise of Smart Urbanism’.

SEAC hosts Southest Asia Forum 2019

On 29th October, SEAC hosted its annual flagship event in the LSE Shaw Library, which revolved around the key research themes of SEAC (urbanisation, connectivity, and governance) while engaging with contemporary affairs in Southeast Asia.

SEAC hosts first Southeast Asia Discussion Series seminar of the academic year on land sharing in Thailand and Cambodia

On 17th October 2019, SEAC hosted the first Southeast Asia Discussion Series seminar of the academic year, with guest speaker Dr. Paul Rabé (Senior Expert, Urban Land Governance, IHS and coordinator of the Urban Knowledge Network Asia (UKNA), International Institute for Asian Studies) who spoke on the topic of land sharing in Cambodia and Thailand. The event was chaired by SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin.

New LSE MSc in International and Asian History led by SEAC Associate Dr Kirsten Schulze

SEAC Associate Dr Kirsten Schulze is the Programme Director of the MSc International and Asian History, a new degree part of the LSE Department of International History, starting in October 2020.

ECR network member Ahmad Rizky M. Umar publishes article and book chapter

ECR Network member Ahmad Rizky M. Umar has just published an article in the journal "Asian Politics and Policy” on the Bandung Conference and a book chapter on Indonesian foreign policy reforms under Soeharto.

Prof. John Sidel chairs LSE Student Union talk on human trafficking in Vietnam

On 8th October, SEAC Associate Prof. John Sidel (Department of Government, LSE), Chaired an event hosted by the LSESU United Nations Society with guest speaker Michael Brosowski, CEO of Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, about the NGO's experiences with trafficking in Vietnam.

Centre Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz participates at 2019 world Human Rights Cities Forum

New Centre Associate Dr Catalina Ortiz participated to the 2019 edition of the World Human Rights Cities Forum in Gwangju, Korea, from 30^th September to 3^rd October, as part of the Special Session on the Right to Housing in Asia.

SEAC Director welcomes Prof Ralf Emmers

On 8th October 2019, SEAC welcomed Prof. Ralf Emmers (Dean of S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and President’s Chair in International Relations, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) to discuss potential research collaborations.

SEAC hosts ECR Network Event "South-South itineraries: alternative routes for mutual learning between Latin America and Southeast Asia"

On 1^st October 2019, SEAC hosted an ECR Network Event as part of the Decolonising the LSE Week, bringing together scholars from Latin America and Southeast Asia whose research is rooted in such effort of theorizing “from the South”, addressing the structural power inequalities of knowledge production that tend to exclude the contributions produced by scholars working "in the South", which are often ignored or lost in translation. The event was chaired by SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin.

New SEAC UK-wide Postgraduate Dissertation Prize

SEAC is excited to announce a new nationwide annual prize for postgraduate dissertations relating to Southeast Asia, to showcase the best of postgraduate research among students in the UK. The winner is to be awarded a prize of £200, and will be offered the opportunity to convert and publish the dissertation as a SEAC Working Paper.

Further details including eligibility criteria, guidelines and the application form can be found here.

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin gives Keynote talk at 3rd Conference of Korean PhD Students and Researchers in the UK

On 28th September, SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin gave the keynote talk, entitled “Gentrification, Anti-Gentrification and Researcher Responsibilities”, at the 3rd Conference of Korean PhD Students and Researchers in the UK.

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin is cited in French magazine article

SEAC Director Prof Hyun Bang Shin was cited in the article "Songdo, la « ville du futur » face à ses contradictions" by Pablo Maillé in French magazine Usbek & Rica.

ECR Network member Dr May Ngo speaks at "Rethinking the Cold War in Asia" Conference, Czech Academy of Sciences

On 30th September, ECR Network member Dr May Ngo (Cezch Academy of Sciences) gave a talk at the "Rethinking the Cold War in Asia: experiences, perspectives, concepts" conference at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

New applications round for SEAC Stipendiary Visiting Researcher scheme

SEAC is pleased to announce the next round of applications for its Stipendiary Visiting Researcher scheme, for visits taking place between February 2020 and December 2020.

Further details including eligibility criteria, guidelines and the application form can be found here.

SEAC Expands Centre Associates

In September 2019, SEAC added 11 new Associates, 8 of whom are external to the LSE. The full list of 19 SEAC Associates can be found here.

New article on moral disruption in Indonesia's confucianist revival published by Dr Nicholas Long

Dr Nicholas Long (Department of Anthropology, LSE) has published an article entitled, "Straightening What’s Crooked’? Recognition as Moral Disruption in Indonesia’s Confucianist Revival” in Anthropological Forum.

SEAC Michaelmas Term 2019/20 Events Leaflet

SEAC is pleased to announce the upcoming term’s schedule of events, which can be seen in our new termly Events Leaflet.

SEAC Director Summer's Outreach in Asia - the blog

SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin travelled across Asia last summer. His engagements included field research for the British Academy-funded project "The Urban Spectre of Global China"; teaching at the LSE-PKU Summer School in Beijing and various speaking engagements.

Discover more about his engagements in the new SEAC Director Activities' blog.

SEAC ECR Network member Mr Mara Nogueira speaks at RC21 Conference in Delhi

On 21st September, LSE-Southeast Asia ECR Network member Dr Mara Nogueira (Department of Geography & Environment, LSE) spoke on "Work, housing and the right to the city in Belo Horizonte/Brazil" at the RC21 Conference in Delhi.

ECR Network member Rob Cole co-authors article in Southeast Asian Studies

LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network member Rob Cole (National University Singapore) has just co-authored an article in Kyoto CSEAS journal 'Southeast Asian Studies', entitled "Local Agency in Development, Market, and Forest Conservation Interventions in Laos PDR’s Northern Uplands".

SEAC to welcome Visiting Senior Fellow, Dr Merlyna Lim

SEAC is pleased to announce that Dr Merlyna Lim, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Digital Media and Global Network Society, Carleton University, will be joining the Centre as Visiting Senior Fellow from 21^st October – 1^st December 2019. Dr Lim’s research will focus on social media and politics in Southeast Asia.

New article on alternative medicine, minimality, and ethics in an Indonesian healing collective by Dr Nicholas Long

Dr Nicholas Long (Department of Anthropology, LSE) has published an article entitled, " “Accept and Utilize”: Alternative Medicine, Minimality, and Ethics in an Indonesian Healing Collective" in Medical Anthropology Quarterly.

SEAC Director presents lecture on enclave urbanism in Vietnam at National University of Singapore

On 12^th September 2019, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin gave a talk at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, entitled “Urbanisation of (East Asian) Capital, and the Rise of Enclave Urbanism in Vietnam”.

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Upcoming SEAC Event for ‘Decolonise the LSE’ Week: South-South itineraries: alternative routes for mutual learning between Latin America and Southeast Asia

On 1st October, as part of #DecolonisingLSE Week, SEAC is hosting an event chaired by SEAC Director Hyun Bang Shin exploring mutual learning opportunities between Latin America and Southeast Asia.

New articles by Dr Jürgen Haacke published in International Relations of the Asia Pacific

Dr Jürgen Haacke (Department of International Relations and former SEAC Director, LSE) has published an article entitled, “The concept of hedging and its application to Southeast Asia: a critique and a proposal for a modified conceptual and methodological framework” along with the introduction co-authored with Dr John Ciorciari (Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan), “Hedging in international relations: an introduction” for the International Relations of the Asia Pacific special issue on hedging in international relations. This special issue arose from a 2017 SEAC-supported Workshop.

