ASEAN and U.S.A Launch 3rd Batch of Visiting Scholars

ASEAN, U.S. Launch 3rd Batch of Visiting Scholars

ASEAN
Jakarta, INDONESIA
Tuesday, 1st September 2015

ASEAN and the United States announced today ten new Visiting Scholars selected through the Fulbright U.S.-ASEAN Initiative.  The Visiting Scholars, representing all ten ASEAN Members States, will join a distinguished group of Fulbright alumni and conduct research in the United States for up to four months on a range of topics, including entomology, human rights, technology and innovation, sustainable development, climate change, and international law.

Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Political-Security Community, H.E. V P Hirubalan, congratulated the recipients and said that "this program will certainly go a long way in enhancing educational opportunities for ASEAN scholars."

At the launch event at the ASEAN Secretariat, Ambassador Nina Hachigian highlighted that the Fulbright U.S.-ASEAN Visiting Scholars program specifically aims to increase regional collaboration and partners with ASEAN to further themutual goal of a people-centered region.

Candidates submitted applications under the Fulbright U.S.-ASEAN Initiative on research projects that are central to the U.S.-ASEAN relationship. A review panel that included officials from the U.S. Mission to ASEAN, the ASEAN Committee of Permanent Representatives, and the ASEAN Secretariat, made recommendations to the Presidentially-appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board for consideration.

The Fulbright U.S.-ASEAN Initiative was announced by then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012 and marked over 35 years of friendship and cooperation between ASEAN and the United States.

This year’s scholars are:  

Dr. Tiong Hoo Lim, Senior Lecturer at Institut Teknologi Brunei

Mr. Sophany Phauk, Faculty Member at Royal University of Phenom Pehn, Cambodia

Dr. Abubakar Hara, Senior Lecturer at the University of Jember, Indonesia

Mr. Souksamone Pathammavong, Director at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Lao PDR

Dr. Mazlan Othman, Project Director at the Academy of Sciences Malaysia

Dr. Toe Toe Aung, Staff Officer at the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Forestry, Myanmar

Ms. Leslie Lopez, Research Associate Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Dr. May O. Lwin, Associate Dean & Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Dr. Suvaluck Satumanatpan, Associate Professor at Mahidol University,Thailand

Mrs. Dung Pham, Dean at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam