Join Graduate Education and Training in Southeast Asia (GETSEA) for a virtual discussion with Adam Bobbette, author of The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java, winner of the 2025 Benda Prize. All participants should read the Preface and Chapter 1: “Political Geology as Method.” Those interested in reading more should also consider Chapter 3: “Intercalated: The Political and Spiritual Geographies of Plate Tectonics.”

Join the Department of Anthropology and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at University of Michigan (U-M) for a talk by Dr. Alyssa Paredes, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at U-M. In this lecture, Dr. Paredes illustrates how food cosmetic standards in destination markets lead “Big Agriculture” plantations to produce significant food waste.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UH-Mānoa for the virtual book launch of  Halo-Halo Ecologies, an anthology that gathers a transnational community of food enthusiasts, engaged scholars, and social and environmental activists to reimagine Philippine Studies and Food Studies. Speakers include Dr. Alyssa Paredes, Dr. Marvin Montefrio, Felice Prudente Sta. Maria, Chef Giney Villar, and Paolo Ven B. Paculan.

Join the Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) at Cornell University for a talk by Caitlyn Sears, SEAP Postdoctoral Associate and NYSEAN member, who will discuss how recent production and regulation dynamics in Malaysia exemplify transformations in global chemical geographies.

Join the Sustainability in the Urban Environment graduate program at the City College of New York for the book launch of Reimagining Sustainability, a collection of writings on environment, climate justice, and sustainable development by the late Isagani Serrano, a thought leader on these issues as they related to social movements.

Join the Harvard University Asia Center for a talk by Jiaporn Laochaoroenwong, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Chulalongkorn University, who will discuss the supply chain of square oxen at the Myanmar-Thailand border.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at University of Michigan for a talk by Dr. Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez, Assistant Professor of History at University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. Gutierrez will discuss the first decades of U.S. colonization in the Philippines and institutions of botanical research aimed to scale up plantation-style production.

Join the Council on Southeast Asia Studies at Yale University for a talk by Dr. Alyssa Paredes, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. This talk uses the pejorative Filipino expression naka-aircon or “air-conditioned person” meaning detached from reality, to capture class-based inequalities in access to cooled spaces to argue that the indifference of the elite bears repercussions for the delivery of the law.

Join ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a seminar by Donghyun Park and Shu Tian of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). They will examine interesting new empirical research on the links between digital transformation, climate change and inclusive development, drawing from the second edition of the Asian Development Policy Report 2025.

Join Asian CineVision for the screenings of Vox Humana, Funeral of the Earth, Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites, Vic and His Nanay, We Used to Take the Long Way Home, and Across the Waters as part of the Asian American International Film Festival. These films entail liminal places, bodies in motion, borders of life and death. They explore the intermediate, indeterminate spaces between one another, the world around us, and even the worlds beyond. The screenings will be followed by a filmmaker Q&A.

Join GETSEA and SUNY/CUNY Southeast Asia Consortium for a virtual panel discussion exploring informal labor, waste flows, and the politics of waste governance in the Philippines. Panelists include Debs Bartolo, Liz Fumar, Miguel Antonio Santos, and the Muntinlupa Waste Workers Association.

Join the Indonesia Project at Australia National University for their PhD student seminar exploring the theme of policy making in Indonesia as part of the Indonesia Project’s 60th Anniversary celebrations. Gita Putri Damayana examines the regulatory framework that shapes policy making in Indonesia, Joshua Walker offers a sociological perspective on the country’s energy transition and electric vehicle (EV) policy, and Dyah Pritadrajati discusses social policy from an economic standpoint.

Join the Thailand Studies Program at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute for a webinar by Dr. Veerayooth Kanchoochat about Thailand’s industrial policy and its evolution, from the Thailand 4.0 initiative to current efforts supporting electric vehicles and semiconductor production. The webinar will discuss Thailand’s policy in comparison to Korea and Taiwan, China’s role in reshaping its model, and whether Thailand should adopt its strategy in response to shifting geopolitical dynamics.

Join the Asia Society for the Prehistoric Body Theater’s performance of Ghosts of Hell Creek: Stone Garuda. In this performance by the Prehistoric Body Theater ensemble, Indonesian dancers channel prehistoric dinosaurs as they explore themes of mass extinction, climate crisis, and evolutionary ancestry through movement. Co-created with Indigenous Indonesian performing artists, Prehistoric Body Theater collaborates with international scientists to craft performances informed by cutting-edge paleontology—uniting art, science, and a deep commitment to nature conservation.

