ASEAN Research Platform

To advance transdisciplinary research that integrates academic, governmental, and civil societies in a coordinated manner, we will create a collaborative research scheme that brings together the expertise of scholars on Southeast Asia, scientists and engineers, and the Japanese and ASEAN political and business communities.

This research platform emphasizes the establishment of new relationships, especially between Japan and Southeast Asia. Our primary objective is to firstly extract project-based or problem-solving “wisdom” from local realities. While taking full note that before applying a paradigm originating in the northern hemisphere to the south, we should prioritize local realities and focus on the production of new knowledge by learning from local researchers and practitioners on the basis of an equal partnership.

We are currently promoting two programs in the aim to build a collaborative research system.

1. Next-generation Formation Program

We will select excellent young researchers through an international open recruitment aiming at nurturing the next generation for trans and interdisciplinary research. Based on the young researchers’ own initiatives through participation in transdisciplinary humanosphere research, we will encourage them to advance their own research agendas as well as to plan and organize international workshops

The followings are two main international research programs that are promoted by young researchers.

1. Center for International Forestry Research: CIFOR
   “Enhancing climate-resilient livelihoods in boreal and tropical high carbon forests and peatlands”
   Daisuke Naito (Postdoctoral Fellow)　Duration: From 1 Oct 2017
2. Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research: APN
   Scientific Capacity Development Programme: CAPaBLE
   “Urban built environment and health: towards Sustainable Development Goals in the developing countries”
   Kwan Soo Chen (Postdoctoral Fellow)　Duration: From 1 Oct 2018 to 30 Sep 2019

2. ASEAN Local Initiative

We will support visits to Kyoto and collaborative research involving CSEAS staff with ASEAN researchers, NGOs, members of the business community, and administrative personnel. We ask that program participants conduct humanosphere research on their own initiative for a period of two years. In the first academic year, the researcher will be asked to bring the adopted research proposal to Kyoto for a brief visit to engage in exchanges with CSEAS and Kyoto University staff for capacity building and to conduct library research. At the end of the second year, when the research has been completed, we ask that the researcher present the findings at a joint seminar to be held in Kyoto and submit a draft paper (either by a single author or as a co-authored international paper).

The following two research projects were selected in the 2020 academic year.

1. Dr. Truong Quang Lam (Research Fellow, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture)
   Dr. Mai Thi Ngan (Lecturer, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture)
   “Development and evaluation of a new diagnostic system for controlling transboundary animal infectious diseases in Vietnam”
   CSEAS Counterpart: Prof. Wataru Yamazaki
2. Prof. Dr. Almasdi Syahza (Professor, LPPM Riau University)
   “Development of indicators to evaluate the impact of tropical peatland conservation projects on local communities”
   CSEAS Counterparts: Associate Prof. Osamu Kozan

The following two research projects were selected in the 2019 academic year.

1. Mr. Irendra Radjawali (IT analyst, The Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia)
   Akhwan Binawan（Director, NGO Hakiki)
   “Community Drone Academy and Collective Production of Knowledge”
   CSEAS Counterpart: Prof. Masaaki Okamoto
2. Dr. Ian A. Navarette (Professor, College of Agronomy, Food and Environmental Sciences, Southern Leyte State University)
   “Soil degradation and its socio-economic impacts on marginal upland communities in Southern Leyte, Philippines”
   CSEAS Counterparts: Associate Prof. Mario Lopez

The following two research projects were selected in the 2018 academic year.

1. Dr. Ardiana Ekawanti (Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, Mataram University)
   “Health protection from mercury posoning in artisanal gold mining in West Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia”
   CSEAS Counterpart: Associate Prof. Ryota Sakamoto
2. “A Collaborative Approach to Understanding Cross-Regional Mobilities in Timor”
   CSEAS Counterparts: Associate Prof. Julius Bautista and Andrey Damaledo (Postdoctoral Fellow)

The following two research projects were selected in the 2017 academic year.

1. Dr. Jayl Langub (World Wide Fund for Nature(WWF) Malaysia)
   “Trans-boundary Conservation Initiative in the Heart of Borneo: a View from Within”
   CSEAS Counterpart: Prof. Noboru Ishikawa
2. Dr. Chansathith Chaleunsinh (Independent Researcher)
   “Educational attainment and adult literacy in Laos: An evidence using data from Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)”
   CSEAS Counterpart: Prof. Fumiharu Mieno