Groningen Research Centre for Southeast Asia and ASEAN (SEA ASEAN)
Interdisciplinary
The aim of the SEA-ASEAN centre is to further inter-disciplinary research on contemporary Southeast Asia and ASEAN.
Highly Networked
We build on the successful framework of inter-faculty cooperation within Globalization Studies Groningen (GSG) and will serve side by side with our sister organization the Centre for East Asian Studies Groningen (CEASG) in the broad study of Asia.
Quality Research
We aim to bridge high quality scholarly research, with policy relevance and a concern for societal outcomes, in the study of the nations and societies of Southeast Asia and ASEAN as a regional actor.
Focus
Middle-Income and Transition. A special focus is placed on middle-income developing countries in the region with a democratic tradition - Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand - as well as countries in economic and political transition, especially Vietnam and Myanmar.
The Netherlands – Asia Pacific Student Short-Video Competition for Climate and Sustainable Development in Cities
Students at the University of Groningen and from our partner universities across the Asia Pacific, are invited to submit short videos based on their research focused on climate and sustainable development. SEA ASEAN is proud to be closely cooperating with the House of Connections, Wubbo Ockels School for Energy and Climate for this competition. The winning videos will be shown locally in Groningen at the House of Connections, and internationally at the Osaka Kansai World Expo in Japan next year. The web-site for more competition about the competition and the place to upload your video, may be found here.
News
December 2024
December 3, 2024
The Director of SEA ASEAN was invited to the Hague for a diplomatic event to celebrate the national day of Thailand. Prof. Ronald Holzhacker had the opportunity to speak with the new Thai Ambassador Asi Mamanee, and tell him about the conference we held last year in Bangkok on climate and sustainable development in Southeast Asia, and about the new double degree PhD program we are establishing with Thammasat University.'
December 6, 2024
The Director of SEA ASEAN Prof. Ronald Holzhacker was kindly invited by the UNRISD (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development) and KAIDEC (Korean Association of International Development and Cooperation) to participate with 15 other experts from around the Asian region to discuss critical issues in preparation of the upcoming 2nd UN World Summit on Social Development in November 2025.
The experts were asked to address three key questions during the on-line session:
1) what policies have been successful for social development and the achievement of the SDGs since the Copenhagen Plan of Action from the mid-1990s?
2) What new challenges for social development are emerging in Asia?
3) What role can the multilateral system play in helping states meet these challenges?
Prof. Holzhacker's responses to these questions first focused on some successes in the governance of the SDGs, for example how some countries have tried to avoid taking a silo approach to tackling the SDGs, and instead have understood the need to address the governance links across the SDGs. For example, progress on SDG 3 on good health and wellness, is strongly linked to progress on SDG 6 on water and sanitation. In addressing the issue of new challenges in Asia, Prof. Holzhacker mentioned the need to move beyond just a focus on national policies, to also focus on effective implementation. Here he emphasized the need to put more emphasis on the role of local governments and cities in meeting social development goals. The local level is also a good venue for citizen participation and engagement, and building public support for efforts to address the dual challenges of sustainable development and climate change. Finally, in addressing the role of the multilateral system in this area, Prof. Holzhacker stressed the need to share best practices in addressing social development in a multi-governance system, involving the UN, regional organizations such as ASEAN, national governments, provincial governments, and local governments with strong public participation.
Prof. Holzhacker was able to discuss some evidence for these suggestions from his upcoming edited book prepared with partners across the Asia Pacific 'Transformative Futures of Cities: Climate and Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia' (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming 2025).'
November 2024
The festive SEA ASEAN holiday dinner for the PhD candidates this year was held at the YammY Asian Korean BBQ restaurant in Groningen. The day was held on the American Thanksgiving holiday, giving everyone the opportunity to reflect on the past year and what we are grateful and thankful for. We were joined by a special guest, Jason Chan, invited to speak about the role of students in governance processes at Dutch universities. Jason serves as the student assessor for the Raad van Bestuur of the university teaching hospital, the UMCG. We certainly shared an enjoyable evening together, with an excellent Korean meal!
March 2024
SEA ASEAN welcomes our most recent Doctor, Dr. Titissari back to Groningen. She successfully defended her PhD dissertation on Thursday morning, March 14 in the Aula. Her dissertation is titled 'The Geography of the Banking System, Migration, Remittances and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Indonesia' and was supervised by Prof. P. McCann, Prof. C.L.Hermes, and Dr. V.A. Venhorst. The dissertation was assessed by Prof. S. Nazara, Prof. F. Franklin and Prof. L.J.G van Wissen.
Prof. Nazara, in addition to being Professor at the University of Indonesia, also serves as the Indonesian Vice Minister for Finance. Following the defense in the Aula and the reception for the many invited guests, the Vice Minister delivered an address in the nearby Van Swinderen Huis titled ''Economic Development in an Emerging Country: An Update.'