LSE Southeast Asia Forum 2019

The 2019 LSE Southeast Asia Forum, SEAC's flagship annual conference, will take place in the beautiful LSE Shaw Library on 29th October. Further details will be announced in the coming weeks.

SEAC 2018/19 Annual Report published

SEAC's latest Annual Report is now available to view online.

New article by SEAC Director published in Annals of the American Association of Geographers

SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin has co-authored a paper with Dr Jung Won Sonn (Bartlett School of Planning, UCL) entitled, “Contextualizing Accumulation by Dispossession: The State and High-Rise Apartment Clusters in Gangnam, Seoul”, published in the latest issue of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers.

SEAC appoints new Graduate Intern for Communications and Events

We are pleased to announce that Margherita Scalisi has joined the Centre as Graduate Intern, Communications and Events from 2nd September 2019.

SEAC Research Fund award for project on national forest policy in Papua

Prof. Tim Forsyth (Department of International Development, LSE) and Prof. Gill Shepherd (Visiting Professor in the Department of Anthropology, LSE) have been awarded £7,500 from the SEAC Research Fund, for a project beginning in January 2020 entitled, "Strengthening Landscape Governance: comparing institutional designs under rapid change in Papua, Indonesia".

SEAC awarded LSE Kuwait Programme Research Grant

SEAC has been awarded a research grant from the LSE Middle East Centre's Kuwait Programme, to kick-start a new project that comparatively examines smart urbanism and new city construction in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. More information can be found here.

SEAC Director speaks at ICAS 11 conference at the University of Leiden

Between 16-19 July, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin spoke at the 11th International Convention of Asia Scholars held at the University of Leiden. This included acting as Chair of the "Neighbourhoods and Cities in Asia I: External Links" session, and as panellist for the Academic Freedom Space session entitled, "Southeast and East Asia: What Room for Free Discussion?".

Southeat Asia Discussion Series: Post-Election Thailand

On 11th July, SEAC hosted a packed-theatre discussion panel, "Post-Election Thailand: Reflections and Looking Forward", with speakers Dr Petra Desatova (University of Leeds), Mr Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit (Future Forward Party), Prof. Duncan McCargo (University of Copenhagen) and Ms Pannika Wanich (Future Forward Party).

SEAC Director speaks at Politecnico di Torino

On 9th July, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin gave a lecture entitled, "Coping with Crisis in Developmental Urbanization: The Case of Songdo City, South Korea" at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy.

Article on child statelessness in East Malaysian state of Sabah published by Dr Catherine Allerton

Dr Catherine Allerton (Department of Anthropology, LSE) has published an article entitled, "Paradoxes in Child Statelessness in Sabah" in Allegra Lab.

SEAC Student Dissertation Fieldwork Grant awardees

Congratulations to the 2018/19 awardees for SEAC's new LSE Student Dissertation Fieldwork Grant scheme:

- Tiffany Bennett | MSc Development Management | Field site: Cambodia
- Lazarus Chok | BA Geography | Field site: Singapore
- Ming Kit Lim | MSc Public Administration and Government | Field site: Singapore
- Rio Grace Otara | MSc Gender, Development and Globalisation | Field site: Philippines
- Katie Parkinson | MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies | Field site: Thailand

SEAC welcomes urban scholar from Saitama University

On 26th June, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin met with Dr Tamaki Endo, Associate Professor in Asian Economy and Thai Studies at Saitama University, to discuss future collaborations.

SEAC supports re-launch of LSE Field Research Methods Lab

SEAC has helped re-launch and re-design the LSE Field Research Methods Lab, an LSE Blog platform for researchers to share experiences of hands-on field research. The SEAC-supported platform is to be one of the main media outlets for disseminating field research experiences, and is now live and accepting contributions from both established and early career researchers.

SEAC Kickoff Workshop: "The Urban Spectre of Global China"

On 19th June, SEAC hosted a workshop, chaired by Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin, for the Centre's new British Academy-funded project entitled, ""The Urban Spectre of Global China: Mechanisms, Consequences, and Alternatives for Urban Futures". The workshop was led by Principal Investigator Prof. Hyun Bang Shin and Co-Investigators Dr Sin Yee Koh (University of Monash Malaysia) and Dr Yimin Zhao (Renmin University of China).

The workshop enjoyed some excellent additional insights from guest expert panellists Prof. Scott Lash (City University Hong Kong), Dr Charlotte Goodburn (KCL), Prof. Ian Gordon (LSE) & Prof. Jennifer Robinson (UCL).

SEAC welcomes visitors from the Chinese Academy of Social Science

On 18th June, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin met with representatives from the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, the Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies Prof. Xu Liping, the Head of the Department of Major Power Relations Prof. Zhong Feiteng, and CASS Senior Fellow Mr Huang Yongguang.

ECR Network member Shona Loong publishes article in Political Geography

LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network member Shona Loong (School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford) has just published an article in the journal Political Geography, entitled, "The neoliberal borderscape: Neoliberalism's effects on the social worlds of migrants along the Thai-Myanmar border".

SEAC welcomes incoming British High Commissioner to Singapore

On 14th June, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin met with Her Excellency Ms Kara Owen, the incoming British High Commissioner to Singapore, and explored potential avenues for SEAC’s and LSE's future work in, and engagement with, the country.

SEAC Student Dissertation Fieldwork Grant Awardees announced

On 14th June, SEAC officially announced the 2018/19 awardees for its new Student Dissertation Fieldwork Grant scheme, for LSE students undertaking field research in Cambodia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

SEAC welcomes Executive Director of Rujak Center for Urban Studies

On 13th June, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin met with Elisa Sutanudjaja, Executive Director of the Jakarta-based think-tank, the Rujak Center for Urban Studies, to discuss potential collaborations.

Co-Investigators for 'The Urban Spectre of Global China' project arrive at SEAC

In June 2019, Dr Sin Yee Koh (Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University Malaysia) and Dr Yimin Zhao (ssistant Professor in Urban Planning and Management, School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China) are visiting SEAC as part of their research investigation for the Centre's project entitled, "The Urban Spectre of Global China: mechanisms, consequences and alternatives for urban futures", with Prof. Hyun Bang Shin, the project's Principal Investigator.

SEAC welcomes Dean of Social and Political Sciences from Universitas Indonesia

On 13^th June, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin met with Dr Arie Setiabudi Soesilo, Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Universitas Indonesia, to discuss potential research collaborations with the LSE.

ECR Network member Dr Marion Sabrié publishes articles in Moussons theme issue

LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network member Dr Marion Sabrié (University of Rouen Normandy) has published 2 articles in Moussons' recent theme issue, “Challenges and Resilience in Myanmar’s Urbanization. A Special Issue on Yangon”, which she co-directed with Dr Maaike Matelski (Radboud University).

ECR Network member Cleve Arguelles publishes book review in Asian Politics and Policy

LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network member Cleve Arguelles (PhD Candidate, Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University) has published a book review of 'Populism in Southeast Asia' by Paul D. Kenny in the journal Asian Politics and Policy.

SEAC SEADS Seminar on the Red River Development project in Hanoi

On 6th June, SEAC hosted a Southeast Asia Discussion Series seminar entitled, "Situating Planners’ Everyday Life: Personal Memoir of International Planning Fieldwork for the Red River Development Project in Hanoi, Vietnam". The seminar was led by ECR Network member Sujee Jung (Rutgers University) with Discussant Dr Catalina Ortiz (UCL) and Chair and SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin.

Book review of "Developmentalist cities? Interrogating urban developmentalism in East Asia" published by Dr Do Young Oh

Former SEAC Centre Coordinator Dr Do Young Oh has just published a book review of "Developmentalist cities? Interrogating urban developmentalism in East Asia", edited by Jamie Doucette and Bae-Gyoon Park, which can be read in the latest issue of Urban Geography.

