The First Regional Leadership Forum in Research Governance on Supporting Sustainable Research Ecosystems in Higher Education Institutions in the GMS and Timor-Leste
SEAMEO RIHED and the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences organised the First Regional Leadership Forum in Research Governance on Supporting Sustainable Research Ecosystems in Higher Education Institutions in the GMS and Timor-Leste, On 12-14 September 2022 at Asia Hotel Bangkok, Thailand, with the support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
The First Regional Leadership Forum in Research Governance was joined by 25 senior leaders overseeing the research strategies or affairs at their respective universities to collectively explore issues and approaches to strategic agenda setting in research governance. Assistant Professor Dr. Romyen Kosaikanont, Center Director of SEAMEO RIHED and Professor Dr. Peter Mayer, Project Director and Professor, Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, jointly opened the Forum and introduced university senior leaders to the project’s objectives, intervention mechanism and how it is going to contribute to SEAMEO RIHED’s efforts of redefining a common space in higher education toward a sustainable future of in Southeast Asia. This was followed by Welcoming Remarks from Professor Dr. Than Zaw Oo, Deputy Director-General Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Myanmar who offered perspectives on how this project would greatly strengthen sustainable research ecosystems in the Greater Mekong Subregion and Timor-Leste. In his Welcome Remarks Mr. Hans-Ulrich Südbeck, Deputy Chief of Mission, German Embassy Bangkok, on behalf of the government of Germany, also expressed his country’s strong commitment to support research in higher education and its role in the sustainable development of Southeast Asia.
Group Photo: 25 university leaders, guests of honour and project experts
The forum provided a collaborative platform for 25 institutional decision makers to discuss and work together on enhancing research governance over the next 4 years of the project. It started by information exchange among 25 delegates through a Gallery Walk session where they learned each other’s research vision/mission/priorities, areas of research priorities and excellence. The Forum continued with series of keynote speech, panel discussion and group sharing on various topics of national research development policies, institutional responses to climate change and good practices. The 25 university senior leaders also visited Chulalongkorn University and Siam University to explore different research governance models, exchange ideas on research strategic planning and initiate potential collaboration in the near future. The latter part of the Forum focused on each senior leader’s making Research Development Action Plan (R-DAP) for his/her respective university, with the support of project experts from both Southeast Asia and Germany, marking the first step of developing a research ecosystem at regional level.
Photo: 25 university leaders work on their Research Development Action Plan (R-DAP)
The senior leaders of 25 universities of the Greater Mekong Subregion and Timor-Leste remains strongly committed to enhance research governance at their respective institutions through sharing and learning, support each other and explore various forms of potential collaboration toward contributing to a sustainable future in the region. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to our guests of honour, guest speakers, all project experts from Southeast Asia and Germany to support designing and facilitating the activities and special thanks to 5 member universities of the project: King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, Mae Fah Luang University, Thuyloi University and University of Transport and Communication for kindly hosting 5 research groups of the Researcher Exchange Programme in November 2022. SEAMEO RIHED will continue to be a regional partner and facilitate collective efforts toward redefining a common space in higher education and contributions to sustainable development of Southeast Asia.
As a part of SEAMEO RIHED’s Programme on Capacity Enhancement for Collective Learning and Continuous Development of Higher Education Institutions in the SEAMEO Region, the Project Horizon Southeast Asia: Pushing the Frontiers of Research and Sustainability, funded by the “SDGs-Partnership” programme, DAAD is implemented for a four-year period from 2022 to 2025. The objectives of this project are to (1) empower university leaders of the Greater Mekong Subregion University Consortium (GMS-UC), comprising Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor-Leste, to establish systematic research governance and supporting systems and strategically identify and formulate priority areas for collaboration and (2) facilitate cross-border research collaboration and networks of researchers in three identified fields, including: “collaborative river governance and management”, “sustainable agricultural production” and “climate change”. Ultimately, the project aims to support collective learning and intelligence, through the initiation of regional research ecosystems, that will contribute towards the new common space in higher education and the sustainable development of Southeast Asia.
For more information, please visit: https://rihed.seameo.org/