Join the Asia Society for the Prehistoric Body Theater’s premiere performance of Ghosts of Hell Creek: Stone Garuda. In this performance by the Prehistoric Body Theater ensemble, Indonesian dancers channel prehistoric dinosaurs as they explore themes of mass extinction, climate crisis, and evolutionary ancestry through movement. Co-created with Indigenous Indonesian performing artists, Prehistoric Body Theater collaborates with international scientists to craft performances informed by cutting-edge paleontology—uniting art, science, and a deep commitment to nature conservation.

Join the Philippines Institute at Australian National University for a talk by Dr. Justine Diokno-Sicat, member of the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank representing the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Pakistan and Timor-Leste. Dr. Diokno-Sikat will share her decades of research on Philippine decentralization, as well as current issues and the important role of multilateral development banks.

Join the Southeast Asia Program and the Department of Systems Engineering at Cornell University for a talk by Vincent Woon Kok Sin, assistant professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) and an adjunct associate professor at Xiamen University Malaysia, who will discuss how enhanced solid waste management can mitigate warming and support the Paris Agreement and the Global Methane Pledge.

Join the Asian American Writers’ Workshop for a talk by Mai Der Vang, recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and professor of Creative Writing at Fresno State University, who will discuss her new poetry book on the collective trauma and resilience experienced by Hmong people and communities. Topics covered by Mai Der Vang include the ongoing cultural and environmental repercussions of the war in Vietnam, the lives of refugees afterward, and the postmemory carried by their descendants. Cambodian American poet and instructor at Barnard College Monica Sok will moderate the discussion.

Join the Indonesia Studies Program at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a panel featuring Elyssa Ludher, Visiting Fellow and food security researcher and urban planner; Marihot Nasution, State Budget Analyst in the Secretariat General of Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR), and Adriana Viola Miranda, MD, Program Director of 1000 Days Fund. These experts will discuss President Prabowo Subianto’s plan to feed Indonesia’s schoolchildren and pregnant mothers, including issues such as the meals’ nutritional value, governance, and fiscal and social sustainability.

Join the Council on Southeast Asia Studies at Yale University for a talk by Phi Nguyen, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale’s CSEAS, who will discuss her book project on the deteriorating water-land dynamics of Huế, the postcolonial Vietnamese city that was Vietnam’s former capital, a French protectorate, and a borderland and battleground from the fourteenth century until the recent Second Indochina War.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UH-Manoa for a discussion on sustainable, community-centric tourism in Southeast Asia. Dr. Huong T. Bui, Professor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, will discuss governance and tourism development in Vietnam. Boboi Costas, Founder of Grassroots Travel and Former Tourism Officer of Cebu Provincial Government, will discuss lessons from a community-based ecotourism project in Cebu, Philippines.

Join NYSEAN, SUNY/CUNY SEAC, and GETSEA for a screening of Hot Stuff: Exposure of Indonesia's Geothermal Dreams, an AIFIS award-winning documentary and part of a trio of Indonesian films that delve into energy policies in Indonesia, corporate ties to those policies, and their detrimental effects on local environments and populations. Director Dandhy Laksono and Producer Cypri Dale will join us live from the University of Michigan’s Center for Southeast Asia Studies as over 20 universities from across North America connect to watch Hot Stuff simultaneously, followed by a discussion about the film, energy policy in Indonesia, and the new Prabowo Subianto administration’s response to local grassroots movements in the country.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the Department of Environment, Sustainability, and Energy at Northern Illinois University for a talk by Bao-Son Trinh, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Environmental Toxicology Laboratory at Vietnam National University, who will discuss microplastics in the Saigon-Dongnai Rivers and their potential impacts on aquatic organisms.

Join the Indonesia Project at Australian National University for a talk by Hilman Palaon, Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute’s Indo-Pacific Development Centre, and Robert Walker, economist and Research Associate at the Lowy Institute.  They will discuss Indonesia’s recent industrial policy successes in downstreaming critical minerals and EV manufacturing, while also addressing the environmental and social challenges, and exploring strategies for broader economic development and sustainability.

Join the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University for a talk by Dr. Kristian Saguin, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of the Philippines Diliman, who will discuss urbanization and resource flows in Metro Manila.