ECR Network Member Dr Geetha Reddy featured in New Scientist Netherlands

LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network member Dr Geetha Reddy (Department of Sociology, University of Groningen) has been interviewed for New Scientist Netherlands on the topic of multiculturalism and identity, with reference to her research in Singapore and Malaysia. Dr Reddy also wrote the Foreword for this issue which can be read here.

Former SEAC Centre Coordinator presents at LSE Entrepreneur of the Year Competition

On 4^th June, Dr Do Young Oh presented at the LSE’s 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year Competition on the Urban Experiment project with Dr Pablo Navarette (PhD Graduate, Department of Geography and Environment, LSE). The project uses innovative participatory design techniques to provide solutions to public bodies and private enterprises making urban development decisions to promote the public good.

ECR Network Member Dr Sokphea Young publishes article in The Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs

LSE-SoutheastAsia Early Career Researcher Network member Dr Sokphea Young (Dept. of Anthropology, UCL) has just published an article in the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, on how grassroots movements and NGOs in Cambodia endeavour to hold government and foreign corporations accountable for the actions they have taken which have contributed to environmental degradation in Cambodia.

SEAC Director invited to speak at ASEAN Emerging Researchers Conference

SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin will be a Panellist at the ASEAN Emerging Researchers Conference taking place in Cambridge on 6th July 2019. This conference will be on the theme of sustainability; more information including how to attend can be found here.

New book published on cities and housing in Asia co-edited by SEAC Director

SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin, in collaboration with Prof. Yi-Ling Chen (Department of Geography, University of Wyoming), has published the Co-edited book Neoliberal Urbanism, Contested Cities and Housing in Asia which explores a range of Asian cities including Bangkok and Hanoi.

A book launch for this publication will be held at LSE in December 2019.

SEAC Director to join Editorial Board of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

Prof. Hyun Bang Shin has been invited to become a member of The International Journal of Urban and Regional Research's Editorial Board, commencing January 2020.

Dr Thomas Smith awarded £15,000 Royal Geographical Society grant for project on post-fire greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia and Malaysia

Together with Dr Stephanie Evers (School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, LJMU), Dr Thomas Smith (Department of Geography and Environment, LSE) has been awarded a RGS grant to research how tropical peatland greenhouse gas emissions respond in the immediate aftermath of a fire. Working in Malaysia and Indonesia, they will measure the immediate post-fire greenhouse gas emissions and investigate the evolution of these emissions through the post-recovery period of the burnt site.

SEAC-affiliated scholars reach Top 5 Shortlist Stage for ICAS Dissertation Award

Dr Do Young Oh, former researcher and Centre Coordinator at SEAC, and Dr Yimin Zhao, current co-investigator for the SEAC research project on Global China, have now reached the Shortlist Stage for the International Convention of Asian Scholars' biennial social science Dissertation Award. Both Do Young and Yimin completed their PhDs at LSE under the supervision of SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin.

New LSE Southeast Asia Student Dissertation Fieldwork Grant

SEAC is pleased to announce a new Student Dissertation Fieldwork grant for current LSE undergraduate and taught master’s students for field research in the Southeast Asia region as part of their assessed dissertation. The funding may contribute towards travel expenses and on-site research expenses, up to a maximum of £500 per applicant. More details including an application form can be found here.

New paper co-authored by Dr Thomas Smith on palm oil sustainability

The Frontiers in Forests and Global Change paper, entitled "Co-producing an agenda for sustainable palm oil", engaged with 659 stakeholders across 38 countries, including palm oil growers, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and researchers.

ECR Network member Mara Nogueira publishes article in IJURR on informal worker displacement

LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network member Dr Mara Nogueira (Department of Geography and Environment, LSE) has published a paper in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, entitled, "Displacing Informality: Rights and Legitimacy in Belo Horizonte, Brazil".

ECR Network Member Jordana Ramalho passes PhD

Dr Jordana Ramalho, member of the LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network and regular contributor to the SEAC community, passed her PhD on 2nd May. She was supervised by Prof. Sylvia Chant (Department of Geography and Environment, LSE) and her thesis explored the gendered dimensions of risk & insecurity for urban poor communities in the Philippines.

LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network Workshop on academic publishing

On 22nd May 2019, SEAC will host a workshop for LSE-Southeast Asia ECR Network members on the subject of academic publishing, chaired by SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin. The workshop will combine practical advice with personal experiences, covering everything from evaluating outlets and choosing the right one for you, avoiding common pitfalls, deciding on solo versus collaborate publications, career considerations and more.

Prof. Sylvia Chant and Ms Jordana Ramalho working on new Radical Policies book

Prof. Sylvia Chant and ECR Network member Ms Jordana Ramalho (Department of Geography and Environment, LSE) are currently working on a book on radical policies in gender and development, for which they are interviewing a broad cross section of stakeholders in the UK, Europe, the Americas, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa as to how they define ‘radical’, what they regard as the most ‘radical’ interventions in the field, and whether ‘radical’ policies are necessarily the most effective pathway to redressing gendered inequalities and injustice.

LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network member publishes article in Frontiers in Psychology: Cultural Psychology

Dr Geetha Reddy (Department of Sociology, University of Groningen), in collaboration with Dr Ilka Gleibs (Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, LSE), has published an article in Frontiers in Psychology entitled, "The Endurance and Contestations of Colonial Constructions of Race Among Malaysians and Singaporeans".

Dr Thomas Smith gives talk at Royal Geographical Society - Singapore

Dr Thomas Smith (Department of Geography & Environment, LSE) visited the Singapore branch of the Royal Geographical Society to talk on his multi-continental pyrogeography research project.

Prof Sylvia Chant wins Student-led Teaching Excellence Award

Prof. Sylvia Chant (Department of Geography & Environment, LSE) has won the LSE Student Union Student-Led Teaching Excellence Award 2019 for Research Guidance and Support.

SEAC Director gives lecture at Lund University on the topic of state-led gentrification in Seoul

On 25th April, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin gave a lecture entitled, "In the shadow of state-led gentrification: The commercialisation of residential properties in Seoul" at Lund University's Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies.

Special Issue on militant Islam in Southeast Asia, co-edited by Dr Kirsten Schulze, published in Contemporary Southeast Asia

Dr Kirsten Schulze (Dept. of International History, LSE) and Dr Julie Chernov Hwang (Dept. of Political Science & International Relations, Goucher College) have published their special issue in Contemporary Southeast Asia, entitled "Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: New Insights into Jihad in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines"

Dr Schulze's paper in this issue, "From Ambon to Poso: Comparative and Evolutionary Aspects of Local Jihad in Indonesia", emerged from her 2018 SEAC Research Fund project.

SEAC Director Chairs panel session at Association of Korean Studies in Europe Conference in Rome

On 13th April, Prof. Hyun Bang Shin acted as Chair and Discussant for the panel session "Space, Place, Power and Scales: Geographical Perspectives on the ROK" at the 29th AKSE Conference at the Sapienza University of Rome.

SEAC-affiliated young scholars nominated in longlist for ICAS Dissertation Award

Dr Do Young Oh, former researcher and Centre Coordinator at SEAC, and Dr Yimin Zhao, current co-investigator for the SEAC research project on Global China, have been featured in the longlist nominations for the International Convention of Asian Scholars' biennial social science Dissertation Award.

