The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (IAS @ UBD) recently held a seminar on “The Likely Very Strong 2026/27 EL Nino: Anticipating Hotter, Drier Conditions and Associated Impacts and Risks in Brunei Darussalam and Borneo” by Prof. Fredolin Tangang, FASS, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
Read More
The Institute of Asian Studies
The Institute of Asian Studies (IAS) at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) is committed to advancing research, fostering scholarly productivity, and stimulating intellectual exchange on Borneo and Southeast Asia at the crossroads of East and South Asia. Through its book series, seminars, working papers, workshops, and events, IAS brings together scholars and graduate students from the region and beyond to cultivate interdisciplinary dialogue and collaborative inquiry. It offers a dynamic hub for scholars and students alike to engage Southeast Asia’s rich historical, socio-cultural, and ethno-linguistic diversity, while critically addressing the region’s most pressing contemporary political, economic, and environmental challenges.
News & Events
Seminar on Innovation in Climate Policy in Cities and the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities
The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (IAS @ UBD) recently held a seminar on “Innovation in Climate Policy in Cities and the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities” by Prof. Jose Antonio Puppim de Oliveira, FGV EAESP & University of Manchester
Read More
Seminar on Student Migration: Transition from Privileged to Underprivileged Mobility?
The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (IAS @ UBD) recently held a seminar on “Student Migration: Transition from Privileged to Underprivileged Mobility?” by Dr Hong Sungah, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Read More
Working Paper on Intelligent Blue Frontiers: Digital Technologies and the Re-imagination of Coastal Urbanism in Brunei Darussalam
The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No. 92: Intelligent Blue Frontiers: Digital Technologies and the Re-imagination of Coastal Urbanism in Brunei Darussalam by Izni Azrein Noor Azalie. Please see below for details. Download the Working Paper Abstract: Small coastal-or blue-cities face a […]
Read More
Seminar on Tenuos Tenure: Regimes on Possession and Social Segregation in Urban India
The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (IAS @ UBD) recently held a seminar on “Tenuos Tenure: Regimes on Possession and Social Segregation in Urban India” by Professor Thomas Hansen, Stanford University.
Read More
New journal article on environment and planning by IAS researcher
Assistant Professor Sanjeev Routray recently published a journal article entitled “Articulations: Production and social reproduction in an industrial neighborhood of Delhi” in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. The paper examines the articulation of capitalist relations with caste, ethnic, gender, and spatial relations in context-specific ways, which not only produce a structure of domination […]
Read MoreStaff
The staff of IAS consists of researchers in the Institute and research fellows from across the University. While the main focus of the IAS staff is on conducting research and publishing, IAS researchers also regularly teach modules for such majors as Anthropology & Sociology and History & International Relations in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), as well as supervise graduate students in IAS, and both graduate and undergraduate students studying in programs in other faculties.
Scholarship
The core mission of the IAS staff is to engage in research and to publish.
These are some recent representative publications.
Carnegie, P. J. (2025). Contours of Precarity: A Perspective on Vulnerability and Insecurity in Southeast Asia. Pacific Affairs, 98(1): 103-120
Tritto, A., & Huang, R. L. (2025). Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in Myanmar: Investment Realization and Effects. In The Effects of Chinese FDI in Southeast Asia (pp. 141-165). Routledge.
Ho, H.M.Y. (2025). Contested homes in speculative futurities in Anglophone Bruneian fiction. Science Fiction Studies, 52(1), 95-114.
Koh, S.Y., & Yeoh, B. S. A. (2025). Post-2020 mainland Chinese student mobility to Malaysia: Trends and drivers. Asian Population Studies, 21(1), 33–45.
Mannion, N. L. M., Gaulton, R., Jamil, M. E., Pfeifer, M., Slik, J. W. F., Willis, S. G., & Franco, F. M. (2025). Hunting motivations, behaviour and forest access: Characterising wildlife hunting practices in a multi-ethnic, forested landscape of Brunei Darussalam, Southeast Asia. People and Nature, 00, 1–13.
Koh, S. Y. (2026). Enduring and emergent challenges to post/decolonising migration studies. In Migration Studies and the Decolonial Challenge (pp. 38-55). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Carnegie, P.J. (2026). Studying the Politics of Precarity in Southeast Asia. Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia. 59(1): 1-16.
Goh, C.S. (2026). Living beyond borders: The ambivalence of the Murut identities in Sabah and North Kalimantan. In Negotiating Belonging in Borneo: Narratives of Ambivalence ( X-X). Springer.
Goh, C.S. (2026). Negotiating Identity and Inequality: Internal Migration and Cross-Border Connections of the Lun Bawang in the Heart of Borneo. Asian Geographer. In Press.
Routray, S. (2026). Articulations: Production and social reproduction in an industrial neighborhood of Delhi. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 0308518X261437524.
Tritto, A. (2026). Statism and state activism in response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Indonesia and Malaysia’s approaches to developing the EV sector. Competition & Change, 30(1), 219-243.
Ho, H.M.Y. (2025). Breaking the silence: (Re)presenting mental health challenges in contemporary anglophone Malaysian and Bruneian fiction. In Decolonising comparative literature: Reading across Southeast Asian literatures (pp. 155-170). Springer.
Seminar Series
To exchange ideas with other members of the University community and the public, the IAS holds a regular seminar series.
Working Paper Series
The Institute also maintains a working paper series to highlight and disseminate the cutting-edge work of IAS researchers, UBD faculty, and other scholars working in and on the region.
Book Series
The Institute maintains a book series with academic publisher Springer on “Asia in Transition.”
Video Interviews
The Institute creates video interviews with IAS staff members, IAS research associates, UBD lecturers who research about Asia, and visitors to IAS who share their knowledge on topics ranging from the Belt and Road Initiative to Hornbills in Brunei.
Conferences
The Institute maintains productive relations with numerous international scholars and scholarly organizations.
Global Engagement
The Institute maintains productive relations with numerous international scholars and scholarly organizations.
