Indonesia Council Digest - March 2023
Hi everyone
We were very saddened to hear of the passing of Dr Lily Yulianti Farid this month. We hope to bring you a longer tribute in due course, but for now this 2017 Jakarta Post article celebrating her achievements as a writer, organiser and academic is a wonderful overview of her many contributions.
Salam,
Natali
iclistdata@gmail.com
What's happening...
We’re bringing you another information session with BRIN, on Monday 3 April. This time we’re partnering with Monash, ACICIS and BRIN to share the latest updates on the process for getting a research permit and visa. We will also have a few researchers speaking about their experiences navigating the process. The first info session we ran in September 2022 felt like entirely new terrain – this time round, we’re looking forward to hearing some good news stories about partnerships and collaborations 😊 Register here.
It's grants galore at the moment… First up, the Asian Studies Association of Australia has some grants available for PhD candidates and early career researchers:
The John Legge Prize for the Best Thesis in Asian Studies in 2022 is now open. This prize recognizes cutting edge research performed by postgraduates across our broad field of research. The first prize consists of a cash award of AUD $2,000. The writer of the selected thesis will receive a certificate and priority consideration for publication in one of the ASAA monograph series. A prize of AUD $1,000 may be awarded to a second outstanding thesis. Applications close 28 April, apply here.
The ASAA Postdoctoral Writing Grant consists of $5,000 to assist PhD graduates to develop work for publication. Applicants must be a member of the ASAA, less than 7 years out of the PhD, and not hold a permanent academic position. Applications close 28 April; apply here.
Next, EOIs are now open for KONEKSI Australia-Indonesia Research Collaboration Grants Pilot Call for Proposals. If you were paying attention last month, you will have seen that Angie Bexley was our featured member. She told us about her new role at KONEKSI, Australia and Indonesia’s flagship program in Indonesia’s knowledge and innovation sector. Angie mentioned that there might be some grants available and it’s great to be able to now give you an update on that!
KONEKSI is pleased to launch the Australia-Indonesia Research Collaboration Grants 2023: Pilot Call for Proposals. For this pilot phase, The Government of Indonesia and Government of Australia have jointly agreed on the priority research theme of Environment and Climate Change particularly in relation to climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience. KONEKSI will support multi-disciplinary research partnerships to advance policy and practice solutions. Key to addressing climate challenges for both nations will be considerations of equity, diversity, and inclusion with the goal of enabling policy and innovation cycles to place disadvantaged and vulnerable communities at the centre of climate-related solutions. Expressions of Interests are open now until 31 March. The purpose of KONEKSI’s open call for EOIs is to ascertain eligibility of applicants. Successful applicants will then be invited to submit a full Grant Proposal in April 2023 with final proposals due in May 2023. It is expected that awards will be made before 30 June 2023. More details on the KONEKSI website.
Finally, the Indonesia Project Student Research Grant scheme is now open until 2 April. The scheme provides $2000 to Australian Honours and Masters students doing research on Indonesia. To be eligible, you have to be least 18 years of age, currently enrolled or about to enrol in degree programs at the Honours or Masters level at an Australian university, and an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Grants galore!
Call for papers
Get your skates on for this upcoming Conference on Social Faultlines in Indonesia, being run by the ISEAS—Yusof Ishak Institute and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). The cfp closes on 31 March! Themes include: Demographic Diversity in Modern Indonesia, Social Divisions and Post-Reformasi Electoral Politics, Migration and its Discontents, Religion and Ethnicity in the Age of Digital Disruption, Social Faultlines and the Economics and Politics of Social Inclusion/Exclusion, New Religious Identities and Order, What It Means to be a Minority in Indonesia Today, and Mapping Heritage and Cultural Identities.
