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29 November 2011
PhD Conference Delves Into Regional Issues
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Dr Helen ES Nasadurai (right) and Dr Julian CH Lee listening to the keynote.
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Monash University Sunway campus hosted the first International Young Scholars Conference: Current Research on Southeast Asia from 14 to 15 November to discuss regional advances in the fields of politics, arts and culture.
The inaugural conference, held at Monash University’s campus in Bandar Sunway, featured presenters from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, among other countries.
“The conference served as a platform for PhD students to present and discuss their research on Southeast Asia before fellow researchers, academics and peers from various disciplines and universities,” said Dr Julian CH Lee of Monash University Sunway campus’ School of Arts and Social Sciences.
The conference was organised by the School’s doctorate students. |
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Dr Lee said that the conference was aimed at gathering minds to network on issues affecting the Southeast-Asian region.
“One of our aims was to create a community of young scholars who are working on social science issues in Southeast Asia. In addition to sharing knowledge, also important is forming personal links with fellow scholars which may later develop into collaborations,” said Dr Lee.
Professor Edmund Terence Gomez, who between 2005 and 2008 served at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in Geneva, and is currently a professor of political economy at the University of Malaya, delivered the keynote address, titled “Constructing Knowledge: Taking Scholarship in New Directions”.
He encouraged PhD scholars to engage in multi-disciplinary research and conduct comparative work.
“Don’t look at one country, look at a few. Different viewpoints will help improve your analysis,” he said.
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Professor Edmund Terence Gomez encouraged PhD students to be indepedent, question existing theories and develop new ones.
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Participants at the International Young Scholars Conference were encouraged to engage in multi-disciplinary research.
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The concern, Prof Gomez said, was the need to look at how research was conducted.
“As PhD students, you have to theorise, but you must also be critical of theories … theories help frame your analysis, but we have to be aware of the history of theories … Once we are shaped by problems and not theories, we will be better able to deal with the problem.”
Prof Gomez added that simply taking a theory and applying it to a problem would create new problems.
“Scholars need to develop new theories. Be independent and not be so conditioned by what theories, or your supervisor, says,” he said.
Acting Head of School Dr Helen ES Nesadurai, who officiated the conference, said the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Sunway campus was proud to host the conference.
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“The School began with one PhD candidate in 2006. This year we have 12, and we are proud of our research scholars,” she said, adding that she hoped the conference provided a platform for debate and reflection.
The two-day conference discussed issues in three categories: politics, government, law and international relations; culture, religion, gender and sexuality; and, media, literature and the arts.
Among specific issues discussed included transnational crime in Southeast Asia, social-political blogging in Malaysia, identity theft, foreign policy and diplomacy, and gender issues.
“This conference could not be more timely,” said Tan Meng Yoe, another PhD candidate and conference organiser, “because of some important discussions happening in the region, including for example, the establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.”
The second keynote speaker, Monash University Sunway campus’ resident ‘education futurist’ Dr Kathryn Chang Barker discussed the wider relevance of the PhD beyond academia.
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