SEAC awarded British Academy Grant for project on Global China and Urban Futures

SEAC is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a British Academy grant as part of its Tackling the UK's International Challenges Programme. The 18-month project is entitled, “The Urban Spectre of Global China: Mechanisms, Consequences, and Alternatives for Urban Futures”, with Prof. Hyun Bang Shin, SEAC Director, as the Principal Investigator, and Dr Yimin Zhao (Assistant Professor in Urban Planning and Management, Renmin University of China) and Dr Sin Yee Koh (Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, Monash University Malaysia) as Co-investigators.

Research will be conducted in London, Iskandar Malaysia, Beijing and Foshan.

Prof. James Putzel welcomes China Agricultural University Professor

On 29th March, Prof. James Putzel (Department of International Development, LSE) met with Prof. Xiuli Xu (Department of Development Studies, China Agricultural University) to explore potential networking and research collaborations with SEAC.

New Seminar Series and Networking Grant scheme

SEAC is pleased to announce a new Seminar Series and Networking Grant for the 2019/20 Academic Year. The scheme is open to LSE academic staff and LSE Early Career Researchers, including PhD students, for seminar series, study groups or networking events. The deadline for applications is 28th June 2019.

More information including an application form can be found here.

SEAC Director leads LSE student fieldtrip in Seoul

SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin spent the week of 22-29 March leading a fieldtrip with LSE MSc Urbanisation and Development students in Korea, as part of the 2019 Seoul Case Study Program, in collaboration with the University of Seoul and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

SEAC Director invited to Korea workshop at L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales

On 20th March, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin acted as Discussant for a L'EHESS Workshop entitled, "Space, place, power and scales: New perspectives on the geography of the Republic of Korea"

SEAC Director welcomes Tianjin University professors

On 21st March, SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin met with Prof. Peng Zeng, Prof. Tianjie Zhang and Prof. Long Zhang from the School of Architecture, Tianjin University, to discuss potential interdisciplinary research collaborations with LSE.

SEAC Cove Session: Thailand's 2019 Elections: Will the Political Crisis Continue?

On Monday 25th March, SEAC hosted its second ‘Cove Session’ discussion of 2019, with guest Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Kyoto), discussing the results and implications of the long-awaited Thai general election. Prof. Tim Forsyth (Department of International Development, LSE) was Chair.

SEAC Director cited in Reuters news article on Artificial Intelligence and Gentrification

Prof. Hyun Bang Shin was interviewed for a 13th March news piece on newly developed A.I. technology which can map the process of gentrification, entitled "New Driveway? Home improvements lead A.I. to hidden gentrification".

New article from Prof. Tim Forsyth published in Environmental Policy and Governance

Tim Forsyth's (Department of International Development, LSE) co-authored paper with Maria Fernanda Gebara , Erin Sills and Peter May, and entitled "Deconstructing the policyscape for reducing deforestation in the Eastern Amazon: Practical insights for a landscape approach", has just been published in the journal Environmental Policy and Governance.

New article by LSE-Southeast Asia ECR Network member published in IJURR

Tin Alvarez (PhD candidate, UCL) has recently published a paper (co-authored with Kenneth Cardenas, University of York) in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, entitled, "Evicting Slums, ‘Building Back Better’: Resiliency Revanchism and Disaster Risk Management in Manila".

SEAC meets with LSE Southeast Asia Student Union leaders

On 6th March, SEAC held its termly meeting with Presidents of LSE Student Societies relating to the Southeast Asia region, to discuss each other's past and future activities and to share ideas for collaboration and support with the Centre.

From left to right:
- Wu You, President of the LSESU ASEAN Society
- Prof. Hyun Bang Shin, SEAC Director
- Yiyan Lim, President of the LSESU Malaysia Club
- Calvin Toping, President of the LSESU Indonesia Society

SEAC introduces new stipendiary Visiting Appointment scheme for 2019

SEAC is delighted to announce a new stipendiary visiting researcher scheme for the 2019-2020 academic year. This is in addition to our existing Standard Visiting Appointment scheme, for which applicants have always been expected to secure their own funding.

The new Stipendiary Visiting Appointment scheme is directly seeking to attract scholars currently employed at an institution within the Southeast Asia region.

REDD+ AS AN AREA-BASED POLICY: Evidence from the 2011 Moratorium on oil palm, timber and logging concessions in Indonesia

On 19th March, Ben Groom (Professor of Environment and Development Economics, LSE ) and Charles Palmer (Associate Professor of Environment and Development, LSE) will be summarising findings for their recently completed SEAC-funded research project on environmental impacts of the Palm Oil Concession Moratorium in Indonesia. SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin will chair.

More information including a link to register attendance can be found here.

(SEAC #connectivity theme)

SEAC launches interactive ECR Network map

Now 52 members strong, the LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network can be explored through an interactive map, searchable by country focus or location, with profiles and photos of Network members, a summary of their research interests and a link to their personal / departmental profiles. This will become an invaluable resource for future research collaborations as the Network grows.

If you would like to join the ECR Network, please send a request to Centre Manager Dr Lee Mager (seac.admin@lse.ac.uk) with the details requested on the main ECR webpage.

New paper from ECR Network member published in Asia Pacific Viewpoint

LSE PhD candidate and LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network member Jordana Ramalho has just published an article entitled "Worlding aspirations and resilient futures: Framings of risk and contemporary city‐making in Metro Cebu, the Philippines" in Asia Pacific Review.

(SEAC #urbanisation theme)

SEAC Masterclass: Conducting research in violent urban contexts

On 1st March, SEAC held the first of its new 'Masterclass' series, led by Qin Shao, Professor of History at the College of New Jersey and author of Shanghai Gone: Domicide and and Defiance in a Chinese Megacity. The event was chaired by SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin.

The audience of LSE staff and early career researchers gained valuable insights into a range of fieldwork issues, including how to deal with state violence, how to be sensitised to the city and the process of discovery.

(SEAC #urbanisation theme)

SEAC Workshop: Revisiting Displacement in Urban Studies

The first SEAC Workshop of 2019, in collaboration with the Urban Salon took place on 28th February at LSE and brought together a diverse range of theoretical perspectives and fascinating empirical insights from speakers’ recent research in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Israel and the UK. The speakers shared their research and provoked some interesting debates in the Q&A sessions on how we can advance intellectual engagement with this multifaceted topic.

Speakers:
Prof. Katherine Brickell (Royal Holloway, Geography)
Dr Lisa Tilley (Birkbeck, Politics)
Jordana Ramalho (LSE, Geography PhD candidate)
Prof. Qin Shao (The College of New Jersey, History)
Prof. Oren Yiftachel (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Geography)
Prof. Loretta Lees (Leicester, Geography)

Chair
Prof. Hyun Bang Shin (LSE, SEAC)

(SEAC #urbanisation theme)

SEAC Cove Session: Korean reconciliation and its implications on geopolitics and the Southeast Asia region

Coinciding with the Hanoi Summit, SEAC enjoyed a lively and insightful Cove Session on the topic of Korean reconciliation and its implications on geopolitics on 28th February, chaired by Prof. Hyun Bang Shin (LSE, SEAC Director)

We benefited from the unique expertise of Prof. Vladimir Tikhonov (Korean name Pak Noja; University of Oslo, Cultural Studies and Oriental Languages), whose enthusiasm captivated the audience. The main take-home message of the Session was that reconciliation, despite strong incentives for it from all stakeholders, is likely to be a long process fraught with vulnerabilities.

(SEAC #governance theme)

SEAC Director to feature in Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies

A chapter on Asian Urbanism by Prof. Hyun Bang Shin is to be included in the forthcoming Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. The full text is available via LSE Research Online.

