Join the Southeast Asia Program and the Department of Anthropology at Cornell University for a talk by Sampreety Gurung, Anthropology PhD candidate at Cornell. Sampreety’s talk examines the dual sense of exclusion and inclusion through which Nepali migrants experience work and life in Malaysia and asks what life-making and freedom might mean in a context of enforced temporariness.

Join the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a webinar that brings together journalists and researchers to examine the nature, mechanisms, and impact of disinformation and influence operations related to the South China Sea. Speakers include Janina Santos, Analyst for Doublethink Lab; Giano Libot, former journalist, and Regine Cabato, an independent journalist.

Join the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University for a talk by Visiting Scholar Aung Thura Ko Ko, former research fellow at the Pacific Forum, a U.S. policy think tank based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. This talk explores how China’s strategic intervention in post-coup Myanmar presents a complex mix of geopolitical ambition, economic necessity, and security entanglement.

Join the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a panel that examines how disruptions to trade channels from the Straits of Hormuz are affecting farms, supply chains, and consumers in Southeast Asia. Speakers include Professor Paul Teng, Visiting Senior Fellow in the Climate Change in Southeast Asia Program at ISEAS, and Dr. Siang Hee Tan, Executive Director of CropLife Asia. Professor Sean De Cleene (Singapore Institute of Technology) and Dr. Alisher Mirzabaev (International Rice Research Institute) will serve as discussants, and Elyssa Ludher (ISEAS Visiting Fellow) will moderate the panel.

Join NYSEAN for a talk by Dr. Kevin M. Woods, senior policy analyst at Forest Trends, who will present the findings of a new report on how the Mekong Region—particularly the tri-border “Golden Triangle” of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand—has become a hub where environmental exploitation and criminal activity converge, collectively generating billions of dollars annually for transnational enterprises. Sidney Jones, adjunct professor of International Relations at NYU and executive committee member of NYSEAN, will moderate the discussion.

Join the NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute for a conversation with Maria Ressa on journalism in the age of disinformation, AI, and social media, and the growing use of the legal system against journalists and the press. Maria Ressa is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rappler, Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate with decades of working experience as a lead investigative reporter.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan for a talk by Chris Hulshof, GETSEA Director of Community Engagement and History PhD Candidate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Hulshof will discuss how the British psychological warfare campaign in Indonesia not only flooded the Indonesian market with black propaganda leaflets and radio broadcasts, but deftly manipulated the international news circuit to spread Indonesian Army propaganda across the globe.

Join NYSEAN for a book talk by Bradley R. Simpson, Professor of History and Asian Studies at the University of Connecticut and Founder/Director of the Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project at the National Security Archive.

Join the ASEAN Studies Center at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for the e-launch of The State of Southeast Asia: 2026 Survey Report on the prevailing attitudes of Southeast Asian opinion leaders on regional strategic developments and issues affecting ASEAN and its member states. Joanne Lin, Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the ASEAN Studies Center, will present the key findings of the survey. The following speakers will discuss the survey’s major findings: Scot Marciel, Senior Advisor of BowerGroupAsia; Dr. Saya Kiba, Associate Professor at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies; Dr. Huiyao Wang, Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization, and Herman Kraft, Professor of Political Science at the University of the Philippines at Diliman.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH Mānoa) for a webinar on Southeast Asia’s fast-evolving smart city initiatives, from data governance to climate adaptation. Speakers include Rita Padawangi, Associate Professor, College of Interdisciplinary and Experiential Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences; Bharat Dahiya, Director of the Research Center for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Thammasat University, and Gavin Shatkin, Professor, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University. Ashok Das, Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning at UH Mānoa, will moderate the discussion.

Join the Graduate Education and Training in Southeast Asia (GETSEA) consortium for a webinar on conducting research in the Philippines. Speakers include scholars with unique and extensive backgrounds on Philippine research: Dr. Louward Zubiri, Lector in Philippine Language Studies at Yale University, and Yi-Yu Lai, a PhD candidate in anthropology at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Dr. Verne de la Peña, Visiting Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Professor of Musicology at the University of the Philippines College of Music, will moderate the discussion.

Join the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University for a book talk by Andrew L. Oros, Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Washington College, Maryland. Whereas the populations of China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Russia are aging and shrinking, the populations of India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Australia continue to grow. Oros will discuss how striking demographic changes affect regional security dynamics and the United States–led alliance structure in the Indo-Pacific.

Join the Philippines Institute at Australian National University for a talk by Amanda Gorely, former Australian Ambassador to the United Nations, the Philippines, and to Arms Control and Counter Proliferation. This lecture will reflect on the key shifts and moments that defined the last 10 years of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Australia, while also weaving in the importance of embedding gender considerations within foreign policy.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University for a talk by Chris Hulshof, GETSEA Director of Community Engagement and History PhD Candidate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Hulshof will discuss how the British psychological warfare campaign in Indonesia not only flooded the Indonesian market with black propaganda leaflets and radio broadcasts, but deftly manipulated the international news circuit to spread Indonesian Army propaganda across the globe.

Join the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a talk by Derek Grossman, Visiting Senior Fellow, which unpacks the Trump administration’s policy towards Southeast Asia and its engagement with the region.

Join the SUNY/CUNY Southeast Asia Consortium and the Small Business Development Center at Buffalo State University for a cross-country dialogue  exploring cultures and education systems in the United States and Cambodia. Speakers include faculty and students of the Education Department at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and the Department of Human Geography at Buffalo State University.

