ASEAN Foundation selects 17 science and technology fellows

ASEAN Foundation selects 17 science and technology fellows

Source:  ASEAN Secretariat News

JAKARTA, 27 June 2018 – The ASEAN Foundation, in partnership with ASEAN Secretariat and the U.S. Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has announced 17 scientists selected as 2018/2019 ASEAN Science and Technology (S&T) fellows.

The scientists come from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. They were selected for their track record of achievements and potential to advance science-based policy-making in ASEAN.

The ASEAN S&T Fellowship provides opportunities for early- and mid-career scientists from ASEAN Member States to apply their knowledge and analytical skills to solving public policy challenges.

Fellows are embedded in line ministries or other agencies within their home countries for a year to boost these agencies’ technical capacity to make informed, data-driven policy decisions to address intractable issues facing the region. They will devote their time, knowledge and skills to encourage policymakers to use more science-based approaches in their policy- and decision-making. The fellowship adheres to the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science, Technology and Innovation 2016-2025 by focusing on three of its priorities: climate change; sustainable energy; and science, technology, and innovation policy.

The ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology selected fellows through a process involving experts from the ASEAN Member States, ASEAN Secretariat Science and Technology Division, USAID and the U.S. Mission to ASEAN. The fellows’ first activity will be to attend an orientation and workshop from 25 to 30 June 2018, in Jakarta.

The fellows of 2018/2019 ASEAN S&T Fellowship are as follow.

• Dr. Andery Lim of Brunei Darussalam

Dr. Lim obtained his Ph.D. from the Universiti Brunei Darussalam, where he worked as a research assistant. Dr. Lim’s research focuses on sustainable energy, more particularly on solar cells technology. He serves as a reviewer to a number of international Journals. He assisted Brunei National Energy Research Institute’s chief researchers with data collection as an intern in 2013

• Dr. Kong Chhuon of Cambodia

Dr. Kong Chhuon is the Head of Research Unit Water and Environment at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. During his doctoral research, he assessed the carrying capacity of available water resources for meeting water demands for daily life, agriculture, energy development and environmental protection using the watershed approach in Cambodia. His fields of specialization are environmental hydrology and inland water ecology.

• Dr. Fidero Kouk of Cambodia

Dr. Fidero Kuok is the dean of the Faculty of Chemical and Food Engineering at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia in Phnom Penh where he leads and oversees research activities and teaching for genetics, waste management, and research methodology courses. He also leads a working group focusing on ecological intensification and soil ecosystem functioning and another working group focusing on environmental conservation for Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake.

• Dr. Muhammad Makky of Indonesia

Dr. Makky is an associate professor at Andalas University. He has also served as a visiting professor at various universities in Japan, the Netherlands and Greece. He is currently a coordinator at the Andalas University Center for Quality Assurance for Research and Community Services. He also works as an advisor and consultant for oil-palm companies in Indonesia.

• Dr. Ahmad Agus Setiawan of Indonesia

Dr. Setiawan is an assistant professor in renewable energy systems and planning at the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada. In addition, Dr. Setiawan is a clean energy specialist for the World Bank on Improving Energy Delivery Project at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for National Energy Policy. He is currently contributing to the formulation of draft  Local Government Regulations for Renewable Energy for Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia.

• Dr. Vimontha Khieovongphachanh of Laos

Dr. Khieovongphachanh is the head of Information Technology Division at the Department of Computer Engineering and Information Technology at the National University of Laos. She also holds managerial roles in the ITSD and Software Development Projects. Besides various international trainings and workshops, Dr. Khieovongphachanh published research on optic and image processing.

• Dr. Sengphet Keokangdong of Laos

Dr. Keokangdong is the head of the division of Materials Science and Applied Mechanics at the National University of Laos. His area of interest is materials science engineering and Technology. Dr. Keokangdong has produced major research publications on ceramic and clay material. He received a doctorate in 2014 from the School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, University of Science Malaysia.