(SEAC #urbanisation theme)

LSE-Southeast Asia Early Career Researcher Network Inaugural Event

SEAC hosted its first Early Career Researcher Network event on 13th Feb in London, chaired by SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin. Participants gave talks on the topic, “What does Southeast Asia mean for my research?” followed by an opportunity to get to know each other. If you are an Early Career Researcher specialising in the Southeast Asia region, please register with details found on this page to join the Network.

SEADS (Southeast Asia Discussion Series): Para-nationalism in the Wa state of Myanmar

On 15th February SEAC held its first SEADS event of the year, with Dr Hans Steinmüller (LSE, Department of Anthropology) sharing his insights and findings from his year-long fieldwork in the Wa State of Myanmar, focusing on the idea of 'para-nationalism', sovereignty and authenticity. Dr Patrick Meehan (SOAS, Department of Development Studies) was Discussant for the session, with SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin chairing.

(SEAC #governance theme)

SEAC Research Fund: Call for applications

Applications are invited for the third round of SEAC's Research Fund, open to all LSE Staff at Assistant Professor/Assistant Professorial Research Fellow level or above. The projects, to address social science issues relevant to Southeast Asia and aligning with SEAC’s core research themes, are to take place between 1st July 2019 to 31st July 2020. The deadline for applications is 30th April. For more detailed information, please read the official Funding Call.

SEAC Director welcomes members of the Korean National Assembly

On 14th January 2019, 4 members of the Korean National Assembly visited the LSE and met Prof. Hyun Shin to discuss their interests in urban regeneration, gentrification and social inequality, to help inform their future legislative activities.

SEAC welcomes the new Centre Manager

SEAC is pleased to welcome our new Centre Manager, Dr Lee Mager. Lee has a long history with LSE, having previously worked as Undergraduate Manager and Deputy Department Manager in the Department of Geography and Environment, and having completed his MSc and PhD in the Department of Sociology. He is looking forward to becoming part of the SEAC community, where he will take overall operational responsibility for the Centre in addition to managing events, communications and publications.

SEAC staff presented at the 9th East Asian Regional Conference on Alternative Geography

Professor Hyun Bang Shin (Centre Director) and Dr Do Young Oh (Centre Coordinator) have participated in the 9th East Asian Regional Conference on Alternative Geography (EARCAG) between 10 and 12 December to give papers on Vietnam and Singapore respectively. Professor Shin additionally organised a session on ‘Urban Spectacles and Social Injustice in the Global East’.

SEAC co-hosted 'Economic Prospects and Problems of the Four Asian Tigers' event

On Tuesday 4th December, LSE SEAC and four LSESU Socities co-hosted the event focused on discussing economic convergence and divergence of the ‘Four Asian Tigers’ by tracing the past’s unprecedented growth history of these countries in the late 20th century and explore different economic trajectories upon which each country is embarking in a comparative perspective. SEAC Centre Coordinator, Dr Do Young Oh moderated the discussion after the talks given by four speakers representing each country.

Prof Tim Forsyth appointed as Adviser to Parliamentary Committee

SEAC Associate, Professor Tim Forsyth has been appointed as a Specialist Adviser to the Houses of Parliament International Development Committee, with special reference to UK aid for combating climate change. The committee is set up for monitoring the policy, administration and spending of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and its associated public bodies.

LSE SEAC welcomed delegations from Southeast Asia

On Monday 26th November, LSE SEAC welcomed two delegations from the Asian Development Bank and Thailand Ministry of Energy. Each meeting involved discussions about potential collaborations and further links between SEAC and two institutions in the future.

LSE Tower buildings are renamed after suffrage campaigners

LSE has officially renamed three of Tower buildings after central figures in the British suffrage movement. The new-titled buildings were unveiled in a ceremony by HRH The Countess of Wessex on Friday 23 November. SEAC is now located on the 10th floor of Fawcett House (FAW), formerly Tower 2 (TW2), named after the suffrage campaigner Millicent Garrett Fawcett. More information about the event can be found here.

LSE SEAC met LSESU societies representatives

On Friday 23rd November, LSE SEAC had a meeting with Southeast Asia national societies and ASEAN society to strengthen the relationship with students. The representatives from Thai, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and ASEAN societies attended the meeting. Termly meetings will be held to continue to work closely with the student societies.

LSE SEAC co-hosted 'Prospects for Elections in Thailand' event

On Monday 8th October, LSE SEAC and Department of International Development welcomed the leaders of the Future Forward Party in Thailand as well as Prof Duncan McCargo and Ms Petra Desatova, both from the University of Leeds. The event was an opportunity for academics and audience members to challenge the leaders of Future Forward Party to explain their political agenda and their vision for Thailand. This full-house event was chaired by Prof Tim Forsyth.

Dr Jürgen Haacke spoke at the Malaysia Ministry of Foreign Affairs

SEAC Associate, Dr Jürgen Haacke undertook a research trip to Malaysia in September as part of his research into UK foreign policy in Southeast Asia. During Dr Haacke's trip, he had meetings with various policymakers and diplomats. He also spoke at the Malaysia Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the UK’s role in Southeast Asia as part of roundtable discussion moderated by the Deputy Secretary General (Bilateral Affairs), YM Raja Dato’ Nushirwan Zainal Abidin.

Dr Nick Long presented his paper at ASA Annual Conference

SEAC Associate, Dr Nick Long conducted five weeks of fieldwork on Indonesia’s hypnotherapy industry this summer and convened a panel at the annual conference of the ASA (Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth). The panel was on the theme ‘When Psychotherapy Goes Awry: Theorising the Unexpected in Therapeutic Encounters’ and his paper was entitled ‘Erickson in the Postcolony: Hypnotherapists as Figures of Ambivalence in Indonesia’s Mental Revolution’.

SEAC Director met the Centre donors

SEAC Director Professor Hyun Bang Shin visited Singapore to meet Centre donors, Professor Saw Swee Hock at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and Mr Arvind Khattar, and to participate in the alumni event hosted by the Singapore LSE Trust and the Alumni Association of Singapore on 13 November 2018.

Prof Hyun Bang Shin appointed as LSE SEAC Director

Professor Hyun Bang Shin has commenced his directorship for SEAC on 01 August 2018. He is Professor of Geography and Urban Studies in the Department of Geography and Environment, and has been working on the critical analysis of the political economy of urbanisation with particular attention to cities in Asian countries such as Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, China and more recently, Ecuador. Click here for more information.

SEAC visit to Vietnam and Singapore in July 2018

In early July, SEAC conducted a successful research trip to Vietnam and Singapore, reconnecting with old partners and meeting new contacts at various universities and research institutes, including the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research, Vietnam National University, National University of Singapore, and the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. The SEAC team was also delighted to visit the Centre’s donors, Arvind Khattar and Professor Saw Swee Hock while in the region.

SEAC Associates have published new articles

Centre Associate Dr Kirsten E. Schulze (LSE International History) has written an article entitled, 'The Surabaya Bombings and the Evolution of the Jihadi Threat in Indonesia'. It was published by the Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point in the CTC Sentinel, and is available online here. Kirsten has also recently co-authored an article with Julie Chernov Hwang (Goucher College), 'Why They Join: Pathways into Indonesian Jihadist Organizations'. More.

Centre Associate Dr Nicholas J. Long (LSE Anthropology) has published a new article in Medical Anthropology Quarterly. It is entitled 'Accept and Utilise: Alternative Medicine, Minimality, and Ethics in an Indonesian Healing Collective', and explores cosmopolitan forms of alternative medicine which have become popular in Indonesia, with a focus on the activities alternative healers in central Java. More.

