Nurturing collaboration that crosses boundaries is integral to addressing socio-environmental transformations and help SEA-based early-career colleagues engage with the international academic world. We propose a series of collaborative activities including cross-disciplinary research workshops, scholarly exchanges (visiting lectures, conference participation), and support for our students and colleagues to join ongoing extramurally funded field projects, launch new pilot projects, and (where needed) pay publication costs to see projects through to their completion. Involving our early-career colleagues and graduate students in several of these activities (as speakers, attendees, visiting fieldworkers, and PI’s of their pilot projects) provides robust professional scaffolding.
Workshops in SEA form the core of our professional development and research engagement activities for SEA-based early-career colleagues in our four engagement sub-projects outlined previously. Workshops provide training modules on academic research skills and networking opportunities with established colleagues. Senior UHM LuceSEA Transitions members with extensive workshop facilitation experience will serve as mentors for early-career project members and graduate students. We welcome other participants who work in related areas to join our events.
Workshop participants include research collaborators engaged in the four research engagement subprojects described previously, and also other SEA-based early-career researchers. Participants who attend multiple, sequential workshops will benefit the most from our program, but attendance at any event will be useful. Basing workshops in SEA (and Taiwan) and restricting the workshop length to 6 days make it easier for SEA-based colleagues to get permission to attend these events. This strategy also sends UHM LuceSEA team members to SEA so they can pursue their own research activities after each workshop. The UHM Center for SEA Studies will work with the host institution to organize each event in our schedule.