At the Association for Asian Studies Conference, join NYSEAN and SEACAF for a roundtable that will explore the relationship between authoritarianism and threats to academic and intellectual freedom in a way that puts attacks on higher education in the United States in conversation with Southeast Asia. The Roundtable includes the following scholars: Bencharat Sae Chua of the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University in Thailand; Herlambang Wiratraman of the Research Center of Law and Social Justice at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia; Sol Iglesias of the University of the Philippines-Diliman’s Political Science Department in the Philippines, and Rianne Subijanto of Baruch College, City University of New York. Margaret Scott, a founder of NYSEAN and a journalist with the New York Review of Books, will chair.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan for a talk by Dr. Yogambigai Rajamoorthy, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Accountancy and Management at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia. This presentation offers a comparative examination of the acceptance and perception of different types of vaccination in Malaysia and Indonesia, comparing and contrasting factors shaping public attitudes toward immunization across these countries.

Thailand’s post-election government faces rising economic pressure, domestic instability, and shifting geopolitics. Join experts in politics and security for a virtual roundtable on what this moment means for Thailand and Southeast Asia. Featured speakers include Kunthida Rungruengkiat, MPP Candidate at Princeton University and former Deputy Leader of Thailand’s Future Forward Party, offering perspectives on domestic political reform and democratic movements; Dr. Fuadi Pitsuwan, Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University; and Matt Wheeler, Senior Analyst at International Crisis Group.

Join the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University for a talk by John Donaldson, Associate Professor of Political Science at the School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University. Dr. Donaldson will discuss how poverty reduction can accompany slower, more sustainable growth, challenging dominant assumptions about scale, technology, and well-being. Nick Smith, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies at Barnard College, will moderate the discussion.

Join the Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) at Cornell University for a talk by Dr. Liang Wu, a SEAP Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University with affiliations in the Department of Science & Technology Studies and the interdepartmental consortium Cornell Oceans. Dr. Wu presents a case study of Filipino among other Southeast Asian seafarers working in the international shipping industry across the global oceans, thus expanding the conventional definition of “Maritime Southeast Asia” – the archipelagic region of Southeast Asian countries situated between Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Join the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a seminar assessing what to expect from the State Security and Peace Commission’s recent polls, which are viewed widely as being orchestrated to continue the military’s political dominance in Myanmar. Speakers include: Dr. Kyaw Yin Hlaing, Visiting Senior Fellow in the Myanmar Studies Program at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute and a visiting scholar at Cornell University, and Dr. Mary P. Callahan is an associate professor in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington.

Join the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University for a panel by Southeast Asian language faculty at Cornell on their experiences with, and contributions to, the Southeast Asian Language Council from 2019 to 2024. Speakers include: Yu Yu Khaing, Burmese Language Lecturer; Jolanda Mendaun Pandin, Senior Lecturer of Indonesian; Hannah Phan, Khmer Language Instructor; Thess Savella, Filipino Language Instructor and President of the Consortium for the Advancement of the Philippine Languages and Cultures; and Thúy Tranviet, Vietnamese Language Instructor.

Join the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for an ASEAN lecture by Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines and former Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and ASEAN Affairs, who will discuss the priorities of the Philippines during its Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2026.

Join the ASEAN Studies Center at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a panel exploring how Cambodia, Laos, and Singapore have “led from the middle” to steer ASEAN through periods of uncertainty. The panel will examine what these lessons and experiences hold for future chairs, including Timor-Leste, in keeping ASEAN cohesive, credible, and responsive to emerging challenges. 

Speakers include: Ambassador Pou Sothirak, Distinguished Senior Advisor to the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies (CCRS); H.E. Sisangkhom Sisaketh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to ASEAN; Dr. Joel Ng, Senior Fellow and Head of the Centre for Multilateralism Studies at Nanyang Technological University; and Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun, Visiting Senior Fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute and at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Join the Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom (SEACAF) for its orientation and general assembly. This is a key opportunity for members to shape priorities, engage in meaningful discussions, and contribute to the next phase of SEACAF’s work in 2026.

Join the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies for a talk by Danny Wong Tze Ken, Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Universiti Malaya, who will discuss the experiences of Chinese diasporas in Southeast Asia as well as their relations with China.

Join the ASEAN Studies Center and Philippine Studies Program at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a seminar examining the priorities, constraints, and opportunities of the Philippines’ 2026 Chairmanship of ASEAN. Speakers include: M.C. Abad Jr., a Trustee of ASEAN Society Philippines and the first Director of the ASEAN Regional Forum from 1997 – 2007; Marilyn J. Alarilla, former Philippine Ambassador to Turkey (2011-2013) and Laos (2009 to 2011); and Professor Mely Caballero-Anthony, President’s Chair in International Relations and Security Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.

Join the ISEAS Myanmar Studies Program for insights from researchers and observers examining the complex conflict dynamics affecting stakeholders and electors, the known knowns and the uncertainties in the economic landscape, and the mechanics and implications of the State Peace and Security Commission’s election exercise.

Join the Center for Remembering & Sharing for a concert that explores the theme of immigration, growing out of their own rich multi-ethnic family and musical histories, from Africa, Japan, Timor, Taiwan, Haiti, and beyond. Curated by Jen Shyu, the concert features Jen Shyu herself (vocals, Taiwanese moon flute, Japanese biwa, Korean gayageum), Sumi Tonooka (piano), and Val Jeanty (SoundChemist).