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 is to bring greater focus to the Institute’s organisation. To this end, I am convening a Working Committee as the main leadership group for the Institute. As the name suggests, I envisage this as a small group of scholars who have existing research interests and agendas centred on different aspects of Southeast Asian studies, who have time, energy and desire to pool our ideas, efforts and networks towards a program of work. I do not expect that any Working Committee can be comprehensive, but I would very much like to select on the basis of colleagues’ interest and availability. 

To generate greater strategic focus in the Institute’s contributions, for 2023-24, the Southeast Asia Institute will prioritize initiatives and activities that: 

• Develop explicitly regional approaches to the region, including comparative studies. Our endeavours will complement the country-focused efforts of other ANU Regional Institutes; and 

• Emphasize the theme of security, broadly-defined. This will include 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. 

I am delighted to be cooperating closely with seven CAP colleagues on the Institute’s Working Committee to deliver our program of work for these two years. We are also grateful for the warm support of seven colleagues on the Institute’s new Advisory Board. 

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. 

Evelyn Goh FBA FASSA