Arts and Social Sciences | Seite 5

GRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCE “My research is an ethnographic study of community based ecotourism and biodiversity conservation among a Semai community in Malaysia. The research seeks to bridge the gap between conservation justice and the empowerment of Orang Asli in the Malaysian context. I have made it my mission to share this knowledge (participating in events such as the 3MT or 3-Minute Thesis Competition) with the hopes that this can pave the way for more mutually beneficial sustainable initiatives between these groups in the future. This research would not have been possible without the generous grants and funding from SASS and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from the Semai people and forge lifelong friendships and partnerships with them.” “As a PhD student of Monash Malaysia, I am currently working to prepare a quality framework of critical English language pedagogy informed by postcolonial perspectives with particular reference to Malaysia and Bangladesh. By providing me a significant four-week stay opportunity at Monash Australia, the VC’s international PhD student intercampus mobility scheme has helped me to have an intercampus experience particularly in a core English speaking country, to benefit from Monash’s Clayton Campus library for my thesis and to collect insights from my host supervisor in Australia. I am proud to be a Monash student.” Abdullah Al Mahmud Wong Zhi Hoong “My PhD journey with Monash Malaysia has been an amazing and eye-opening one. My research on the café culture of Penang may be a local study but the opportunities I had through fellowships and grants during my candidature have led me to travel to places I had never thought I could afford while doing my postgraduate studies. The support and encouragement from my supervisors and staff at Monash enabled me to travel to Singapore, Amsterdam, and Australia. These opened doors for me to meet and learn from other scholars in my field of study and widened my horizon tremendously.” “As a passionate researcher who has been keen on understanding the interesting yet complicated phenomenon of Chinese sub-national engagements with ASEAN countries, pursuing my PhD in Monash Malaysia has allowed me the opportunity to fulfil this goal. During my tenure in Monash, I received much guidance from my supervisor and other faculty members to study the institutional conditions facilitating the international engagements of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) with ASEAN countries — a topic of much value but not yet fully studied in the discipline of International Relations (IR). As recognition of the significance of my research project, I was awarded the Chinese Government Scholarship (Bilateral Program) to undertake a nine-month Visiting Fellowship in Nanning (the capital of GZAR) in 2017.” Beh May Ting Lee Chee Leong