Graduate Students
Zhao Kaili
Zhao Kaili is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. She holds a BA in Cultural Industry Management from Nanjing University of the Arts and has completed an MA in ASEAN studies at Guangxi Minzu University where she conducted a research on the Chinese temple in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. She is currently also a part-time research assistant at Brunei Research Center at the College of ASEAN Studies, Guangxi Minzu University, China. Her research focuses on Belt and Road Initiatives, Chinese FDIs in ASEAN, and Chinese communities in Brunei Darussalam.
Duong Van Bien
Duong Van Bien is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Bien is also a researcher (on leave) at the Institute for Religious Studies (IRS) of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) based in Vietnam. His background is in religious studies and philosophy. For the PhD program, he is researching the topic of the the localization of religion in Vietnam.
Lengga Pradipta
Pradipta is a PhD student at the Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Previously, she was a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). Her expertise is focused on environmental justice and governance, followed by gender issues.
She has published articles in peer-reviewed national and international journals. In 2015, she also authored a book about resilient villages with Australian Aid funding. In her spare time, she likes to contribute her thoughts to scientific platforms like LautSehat.ID, Mongabay, The Conversation, Asia Blogs, SHAPE – SEA, Modern Diplomacy and New Naratif.
Pradipta’s Ph.D. research is focusing on indigenous women in Kalimantan, Indonesia and their engagement with palm oil plantations as informal laborers. She will shed light on how indigenous women face the livelihood transformation from agroforestry to plantations, which also involves issues of women’s rights.
Napak Serirak
Napak Serirak is a PhD student at the Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. He received his BA in Economics and MA in Anthropology both from Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand. He was a lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology at the Prince of Songkla University, Pattani, Thailand.
Being trained as an anthropologist with an interest in historical research, his current research is situated at the juncture between environmental history and political ecology.s in religious studies and philosophy. For the PhD program, he is researching the topic of the the localization of religion in Vietnam.
