• Corporate & Public Programs
  • Dunlop Medal/Lecture
  • Dunlop Fellowships
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Current and Past Fellows
  • Corporate Sponsorship
  • Asialink Lectures
  • Corporate Networking Events
  • Business Briefings
  • National and International Forums
  • Cross Cultural Training
• Arts
• Leaders Program
• Community Health
• School Education
• Contact Us

• Contact Us
• |
• Search our Site

  

An award given annually to a young Australian committed to making a lasting contribution to Australia-Asia relations.

2009

One fellowship was awarded in 2009:

Dr Sam Prince

Founder, Emagine Foundation

In June 2009 Dr Sam Prince and colleague, foundation director, Stuart Cook, completed IT centres in 10 Sri Lankan schools. Their goal is 100 for Sri Lanka and in 2010 to shift the focus to Mexico.

Dr Sam Prince is 25. He is a practicing medical doctor, a budding documentary filmmaker, and has his own chain of Mexican restaurants, Zambreros, which he started in 2005. His story would be a surprising one if it stopped there. But Sam is also a philanthropist - a social entrepreneur channeling all profits from Zambreros into improving conditions for underprivileged children, currently in Sri Lanka, and expanding to Mexico in 2010. His E-magine Foundation funds IT infrastructure and training in remote and disadvantaged schools, as part of his ambition to reduce what he sees as a growing digital divide.

---

---

2008

2007

Jointly awarded to Ms Lia Kent and Mr Brendan Boucher

Ms Lia Kent

Researcher - University of Melbourne, Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law

Lia’s project was concerned with East Timor’s Commission for Truth Reception and Reconciliation (Commission), an independent statutory body in East Timor.

Her project focused on documenting the experience and views of those who have testified before the Commission and interviewed the reconciliation panel members, Commission staff and government representatives at district and national level.

The project aimed to document lessons, both positive and negative, in order to provide recommendations to assist the Commissions’ future work as well as provide useful insights to other societies considering appropriate mechanisms to assist them recover from periods of political violence.

Mr Brendan Boucher

Coordinator & Manager - Cambodian Rural Development Team

Brendan’s project implemented an environmentally sustainable rural development package that sought to dramatically improve the living standards of the most impoverished and remote subsistence farmers.

The project centered around the installation, construction and provision of biodigesters, pump wells, fruits and vegetable gardens. When used in combination the rural development packages provided a catalyst to break the local cycle of poverty.

The project aimed to increase disposable incomes by replacing wood fuel, coal purchases and transportation costs, improve rice harvest quantity and the quality of yields (village/local benefits); enhance farming techniques, conserve local fauna and prevent soil erosion (direct district benefits); and improve and protect the natural environment and contribute to poverty alleviation (indirect national benefits).

---

go to top of page

---

2002/3

Jointly awarded to Brendan Ross and Sangeetha Chandra Shekeren

Mr Brendan Ross

Mining Advocacy Research Assistant for Oxfam Community Aid Abroad

Brendan's project focused on "Indigenous Communities and Mine closure: A case study of the Kelian Gold Mine".

Mines nearing the end of their operation life in the Asia Pacific Region, have created enormous human rights, socio-economic and environmental challenges for communities, governments and the miming industry. Limited research has been undertaken as to what this means for communities living near the mines and how they should deal with it. Brendan researched, recorded and documented the preparedness of the community for mine closure at the Rio Tino/PT Kelian Equatorial Mining Gold Mine in East Kalimantan, Indonesia and provided the communities impacted by the mine with realistic information on the potential impact of mine closure obtained through other mine closures.

Brendan assisted in formulating methods to achieve the best possible outcome for the communities impacted by the Kelian mine closure process and developed recommendation for mine closure processes that respect human rights, paying particular attention to gender issues and indigenous rights.

Ms Sangeetha Chandra Shekeren

Research and Policy Officer (Sexual Offences Reference) for the Victorian Law Reform Commission

Sangeetha's project involved working with two organizations based in Jakarta, the National Commission on Violence Against Women and the Women's Justice Section of the Legal Aid Institute. She shared some of her experiences of the benefits of working with police to protect women from violence and also learned about the unique problems facing women reporting sexual assault in Indonesia.