SEAC Associate Dr Allerton published a paper

SEAC Associate Dr Catherine Allerton (LSE Department of Anthropology) has recently had an article published in the Journal of Ethic and Migration Studies on child illegality in Malaysia, entitled 'Impossible Children: illegality and excluded belonging among children of migrants in Sabah, Malaysia'. The article is open access and can be read here.

SEAC Director spoke at the University of Turin

On Thursday 26th April 2018, SEAC Director Dr Jürgen Haacke spoke on 'China, the US and hedging in Southeast Asia' at the University of Torino, Italy. Dr Haacke's lecture was organised as part of the university’s TOChina Spring Seminars.

SEAC has two new Visiting Appointments

SEAC has welcomed two new Visiting Appointments. Dr Do Young Oh (Visiting Fellow) is a Researcher at LSE Cities and will be investigating the university-city relationship in Singapore and Vietnam in a post-colonial context. Daniel Peterson (Visiting Research Student) is a PhD candidate at Australian Catholic University, and will be working on his thesis which examines Indonesia's human rights legal framework and the rise of political Islam in the archipelago.

SEAC article on future UK-Southeast Asia relations

SEAC Director Dr Jürgen Haacke and SEAC Researcher John Harley Breen have co-written an article entitled, 'Steering UK–Southeast Asia Relations Post-Brexit'. The article unpacks the UK's longstanding security and economic interests in Southeast Asia, and explores the options available to the UK when its relationship with the region is no longer mediated through the European Union. The article appeared on the East Asia Forum this month, and is available on the SEAC Blog.

Second round of SEAC Research Fund awarded

Dr Ben Groom and Dr Charles Palmer (LSE Department of Geography and Environment) have been awarded a grant from the second round of the SEAC research fund for the project, 'The Palm Oil Concession Moratorium and its Spatial Impact on Deforestation', which will run until July 2019. The LSE SEAC Research Fund is a biennial grant available to LSE faculty and SEAC Associates to support social science research on Southeast Asia. More.

SEAC and UKABC hosted a 'Breakfast Briefing' on Cambodia

On Wednesday 21st February, SEAC co-hosted an 'ASEAN Breakfast Briefing' on Cambodia with the UK-ASEAN Business Council (UKABC). The briefing by H.E. Dr Soeung Rathchavy (Ambassador, Royal Embassy of Cambodia) and Trevor Sworn, (Chairman, British Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia) featured an overview of the current economic climate in Cambodia and the opportunities available to UK companies, followed by a roundtable discussion with business representatives from across London.

A Philippine delgation was welcomed to LSE

On Wednesday 14th February, SEAC welcomed several Filipino Supreme Court Justices and members of the academe on Competition Law and Economics to LSE. As competition law in the Philippines is in its early stages, the meeting offered an opportunity for a general discussion on legal policy and best practices. SEAC Associate, Prof James Putzel, chaired the meeting, which also benefited from the insights of Prof Ken Shadlen (LSE Department of International Development) and Dr Andriani Kalintiri and Dr Niamh Dunne (LSE Department of Law)

SEAC Associate had an article published

Associate Professor of International History, Dr Kirsten E. Schulze, has co-written an article with Prof Joseph Chinyong Liow (Nanyang Technological University and Dean of the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies). The paper, published in February, is entitled 'Making Jihadis, Waging Jihad: Transnational and Local Dimensions of the ISIS Phenomenon in Indonesia and Malaysia'. It examines the ISIS phenomenon in Indonesia and Malaysia and can be read here.

SEAC hosted its first Cove Sessions

On Friday 12th January, SEAC organised its inaugural Cove Session. The focus was the UK’s evolving Southeast Asia policy, led by Head of the Southeast Asia and Pacific Department at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office John Virgoe. On Thursday 18th January, SEAC organised a further session that examined the current state of ISIS in Indonesia. The speakers were: Sidney Jones (Director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict - IPAC), Nava Nuraniyah (Analyst at IPAC) and Solahudin (University of Indonesia).

SEAC hosted 'Militant Islamism in Southeast Asia' Workshop

On Friday 19th January 2018, SEAC hosted a workshop entitled, ‘Militant Islamism in Southeast Asia'. The workshop examined the recent evolution of militant Islamism in Southeast Asia by exploring the impact of the defeat of ISIS in the Middle East and returning Southeast Asian mujahedin, the take-over of Marawi in the Philippines by pro-ISIS jihadis, and rising religious politics and protest in the region. It focused specifically on Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and was attended by researchers, embassy staff and civil servants.

LSE SEAC engaged with student societies on campus

On Wednesday 22nd November, SEAC Associate Dr Kirsten Schulze chaired the panel discussion 'Indonesia: a democracy at the crossroads', hosted by the LSE Student Union's ASEAN Society and Indonesian Society. That evening SEAC Director Dr Jürgen Haacke also spoke at a special dialogue event organised by the School's oldest student society, The Grimshaw Club, entitled 'Southeast Asia: a region of contestation'.

LSE SEAC received a delegation from the Philippines

On Wednesday 25th October SEAC welcomed a high-level delegation from the Philippines to LSE. They were received by Dr Jürgen Haacke and SEAC Associate, Professor James Putzel. The meeting provided an opportunity to network and discuss current Philippine tax reform efforts, as well as a range of geopolitical issues.

LSE SEAC hosted His Excellency Dr Rizal Sukma for a public lecture

On Tuesday 17th October 2017, SEAC welcomed His Excellency Dr Rizal Sukma, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to the United Kingdom and Ireland, to give a public lecture. The Ambassador assessed Indonesia's role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The podcast and storify from the event are now available online.

myanmar-panel-october-2017

LSE SEAC hosted a panel event on armed conflict in Myanmar

On Friday 13th October, SEAC hosted a public panel discussion on the array of non-state armed groups in the borderland regions of Myanmar in collaboration with the LSE Global South Unit. The podcast and summary blog of the panel discussion are now available online.

UK-ABC-event

SEAC Director spoke at UK-ABC Business Forum

Dr Jürgen Haacke presented on a panel discussion about the prospects of ASEAN, with special reference to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), at the ASEAN@50 Business Forum on 11th October. More information and recordings of the event are available here.

LSE SEAC hosted a Hedging Workshop

On Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th of September, SEAC hosted a workshop entitled 'Hedging in International Politics: conceptualising and theorising Southeast Asia’s relations with major powers in comparative perspective'. Organised by Centre Director Jürgen Haacke, the workshop sought to take stock of the existing literature on ‘hedging’and to discuss ways to take forward new research on its practice.

Dr Jürgen Haacke was quoted in an article which appeared in Forbes

SEAC Director Dr Jürgen Haacke was quoted in an article which appeared in Forbes about how Britain is aiming to become more relevant in the Asia-Pacific.

Read the full article here.

Professor Tim Forsyth presented at the International Thai Studies Conference in Thailand

In June 2017, SEAC Associate Professor Tim Forsyth gave a presentation on environmental politics and the connection of local development problems with global climate policy in Chiang Mai. He also conducted interviews with environmental activists and visited sites of protests.

SEAC Director presented research on US-Myanmar foreign policy in Cardiff

Dr Jürgen Haacke presented ongoing research on foreign policy entrepreneurs and US-Myanmar policy at a workshop entitled, 'Foreign Policy Analysis and Public Policy: towards theoretical dialogue and integration' at the 4th European Workshops in International Studies (EWIS) from 7-10 June in Cardiff.

