Early Career Scientific Diaspora of the Southeast Asian Region: Opportunities and Aspirations

The “One Vision, One Identity, One Community” motto of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) represents the commitment of the ten-member states (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam) in promoting regional cooperation for the acceleration of equitable and sustainable economic growth, social progress and cultural development across the region. While many Southeast Asian (SEA) researchers have benefited from trans-boundary research training from various talent mobility programmes, data from the Global State of Young Scientists ASEAN study suggest that the majority of early-career researchers have never had any experience abroad. In fact, the lack of international mobility and access to international resources (including funding) were identified as significant challenges that impacted their research potential. Intra-regional collaboration was also found to be less frequent. Hence the SEA diaspora can potentially play an important role as science diplomacy ambassadors who can interlink various stakeholders in order to advance solutions for national, transnational or global problems through effective scientific advice, communication and innovation. In this forum, the panelists will draw from their past and current experiences as SEA network leaders and/or diaspora researchers to share their perspectives on the barriers and opportunities in harnessing the aspirations of the scientific diaspora to support their region’s research enterprise.

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