Our People - SEAI

I was delighted to be appointed Director of the Southeast Asia Institute from August 2022, and am very excited to be working with colleagues across the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific and other parts of the University to advance and amplify research collaboration and research-based engagement among our many Southeast Asian specialists.

One of my tasks was to bring greater focus to the Institute’s organisation. We now have a Working Committee as the main leadership group for the Institute. This as a small group of ANU colleagues who have existing research interests and agendas centred on different aspects of Southeast Asian studies, and who have kindly volunteered time and energy to pool our ideas, efforts and networks towards a program of work. Since 2025, we have been fortunate to have had Dr Nicholas Chan taking on the responsibilities of Deputy Director of the Institute.

The Working Committee is also grateful for the warm support of the Institute’s Advisory Board.

To generate greater strategic focus in the Institute’s contributions, the Southeast Asia Institute has prioritised initiatives and activities that:

• Develop explicitly regional approaches to the region, including comparative studies. Our endeavours complement the country-focused efforts of other ANU Regional Institutes; and
• Emphasise the theme of security, broadly-defined. This includes geopolitics and military security, but also the nexi between economics and security, development and security, environment and security, domestic politics and regional security, and ‘non-traditional’ security issues such as climate change, technological challenges, etc.

For 2026, we have adopted the theme of “SEAI in and with Southeast Asia”, reflecting our commitment to deepening our meaningful engagement with Southeast Asian colleagues, scholarship, and partners. We also commit to supporting ANU scholars in region-based research. This year, the Working Committee is supported by our new SEAI Assistant, Jascha Ramba.

I look forward to expanding our membership base and engagement activities across ANU and with our partners in Southeast Asia, and in government, policy, media, and other non-academic communities.