Join the Department of Anthropology and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan (U-M) for a talk by Dr. Alyssa Paredes, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at U-M. In this lecture, Dr. Paredes explores how “Big Agriculture” plantations systematically shirk responsibility for food waste, using legal contracts, scientific conventions, and standards of trade to frame them as “external” to their supply chains.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for a webinar on how grounded, context-sensitive research contributes to a deeper understanding of environmental challenges and supports more equitable and sustainable approaches to environmental knowledge production. Speakers include: Dr. Micah Fisher (UH Mānoa), Xiaoyun Neo (UH Mānoa), Areerat Worawongwasu (UH Mānoa), Abdurrahman Abdullah (Universitas Hasanuddin), Irfan Saputra (Universitas Hasanuddin), and Aswin Baharuddin (Universiti Malaya). Dr. Mary Mostafanezhad will moderate the webinar.

Join the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a seminar on the Southeast Asia Climate Outlook Survey, a region-wide annual survey to understand the climate awareness and perceptions of Southeast Asian citizens towards climate action. Presenters include Melinda Martinus, Lead Researcher at ISEAS, and Dr. Samuel Chng, Research Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, Singapore University of Technology and Design.

Join the Indonesia Project at ANU Crawford School of Public Policy for a talk by Dr. Andini Pramono, who will discuss the economic and environmental impacts of Commercial Milk Formula (CMF) in Indonesia, revealing substantial economic loss when CMF displaces breastmilk in Indonesia.

Join the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a seminar on the importance of peatlands in Southeast Asia as carbon sinks and contributors to megadiverse ecosystems. Discussions will highlight the potential and challenges of peatlands as Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in Southeast Asia, particularly from data and community perspectives. Speakers include: Dr. Matthew Ashfold (University of Nottingham, Malaysia), Dr. Azliyana Azhari (Monash University Malaysia), Dr. Alex Lechner (Monash University Indonesia), Dr. Helena Varkkey (Universiti Malaya), and Dr. Gusti Z. Anshari (Tanjungpura University, Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia).

Join the Harvard University Science and Technology in Asia seminar series for a talk by Jenna Grant, Associate Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of Washington, who will discuss drug-resistant malaria and its implications in the Greater Mekong subregion. Victor Seow, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University, will moderate the discussion.

Join the Department of Anthropology and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the 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 “Big Agriculture” plantations produce significant industrial waste in the form of water pollution in Mindanao, Philippines.

Join the Institute for Comparative Modernities at Cornell University for a talk by Shaoling Ma, Professor of Asian Studies and Fellow at the Society of the Humanities, who will discuss her current research on rural circuits and Southeast Asia’s computational environments across local, national, regional, and transnational levels.

Join the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell for a talk by Marlie Lukach, PhD student in Plant Breeding and Genetics, who will discuss the historical significance of bottle gourd lagenaria siceraria in Southeast Asia.

Join the Council on Southeast Asia Studies at Yale for a presentation by Dinny Risri Aletheiani, faculty member at the Council on Southeast Asia Studies in the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies and Director of Southeast Asia Language Studies at Yale University. The presentation will look at the Orang Rimba, inhabitants of the rainforest of Southern Sumatera, and how adapting to new environmental changes in their ancestral forest due to land developments have made them a target for a new “educational project.”

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.