SEAC hosted a Staff Research Workshop

SEAC arranged a staff research workshop on 31 May. Similarly to our successful PhD workshop that took place in February, SEAC Associates and Visiting Fellows were invited to present their ongoing research papers or chapters to each other for cross-disciplinary feedback.

LSE SEAC organised its second LSE Southeast Asia Forum

The second LSE SEAF took place on Monday 22nd May 2017 and consisted of four expert panels plus a keynote lecture by H.E. Antonio Lagdameo, Ambassador of the Philippines to the UK. The full-day event was attended by resident embassy staff, policymakers, stakeholders in business and civil society, as well as researchers and students.

Dr Tim Andrews joins LSE SEAC as Visiting Senior Fellow

Dr Andrews, Associate Professor at Webster University (Thailand) has joined LSE SEAC as a Visiting Senior Fellow. While at SEAC, Dr Andrews will be working on his research project titled Understanding Base-of-pyramid Organizational Employees in Emerging Southeast Asia: Theoretical Advances and Practical Implications for Organizations and Society.

LSE SEAC Associate, Dr Schulze publishes new article on conflict in Indonesia

Dr Kirsten Schulze, Associate Professor in International History at LSE and LSE SEAC Associate, has published an article on the ethnic elements of communal conflict in Ambon, Poso, and Sambas, Indonesia. The piece from the Journal for Ethnic and Racial Studies is available to read here.

LSE SEAC hosts Prof Joseph Liow for a public lecture and seminar

On Monday 16th January, Professor Joseph Liow Chin Yong gave a talk based on his recently published book Religion and Nationalism in Southeast Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2016). The following morning, Prof Liow also participated in a closed research seminar with members of LSE SEAC and LSE PhD students.

The podcast of the public lecture is available here.

Dr Chris Chaplin joins LSE SEAC as Visiting Fellow

Dr Chaplin, postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), has joined LSE SEAC as a Visiting Fellow. While at the Centre, he will be working on his reserch project Salafism Reconsidered: Wahdah Islamiyah and the Promotion of Religiously Inspired Citizenship in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Dr Schulze attended the Jakarta Geopolitical Forum

SEAC Associate Dr Kirsten E. Schulze presented a paper entitled 'Pathways to Jihad' at the Jakarta Geopolitical Forum, organised by Indonesia’s National Resilience Institute Lemhannas from 18-20 May. The Forum gave geopoliticans, professionals and academics the opportunity to explore the impact of geopolitical change on national and regional resilience.

Dr Yap spoke at the University of Leiden

SEAC Associate Dr Felicia Yap presented at '"The Eurasian Question" in Comparative Perspective' at the University of Leiden on 12 April. The symposium focused on the bureaucratic and legal dimensions of decolonisation in Asia. Dr Yap's paper, 'At the Edge of Conflict and Empire', analysed the experiences of Eurasian communities in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia during WW2.

LSESU ASEAN Society wins Bronze at the SU Awards

Building on their Best New Society Award at the 2016 SU & STARS Awards, the LSESU ASEAN society has been awarded a Bronze Award at this year's awards on 20 March for bringing together students from ASEAN countries in a friendly and homely environment.

Dr Shin's field research in Singapore and Hanoi

SEAC Associate Dr Hyun Bang Shin carried out field research in Singapore and Hanoi between late March and early May. Supported by the LSE SEAC Research Fund, this research examined the circulations of real estate capital and urbanisms, looking at the practices of Singaporean and South Korean developers in Singapore and Vietnam.

Dr Jürgen Haacke attended the LSEAAS
Fund-Raising Gala Dinner in Singapore

SEAC Director Dr Jürgen Haacke attended a fund-raising gala dinner in support of the Singapore LSE Trust on March 31st, organised by the LSE Alumni Association of Singapore. The trust awards scholarships to outstanding Singaporean undergraduate students with a passion for social causes who need financial support to study at the LSE.

LSE SEAC Research Fund recipients are conducting fieldwork

Several LSE SEAC Research Fund recipients are currently on research trips related to their projects. Dr Shamel Azmeh has conducted interviews with officials working on US trade policy towards Vietnam, while Dr Kirsten Schulze and Dr Hyun Bang Shin are working in Indonesia and Singapore respectively.

Dr Kirsten Schulze presented a paper at the Association of Asian Studies in Toronto

SEAC Associate Dr Kirsten Schulze presented a paper on ‘The Ambon Jihad’ as part of a panel on jihadism in Indonesia at the Association of Asian Studies conference in Toronto on 17 March. Dr Schulze is currently analysing the Ambon conflict between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia with support from the LSE SEAC Research Fund.

Dr Hyun Bang Shin facilitated the LSESU and KCL ASEAN Societies' Hackathon

SEAC Associate Dr Hyun Bang Shin facilitated a Hackathon for students to engage with critical and timely issues in Southeast Asia. Throughout the day on 4 March, LSE and KCL participants discussed geopolitical, social, and economic factors being used to reshape regional connectivity in Southeast Asia.

Dr Jürgen Haacke gave a lecture at Royal Holloway on ASEAN

Our Director Dr Jürgen Haacke spoke at Royal Holloway's Southeast Asian Society event on 13 March about the region's economic and political landscape. As the event marked ASEAN's 50th anniversary, Dr Haacke discussed what ASEAN has achieved since its establishment.

Dr Kirsten Schulze published a new article on ethnic conflicts within Indonesia

SEAC Associate Dr Kirsten Schulze's latest article in the Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies compares the ethnic aspects of the communal violence in Ambon, Poso and Sambas in Indonesia. She discusses the impact and importance of global dynamics on local conflicts throughout Indonesian history.

Dr Chris Chaplin's article on Islamic identity and symbology in Indonesia's latest elections

As Jakarta headed to the polls, our Visiting Fellow Dr Chris Chaplin argues in an article for the New Mandala that evoking Islamic identity and the opportunistic use of religious symbols in this election has set a dangerous precedent for Indonesia’s democracy.

Dr Chris Chaplin spoke at SOAS book launch event

Our Visiting Fellow Dr Chris Chaplin was a discussant at the launch of Dr Michael Buehler's book The Politics of Shari'a Law on Monday 20th February at the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He spoke alongside Dr Sidney Jones, Director at the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict in Jakarta, Indonesia. Dr Buehler and Dr Chaplin will speak at the upcoming SEAC panel discussion on recent trends of Islamisation in Indonesia on Tuesday 14th of March at LSE.

BBC Indonesia's report of the event is available in Indonesian here.

Dr Chris Chaplin joins LSE SEAC as Visiting Fellow

Dr Chaplin, postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), has joined LSE SEAC as a Visiting Fellow. He has recently completed six months of ethnographic fieldwork in Makassar, South Sulawesi and will be working on his research project titled Salafism Reconsidered: Wahdah Islamiyah and the Promotion of Religiously Inspired Citizenship in Sulawesi, Indonesia while at SEAC.

Read Dr Nick Long's chapter on democracy in Indonesia in his co-edited book

If you are interested in political theory and democratic statecraft, read SEAC Associate, Dr Nick Long's chapter titled 'Why Indonesians Turn Against Democracy' in The State We're In: Reflecting on Democracy's Troubles, a book he edited with Joanna Cook and Henrietta L. Moore. Published in 2016, this book sets out an original theoretical model that explores the relations between democracy, subjectivity and sociality, and explains its relevance to different countries.

LSE SEAC welcomes three new Khattar Scholars

We are proud to welcome our three Khattar Scholars of the academic year 2016-2017 who, as recipients of the Khattar Scholarship, will be associated with LSE SEAC during their time at the LSE. The three scholars are Yunqian Agnes Chew (MSc Development Management, pictured), Lua Zheng Hao Darrell (MSc Finance and Private Equity) and Benjamin Tan Cheng Wei (MSc Management Science).