The primary benefit of Sangeetha's project was an enhanced understanding of the challenges facing the Indonesian legal system in dealing with violence again women and links built within Indonesian civil society working on the reform of the legal system. Legal agencies throughout the region benefited greatly from a constructive dialogue on democratic reform and governance.

Jointly awarded to Michael Crestani and Lauren Bain

Mr Michael Crestani

PhD researcher at the University of Melbourne

Michael’s project was an ethnography of a community of agricultural scientists in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. It was about many things: how researchers understand what they do as opposed to how it may be represented; how the Institute sees itself in relation to modernity and change; and the different sciences - academic, State and commercial - each with their peculiar rewards, traditions and rituals. What of the next ‘generation’ of researchers? How is their work gendered? What of a socialist or Asian science? Do the social aspects of ‘the project’ and ‘the experiment’ influence them as fact generating spaces? The work sought to capture the voices of a little heard of community in considering what is Vietnamese about the agricultural sciences today. One chapter focusesed on farmers and the Institute. Farmers and the farming life are central to Institutional ideology and its mandate. Their relationship presents as an interesting social space, inscribed with meanings, that nobody calls home.

While farmers are often depicted as a disempowered and needy collectivity, and not least by their research partners, the lives of scientists largely remain a mystery outside the collegial and familial circles in which they move. This becomes all the more fascinating when one considers the ultimately public and influential nature of their work. Agricultural scientists can be partly credited with shaping notions of progress, tradition and value in their societies. To date anthropologists have focused on hi-tech fields (the ‘new’ biology, particle physics, information systems), and then ostensively in Western settings. Surprisingly little work has been done with scientists in societies of strikingly different cultural and political traditions, much less the more ‘humble’ agricultural sector. This research is new for Vietnam and the agricultural sector more broadly. It is best considered basic research - conclusions are those the reader finds meaningful.

Ms Lauren Bain

PhD researcher at the University of Tasmania and a tutor in the Politics Department at the University of Melbourne.

Lauren undertook her Fellowship project in partnership with the Kelola Foundation in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, researched and developed initiatives in the area of cultural policy. This built on work which Lauren had done with the Kelola Foundation over a prior eighteen month period.

Lauren: "The Cultural Policy project contributed to the building of an Indonesian society which is tolerant of difference, confident in its plurality and supportive of creativity. Central to the Cultural Policy Project was the idea that 'culture' is inseparable from the debate about the development of civil society in Indonesia. She worked with communities and provincial governments in several provinces in Indonesia to begin the process of articulating a cultural policy agenda at the local level".

With a relatively new government and Cabinet in place and various key reforms underway, the timing was right for Lauren's project. She said "our fear is that if we do not act soon, the momentum of change will be lost and a return to a government imposed and Jakarta - centric approach to cultural 'development' becomes more likely".

---

go to top of page

---

2000/1

William Young

PhD researcher at The University of Melbourne, consulting engineer, and Director of Project Management Services Pty Ltd.

William's fellowship was carried out over a nine-month period in Indonesia and Vietnam, where he identified strategic ways to improve the management of engineering projects in these countries. William was a strong advocate of the huge benefits of effective management and how it can help governments, communities, corporations and individuals transform ideas into fruitful outcomes. His project addressesed the need for effective management training in the developing regions of Asia. Two areas that were targeted in his project were the institutional strengthening of professional engineering and engineering management associations, and the development of widespread educational programs both at University and industry practitioner level.

William shared the knowledge and findings of his PhD research "Engineering Project Management in developing countries - focused on the Republic of Indonesia and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" with those most capable of implementing recommendations, namely leaders in the engineering and business sectors. He facilitated discussion with key local participants; conducted practical workshops; and helped develop vision, strategies and networks to enable the process to be sustainable.

---

go to top of page

---

1999

John Dore

Phd candidate, The Australian National University

Fellowship Project Outline:
John's fellowship addressed resolving one of the most critical issues facing Southeast Asia into the future - the management of water resources.

John undertakook a detailed analysis of transboundary organisations involved in the management of the Mekong River Basin including the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The project contributed to international cooperation between the six sovereign nations with the Mekong River Basin, namely Cambodia, Yunnan Province in China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.

As the project's Research Manager, John worked with the World Resources Institute and Stockholm Environment over a five-year period.