Date: Tuesday – Wednesday, 29-30 August 2023
Venue: Seminar Rooms 1 & 2, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore
Deadline for abstract submission: 31 March 2023
Notification of accepted abstracts: 14 April 2023
Full paper submission: 15 August 2023
Publications
This new article by Dr Howard Manns, A/Prof Michael Ewing, A/Prof Sharyn Davies & Dr Jess Kruk, Invigorating Indonesian studies in Australia through collaborative, online education practices, looks at how to strengthen Indonesian language learning and teaching. As they write, “… at the coalface of Indonesian studies, all this priyayi (elite class) Indonesia talk can feel a bit tong kosong nyaring bunyinya (‘empty drum makes the loudest noise’). Enter the true heroes of our story—the wong cilik (the so-called ‘common people’ of Indonesia studies)—those Indonesian language teachers in Australia’s primary, secondary and tertiary classrooms.” Read more at Melbourne Asia Review.
Other cool stuff
Indonesia’s Marine Heritage Gallery has made it to Google Arts and Culture! The Gallery is physically located in the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries building in Jakarta, and open to the general public. The Google launch is the next step in bringing the objects and stories to the wider public. Dive in to learn more about their collection of shipwrecked artefacts, all of which were found in Indonesian waters. Some date back to the 9th and 10th centuries, revealing a rich legacy of maritime trade and exchange in the archipelago.
I enjoyed this recent discussion on ABC’s Big Ideas program about Human rights and Indonesia’s new criminal code. Hosted by Bec Strating (Director of La Trobe Asia, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations La Trobe University), it features Andreas Harsono (Human Rights Watch, Indonesia), Dr Dina Afrianty (Research Fellow, La Trobe University Law School) and Dirk Tomsa (Associate Professor in Politics and Head of the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University).
The recent (2022) Indonesian film, Autobiography keeps winning awards – first at the Adelaide Film Festival late last year and more recently taking home the top prize at the Singapore Film Festival. As the folks at ReelOzInd! explain , Autobiography is the first feature-length film from director and screenwriter Makbul Mubarak, a leading film critic in Indonesia, and the only film from Southeast Asia to have premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. Recent reviews about this ‘sleek, sinuous thriller’ in English and Indonesian are available, and it is now screening in Indonesia – but someone tell me how I can stream it in Australia!
In 2021, she was awarded an ARC DECRA (Discovery Early Career Researcher Award). Last year, she was nominated for the ANU Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence. This year, she has a buzzing academic exchange itinerary in Europe. Eva Nisa is a scholar on a roll! Read an interview with Eva Nisa on the progress of her DECRA research and her forthcoming overseas opportunities: Halal diaries.
Dr Anies Baswedan— Jakarta’s most recent governor and candidate for next year’s Indonesian presidential elections—was in town, in case you somehow missed all the coverage – and also here! You can catch his ST Lee Lecture, Can democracy deliver? Reflections on the Indonesian case, hosted by ANU, here.
Indonesia Council Open Conference
Registrations are now open for the Indonesia Council Open Conference, Sydney, 26-27 September!
**Get excited, this is going to be a big conference. A special thanks to the disciplinary champions who played a key role in rustling up so much interest: Jeff Neilson, Elly Kent, Sophie Webber, Ben Hegarty, Catherine Smith, Vannessa Hearman, Charlotte Setijadi, Jemma Purdey, Annisa Beta, Riyana Miranti, Ariane Utomo, Salut Muhidin, Eve Warburton, Eva Nisa, Zulfan Tadjoeddin, Iqra Anugrah and Jeremy Kingsley. Champions the lot of you!**
If you submitted an abstract, you should by now have received an email from the conference organisers advising of the outcome. Register by 31 May if you’re a speaker, or by 31 August if you’re a non-speaker. Registration is free. Failure to register by 31 May will result in your name and abstract being removed from the program. The ICOC is a hybrid conference, meaning panels will either be fully online or fully in-person. Organisers have allowed for extended (90 minutes) lunch breaks on both days to accommodate book launches. If you are interested in launching a book, please complete the relevant field on the registration form. The program will be released in June. Any questions should be directed to icoc2023.conference@sydney.edu.au.