LSE SEAC Associate Hyun Band Shin at a talk about his book Planetary Gentrification

On 14th October, LSE SEAC Associate, Dr Hyun Bang Shin took part in the KOSMOS-Workshop “Universal Gentrification? Conceptional Challenges of Comparative Urbanism” at Humboldt University in Berlin where he introduced his recently published book Planetary Gentrification, co-edited with Professor Loretta Lees (University of Leicester) and Dr Ernesto López-Morales (University of Chile, Santiago).

Four LSE SEAC academics amongst recipients of the LSE's Excellence in Education Awards

Dr Catherine Allerton (Anthropology), Dr Jürgen Haacke (International Relations), Dr Nick Long (Anthropology, pictured) and Dr Kirsten Schulze (International History) have received the LSE's inaugural Excellency in Education Awards for their outstanding teaching contribution and educational leadership in their departments.

Prof James Putzel wrote an article on the Duterte administration in the Philippines

The article titled 'Can Duterte "populism" bring lasting peace, development?' by LSE SEAC Associate, Professor James Putzel was recently published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer and reposted in the LSE International Development blog.

Dr Jürgen Haacke speaks at the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies

On 14 September, LSE SEAC Director, Dr Jürgen Haacke visited the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies and gave a talk titled ‘The Relations of ASEAN States with Major Powers: Converging Strategies?

Dr Jurgen Haacke appointed as LSE SEAC Director

On 1st August, Dr Jurgen Haacke was appointed as Director of the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre, following Professor Danny Quah's move from the LSE to take up the position of Li Ka Shing Professor of Economics at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS.

Dr Haacke is Associate Professor in International Relations at the LSE, and was formerly an Associate of LSE SEAC. His regional expertise focuses in particular on the study of the security and international relations of Southeast Asia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Myanmar.

Dr Trude Jacobsen joins LSE SEAC as Visiting Senior Fellow

Dr Trude Jacobsen has joined LSE SEAC as a Visiting Senior Fellow. Dr Jacobsen is Associate Professor of Southeast Asian history at Northern Illinois University where she has also served as Assistant Director in the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. During her stay, she will participate in LSE SEAC activities as a speaker at upcoming seminars, including one on her second book, Sex Trafficking in Southeast Asia: A History of Desire, Duty, and Debt.

Stephen James join LSE SEAC as Visiting Research Student

Stephen James, PhD candidate in Cultural Anthropology at University of California, Riverside has joined LSE SEAC as Visiting Research Student for the summer 2016 period. During his stay, Stephen will carry out a multi-sited, longitudinal study of the migration patterns and experiences of Vietnamese refugees through the Vietnam-Hong Kong-London route. His biography is available here.

LSE Southeast Asia Forum 2016

Organised by LSE SEAC, the LSE Southeast Asia Forum (LSE SEAF) is a one day exclusive event, taking place on Friday 13th May 2016. It is a unique opportunity to engage with Southeast Asia's most critical issues, network with renowned experts on the region and encourage student participation in high-level debates. The inaugural LSE SEAF has been organised with the generous support of Professor Saw Swee Hock who will be attending the event and presented with a commemorative award during the opening remarks by Professor Paul Kelly, Pro-Director of LSE.

LSE SEAC's one year anniversary on 28th January 2016

One year ago, on 28th January 2015, LSE SEAC was launched with a public lecture AEC 2015: A Perspective From Business by Dato' Sri Nazir Razak. Since then we have organised various different events, ranging from public panel discussions to postgraduate workshops, as well as our LSE SEAC Seminar Series. A comprehensive list of our events in 2015 can be found here.

The LSESU ASEAN Society win Best New Society award

The LSESU ASEAN Society has been awarded the Best New Society award in the LSESU STARS and SU Awards Ceremony 2016. The award recognises the best student groups, campaigns and individuals who have contributed to LSESU over the past year or since their start.

Dr Shin participates in Bangkok Edge Festival

LSE SEAC Associate, Dr Hyun Bang Shin will take part in the inaugural Bangkok Edge Festival, Bangkok’s first ideas festival, on 13th and 14th of February. At the festival, he will examine the issue of gentrification, his area of expertise, through two panel discussions: Gentrification: Who Benefits? and What is the ‘new Asia’?. Dr Shin will also launch his newest book, Planetary Gentrification (2016) at the festival.

LSE SEAC Associate Dr Hyun Bang Shin appointed to the Board of Urban Studies Foundation

Congratulations to Dr Hyun Bang Shin, Associate Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at LSE, who has been appointed to the Board of Urban Studies Foundation (USF) as a Trustee in January 2016. USF is a charitable body established in 2008 aiming to advance postgraduate education and research in the field of urban studies. It also produces the journal Urban Studies.

Professor Saw bestowed with the Distinguished Alumni Leadership Award

Professor Saw Swee Hock, whose generous support made the establishment of LSE SEAC possible, was accepted the Distinguished Alumni Leadership Award from LSE Director, Professor Craig Calhounon 28th November 2015 at the LSE Asia Forum in Singapore. At the same event, panel discussions on the topics of Asian lessons of political openness and economic performance, ASEAN, and the meaning of genuine development also took place.

LSE SEAC Associate Dr Munir Majid chaired the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in November 2015

Top world leaders – Obama, Abe and Modi – spoke at the ASEAN Business & Investment Summit (ABIS) chaired by Tan Sri Dr Munir Majid, Chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, on 20th – 22nd November 2015. ABIS is ASEAN's premier annual Business and Investment event, providing a key platform for the business community to engage with ASEAN leaders and key decision makers, and to discussthe pressing issues which will affect the region's investment attractiveness and business potential.

LSE SEAC Associate Dr Jurgen Haacke's report published

Dr Jurgen Haacke, Associate Professor in International Relations at LSE, authored a report titled Myanmar and the United States: Prospects for a Limited Security Partnership, published by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. In the report, he examines developments in Myanmar–US relations under President U Thein Sein and the Obama administration since 2011 and Myanmar's efforts to improve bilateral relations with a range of international and regional powers.

LSE Asia Forum in Singapore on 28th November

The LSE Asia Forum in Singapore, part of LSE's 120th anniversary celebrations, will be organised on Saturday 28th November, 9am - 5pm. Don't miss out on this great opportunity to reconnect with the School, other alumni and friends of LSE - check out the event programme and book your tickets here. Additionally, find out what happened at the previous LSE Asia Forum, which took place on 17th October 2015 in Hong Kong, through the Storify slideshow.

LSE SEAC Associate Sylvia Chant named a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences

Congratulations to LSE SEAC Associate Professor Sylvia Chant from the LSE Department of Geography and Environment. She was among the 46 leading social scientists who were conferred the award of Fellow by the Academy of Social Sciences in October 2015. The Academy of Social Sciences is the national academy of academics, learned societies and practitioners in the social sciences. Its fellows are distinguished scholars and practitioners from academia and the public and private sectors, reviewed by a peer group as having contributed to social science more broadly than the normal demands of their job.

Will the 21st century be Asian?' debate with Professor Danny Quah

On 2nd November 2015, LSE SEAC Director Professor Danny Quah participated in a joint LSE SEAC - LSE IDEAS debate together with Professor Michael Cox and Dr Leslie Vinjamuri on whether the 21st century will be Asian. The event was chaired by LSE alum Tim Frost and the audience had a chance to ask questions via Twitter in addition to the regular Q&A.

The podcast and Storify slideshow are now available online.

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