A Journey of Cultivating Social Sciences and Humanities in Cambodia: RUPP-AAS Collaboration

Cultivating the Humanities and Social Sciences and Supporting Underrepresented Scholars of Asia” is a project designed for those living in social, economic, and political margins but with potential untapped and a thirst of knowledge to be quenched. Focused on enabling knowledge production in low-income and conflict and post-conflict regions of Southeast and South Asia, the project is meant to enhance the capacity of local institutions and the capabilities of scholars and public intellectuals within and beyond their geographical reach. It is tailored to the needs and aspirations of individuals, who have not had the chance to fully develop their aptitudes. This transnational endeavour places them at the center of our collective efforts to invest in them.

After two and a half years, the results have been remarkable. As one of our implementing partners in Southeast Asia, the team at the Royal University of Phnom Penh has worked tirelessly to incubate a promising group of scholars, who will in turn become mentors to the next generation of researchers. This would have not been possible without the passion of our resource person, Dr Un Leang, and his competent and most friendly team involved in the planning, intellectual content, finances, and logistics of the Cambodian program. External support also contributed to building major milestones throughout this long, and at times, intellectually complex journey. Scholars from a shared network spanning Asia, Europe and the U.S. offered mentoring, lecturing and monitoring assistance. Colleagues from our Indian and Pakistani Hubs have also shared their knowledge, methodology and wonderful collegiality that makes this project fundamentally collaborative and interconnected.

As a result, some of the Cambodian students, early-career scholars and independent researchers we have worked with have seen their self-confidence increase, their argument take an analytical shape, and their research contributing to innovative and critical debates during local, regional and international exchange. Although this will take more time to create a lasting impact on Cambodia’s Higher Education sector, our collaborative work is intent on continuing to identify, train, and offer professional opportunities to those who want to be part of our shared story of change and transformation. For this, we shall always be indebted to the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and their most dedicated staff at the Embassy of Sweden in Bangkok for entrusting us with the necessary tools to write this success story.

Dr. Uk Krisna
Director of Special Initiatives Association for Asian Studies