Pursuing top-tier research
12 November 2024
by Hizkia Yosias Simon Polimpung
School of Arts and Social Sciences
1. Tell us about this scholarship.
The Graduate Research Excellence Scholarship (GRES) is a scholarship awarded to pursue a PhD degree at Monash University Malaysia, and it is given to candidates on a competitive basis. Recipients of this award benefit from a full-tuition waiver, a monthly stipend, a one-off laptop subsidy, and a highly supportive academic environment.
2. In what ways do you believe this scholarship aligns with your academic and career aspirations?
I always treasure proper academic research that contributes to the development of knowledge, mankind, and civilisation in general. However, the research and consulting industry, both in business and government settings, where I spent my professional life for the past ten years, did not value academic endeavour that much in their hasty demand for practical recommendations. Over time, I felt my academic intuition becoming dull the longer I stayed in the industry, where my aspiration of science for mankind evaporated more and more into profit and political calculations, while my research endeavour was gradually being reduced to a career and survival strategy. This scholarship provides an escape pod for me to retreat from my professional life, allowing me to refine my conceptual foundation and realign my priorities. And who knows, I might get a proper academic job after completing this scholarship.
3. What motivated you to pursue this particular scholarship opportunity?
GRES enables me to pursue my academic aspirations in a world-class university conveniently located within a reachable and affordable distance from my home country, Indonesia. As the oldest child in a working-class family with aging parents, I would prefer to be in a place where I do not have to cross a continent and break the bank to get back home in urgent situations. Most importantly, with GRES, I can work on my research with great and serious intellectuals with whom I have been eager to work for quite some time.
4. In what ways has the scholarship played a role in shaping your overall university experience?
Leaving a relatively comfort zone in terms of the work ecosystem and financial support has always been difficult. With GRES, the scholarship and the Monash University Malaysia community have facilitated a smooth transition.
5. Are there specific challenges or milestones that stand out as crucial to your growth?
Publishing articles in my favourite academic journals and a book manuscript with a top publishing house in my field are crucial to my growth. Accomplishing these will rekindle my passion for the academic world and open up future growth trajectories.
6. Highlight of current research.
My research looks at the implications of state involvement in the advancement of new technologies on the nature of geopolitics and geoeconomics. By studying the dynamics of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies in the Southeast Asian digital economy, especially in the monetary realm, and their subsequent iterations at the regional level through ASEAN, I aim to highlight how the inter-state dynamics are determined, to a great extent, by the dynamics at the societal level. That being said, one unique contribution I wish to propose through my research is a new account of international relations and macroeconomic policy coordination that emphasises the agency of the ordinary people, which hitherto has been rendered grossly unintelligible by the excessive fixation on the agentive role of governments, central banks and/or big capital and corporations in the discipline, both among mainstream and critical approaches. I believe that to realise the vision of ASEAN as a people-centred community, academics must start with a people-centred analysis.
7. Drawing from your experience, what advice would you give to students considering applying for scholarships?
For starters, only apply for a scholarship, especially one with a competitive nature like GRES, with a clear research idea and academic outputs in mind. Unlike commonly perceived by most scholarship hunters, a clear research idea spans beyond merely a topic of interest. The scholarship committee looks for research with a clear theoretical contribution to the literature and a convincing trajectory of intervention in the ongoing debate in the field. Prospective students will also want to align their research with the values and research agenda of the university or school they are applying to, thereby increasing the chance of a successful application. As for the academic outputs, a clear outline of what and when to produce or publish during the study will convince the committee that you can manage your time and resources, making the scholarship productive.