The Ministerial address was organized by SEA ASEAN and moderated by Director Prof. Ronald Holzhacker. The Vice Minister was introduced by Mr. Mervin Bakker, representing the President Jouke de Vries. In addition, the Vice Minister was welcomed by Prof. Bayu Jayawardhana (Faculty of Science and Engineering) and Dean Johan Woltjer (Faculty of Spatial Sciences).
Many current SEA ASEAN PhD candidates, as well as bachelor and master students from across the university, were present in the audience in both the Aula and the Van Swinderen Huis.
December 2022
On December 12th, 2022 the summit Celebrating EU-ASEAN People-to-People Cooperation on Higher Education took place in Brussels. Prof. Ronald Holzhacker was one of the speakers in a session about Enhancing the EU and ASEAN’s Higher Education Integration.
November 2022
The G20 and the Netherlands: Towards Longer-Term Thinking
Next week, our PM Mark Rutte will be departing for the G20 Summit in Indonesia. Leaders and governments from across the globe, representing citizens from the largest, most powerful upper and middle-income countries, will be gathering in Bali. These summits, and the media attention surrounding them, are often dominated by debates on important world crises that are in need of immediate attention, such as the tragic, ongoing war being waged by Russia in Ukraine.
However, it is important that our leaders, beyond discussing these crises, also pay critical attention to longer-term global challenges during the G20 Summit.
Read the full article by prof. Jouke de Vries and prof. Ron Holzhacker
5 July 2021
Isti Hidayati from the Faculty of Spatial Sciences won the Wierenga-Rengerink Prize – and 7,500 euros in prize money – for the UG’s best dissertation of 2020.
Readmore about her dissertation in this Ukrant article: https://ukrant.nl/when-i-cant-write-i-organise-files-for-a-sense-of-achievement/?lang=en
February 18, 2021, the Netherlands' ASEAN Treaty Accession
The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) is a peace treaty among Southeast Asian countries established by the founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia.
During the 37th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits held through video-conference on 17-21 November 2020, ASEAN consensually approved the Netherlands’ TAC accession.
Indonesia believes that this is a much-welcomed development and one that merit discussions on the possible future cooperation between ASEAN and the Netherlands.
In this end, the upcoming webinar aims to serve as a platform of dialogue between ACTH and The Netherlands on issues, such as, but not limited to:
I. the role of TAC in building trust and maintaining security and stability in the region;
II. The Netherlands’ considerations to become the High Contracting Parties to the TAC, and the added value The Netherlands could bring; and
III. ASEAN’s expectation from its high-contracting parties.
This webinar will also identify and explore possible cooperation between ASEAN and the Netherlands, within the framework of TAC and ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP).
As stated above, the webinar could benefit from knowing first-hand the reasoning behind The Netherlands’ consideration to be one of the High Contracting Parties (HCP) to the TAC, expectations and what the Netherlands’ can bring to ASEAN in terms of cooperation in the 3 pillars of ASEAN Community, namely Political-Security, Economic and Socio-Cultural.
Against this background, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in the Netherlands and the ASEAN Committee in The Hague (ACTH) cordially invite you to a web- seminar (webinar) under the theme of:
THE NETHERLANDS' ACCESSION TO THE TREATY OF AMITY AND COOPERATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA (TAC): FUTURE VIEW ON ASEAN-THE NETHERLANDS' RELATIONS
DATE: Thursday, 18 February 2021
TIME: 10.00 CET (Amsterdam) / 16.00 WIB
WHERE: Zoom Webinar
COST: Free
E-CERTIFICATE: Free
January 25, 2021
Today SEA ASEAN successfully concluded its conference on 'Climate and Sustainable Development' with scientists and policymakers from across the Asia Pacific. The conference was held on the occasion of the opening of the Global Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS 21) in the Hague. The first session of our SEA ASEAN conference opened with the broad scientific debate, the second session focused on implementation of the science by cities in Southeast Asia, and the final session focused on the policy and political dynamics of this agenda.
The President of UG, Prof, Jouke de Vries opened this final session of the conference with contributions from Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Adaptation Center, the Ambassador Pham Viet Ahn of Vietnam (ASEAN chairmanship 2020), and the Netherlands Minister Cora van Niewenhuizen.
The program of the conference is available below, as is the YouTube broadcast of the conference, currently with more than 500 unique views.
(The final picture below is the 'behind the scenes' view of the broadcast studio set-up for the conference within the Van Swinderenhuys next door to the Academy Building of the University of Groningen. Highly skilled professionals mixed the sound and visual images coming from those presenting live in the building with those connecting in from across the Asia Pacific.)
A very proud day for Tri Efriandi, successfully defending his PhD thesis 'Decentralization and the Challenges of Local Governance in Indonesia: Four case studies on public provision and democratization in Papua and West Papua.' He defended his Phd in the Aula accompanied by his promoters Prof. Oscar Couwenberg and Prof. Ronald Holzhacker, Faculty of Spatial Sciences. Tri will be returning shortly to a position at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of Indonesia, as a new Dr. with new insights and perspectives on governance.
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| Last modified: | 10 December 2024 10.12 a.m. |