• Dr. Haslenda Hashim of Malaysia

Dr. Hashim is the deputy director of the Process Systems Engineering Center and the head of the Green Energy and Environmental Planning Research Group at the Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, University of Technology Malaysia. Her research activities focus on energy and environmental planning, low-carbon society, renewable energy and resource conservation. Dr. Haslenda also provides trainings and technical consultancy services to industry and government agencies.

• Dr. Hazlina Selamat of Malaysia

Dr. Selamat is the director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Technology Malaysia and the Director and Co-Founder of Apt Touch Pte. Ltd. With a team of control engineers, she co-founded the Malaysian Society for Automatic Control Engineers. Dr. Selamat’s principal areas of interest are adaptive control, system identification and modelling as well as artificial intelligence.

• Dr. Thein Min Htike of Myanmar

Dr. Htike is an associate professor at the department of Mechanical Engineering, Yangon Technological University. Dr. Htike conducts research on small-scale wind turbines for rural electrification and also manages a project promoting wind energy and disseminating wind energy technologies to concerned personnel with the support of Mekong-ROK Cooperation Fund 2017.

• Dr. Kay Lwin Tun of Myanmar

Dr. Tun is an associate professor at the University of Yangon. Her research interests are in sustainable aquaculture development and pathogenicity of fish and shellfish, especially those infecting commercially important wild and cultured fish and those that are important for the aquaculture industry in Myanmar.

• Dr. Joey D. Ocon of The Philippines

Dr. Ocon is a tenured assistant professor and scientist at the University of the Philippines Diliman. As an S&T Fellow, Dr. Ocon will work with the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development to update their research and design roadmaps and harmonize this portfolio with renewable energy, energy storage and other alternative energy technologies.

• Dr. Michael Angelo B.  Promentilla of The Philippines

Dr. Promentilla is the head of the Waste and Chemicals Management Unit of De La Salle University’s Center for Engineering and Sustainable Development Research. Dr. Promentilla has over five years of research experience on decision modeling and risk analysis as it relates to environmental and energy systems. He is the founding head of the Geopolymer and Advanced Materials Engineering Research for Sustainability Lab.

• Dr. Nuwong Chollacoop of Thailand

Dr. Chollacoop is the head of Renewable Energy Laboratory at National Metal and Materials Technology Center under Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development Agency. Dr. Chollacoop has over a decade of research experience in sustainable mobility with a focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency in the land transport sector. His work on biodiesel upgrading technology has been adopted in Thailand’s Alternative Energy Development Plan (2015-2036). Recently, he is a founding member of Thailand’s Electric Vehicle Association..

• Dr. Nipon Pisutpaisal of Thailand

Dr. Pisutpaisal is an Associate Professor in Environmental Technology at King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok. With long experiences and strong skills in science & technology, particularly in renewable energy research, he will promote the competitiveness in the science & technology innovation and entrepreneurship in ASEAN region through the engagement of the government decision-making processes of the waste-to-energy proposal

• Mr. Dung Duc Tran of Vietnam

Mr. Dung Duc Tran is a doctoral candidate of Hydrology and Water Resources Management Group at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Previously, Mr. Tran served as Deputy Head of Division and a researcher of Division of Western Pacific Resources for Southeast Area and adjacent areas. He has also served as key researcher at the Centre of Water Resources Management and Climate Change at the Ho Chi Minh National University. His research interests are geographic information systems and remote sensing as applied to water science and hydrological and hydraulic modelling.

• Dr. Nguyen Trinh Minh Anh of Vietnam

Dr. Nguyen Trinh Minh Anh lectures at the Nong Lam University, University of Agriculture and Forestry. His research focuses on the convergence of human cultures (particularly inter-ethnic group dynamics), natural resources and the environment. He completed his doctorate degree in Environmental Science at Okayama University, Japan, in 2016, with a dissertation entitled “Transformation of ethnic minorities’ society in Central Vietnam – Livelihood negotiation during the transition from moral economy.”

To learn more about the ASEAN S&T Fellowship, follow @ASEANFoundation, @USMission2ASEAN, and #ASEANSTFellow2018 on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.