---

go to top of page

---

1998

Ms Hazel Lang

Phd candidate, Department of International Relations at The Australian National University

Fellowship Project Outline:
The Future of the Burmese Refugees in Thailand

Hazel's project was an extension on her doctoral work, and looked at prospects for the Burmese refugees along the Thai-Burma border. Hazel gathered the perspectives of the broad spectrum of organisations and governments involved in resolving the situation, including the Thai civil and military authorities, the Burmese authorities, the UNHCR, indigenous refugee committees, the consortium of non-governmental organisations working for the refugees and displaced people. She reviewed prospects for the future in view of each of these, and incorporated the principles of international refugee protection and future peace building in Burma.

Some 115,000 displaced Burmese live in Thai-based camps. The first camps were established in 1984 when some 10,000 displaced people were unable to return to their homes in Burma following the dry-season military campaign in their hometowns. Whilst some refugees have been repatriated, Thailand has become a long-term host for the refugees and is eager to see a solution to their plight. There is substantial pressure for the refugees to return to Burma and since 1995 cross-border raids have made shelter in the camps increasingly difficult and dangerous.

Hazel has spent considerable time in the past visiting the Thai-Burma border and is personally involved in the issue at a community level. The results of her project will inform policy makers and those charged with responsibility for determining the future of the refugees.

Mr David O'Brien

Lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, The University of Melbourne
David works as a volunteer designer for projects funded by Australian aid organisations including Ausaid.

Fellowship Project Outline
Low Income Housing in rural Thailand

David aimed to develop housing prototypes for low-income families in Buri Ram Province, Southeastern Thailand. Buri Ram is one of the least developed provinces in Thailand. His project responded to environmental, climatic, economic and cultural needs of rural Thai communities.

Depletion of timber used in the construction of traditional wooden housing, has resulted in contemporary houses being constructed of concrete blocks, that does not engage with the traditional climatic, environmental and cultural housing typology. This in turn has had substantial impact on rural lifestyles. David developed alternatives to traditional wooden and contemporary concrete housing and empowered rural communities through innovative and appropriate architectural design.

David conducted research and development in collaboration with Silpakorn University and Population and Community Development Association, a local NGO chaired by Khun Mechai Viravaidya that undertakes projects aimed at strengthening rural communities. Once developed, these housing prototypes may be able to be used in other countries in the region.

---

go to top of page

---

1997

Ms Robyn Slarke

Paralegal trainer

Robyn drew on her experience of several years in running paralegal training for village women in Papua New Guinea. Her projec aimed to give women the ability to understand and utilise, where necessary, legal avenues for protection against domestic violence in PNG.

Ms Sue Downie

Journalist and author

Sue conducted training for journalists in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. She focused on the reporting of environmental, health and gender issues and also encompassed human rights and journalism ethics. Her project aimed to upgrade the skills of experienced journalists and information officers in Indochina and to encourage closer links between journalists in these countries and Australia.

---

go to top of page

---

1996

Ms Kate McGregor

Doctoral candidate, The University of Melbourne

Researched the representation of the Indonesian military and its heroes found in museums, films, monuments, oral history, and military historical works. Also interviewed military figures and examined how the military view themselves and how they wish the public to see them.

Mr Dave Burrows

Deputy Director for Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations

Worked with a number of projects in India assisting in the planning and providing of educational initiatives for AIDS and HIV prevention. This is based on work done in Australia and Manila with injecting drug users. Attending the 4th International Conference on AIDS in Manila.

---

go to top of page

---

1995

Mr David Kilkullen

Researched a case study of the development of local government infrastructure and political culture in West Java, Indonesia following a period of twenty-eight years of war and insurgency.

Mr Peter Bartu

Doctoral candidate
Researched the campaign history of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in Cambodia between 1991 and 1993.

---

go to top of page

---

1994

Ms Sophie McIntyre

Masters candidate, Dept. of Fine Arts , The University of Sydney

Language study and research into contemporary Taiwanese art post-1980 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Ms Jenny Ann Lee

Doctoral candidate, Dept of Farm Animal Medicine & Production, The University of Queensland

Epidemiological study of smallholder pig production in the Philippines.

---

go to top of page

---