Project details
This project is a collaboration between scholars at University of Manchester, Chiang Mai University, Goldsmiths University of London, Mahidol University and MAP Foundation. It is funded by the British Academy International Writing Workshops scheme 2025-27.
The aim of this workshop programme is to develop the capacity of 24 ECR ‘scholar-activists’ in the fields of human rights education and activism in South-East Asia (SEA) to write for publication, to successfully apply for research funding and to cascade this learning to other scholar-activists. Amidst the recent re-emergence of social protest movements in SEA, the space for human rights education and activism has become fraught. Most countries in SEA have been identified by international organisations as falling short of human rights goals, and those who speak out against injustices, including academics, can face severe consequences. Therefore, supporting scholar-activists based in universities, to communicate for positive, democratic change is imperative and urgent. The impact and longevity of this programme will be assured through its outputs, including up to three journal special issues, two conference symposia and a website with open access multi-media teaching materials on writing for academic publication.
The programme’s objectives are to:
1. Enhance Southeast Asian scholar-activist participants’ skills for academic writing, instilling confidence and ability to produce high-quality academic manuscripts for publication in international journals and books, with a view to ensuring that the voices of ECR scholar-activists from Southeast Asia, that are marginalised and invisibilised within academia, are heard; this will be supported by the publishing-related teaching, mentoring, peer-reviewing and post-event proposal development programme and evidenced through the development of up to to three journal special issues and two conference symposia.
2. Enhance participants’ ability to be competitive in grant-funding applications relevant to facilitating Southeast Asian and UK-SEA research collaborations, with a view to enhancing their future success in grant applications; this will be supported through teaching about how co-authoring and co-presenting at conferences supports positive outcomes in research grant applications.
3. Enhance participants’ capacity to work alongside NGOs and effectively communicate grassroots human rights concerns in academic outlets through developing their understanding of the relationship between NGOs and academic research, with a view to collaborating effectively on publications and grants; this will be supported through scholar-activist team members’ specialist teaching and NGO visits during the 3-day workshop.
4. Facilitate a Southeast Asian regional peer review and support network for ECRs through which participants can disseminate findings to other scholar activists, facilitate peer review and provide support, with a view to cascading their learning about writing for academic publication; this will be supported through pre-, during- and post-workshop opportunities to connect, as well as the creation of a website with open access multi-media teaching materials on writing for academic publication.
