In partnership with Sweden, the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) has launched a four-year initiative to help reduce the social and economic vulnerabilities of Southeast and South Asian low and lower-middle-income countries. The “Cultivating the Humanities and Social Sciences and Supporting Under-Represented Scholars of Asia” (CHSS) project aims to strengthen the research capacity of underserved universities while enhancing the academic knowledge, research skills, experience, and resources of their scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
One of the major components of this $2.68-million transnational project is to stimulate knowledge production and policy-relevant research by offering research grants to junior faculty, graduate students, senior, and independent scholars, especially to women and ethnic minority groups located in post-conflict and conflict areas.
In 2022, AAS has partnered with the Forest Foundation Philippines to sponsor Filipino scholars whose research relates to forestry issues in the Philippines. With the Foundation’s support, four research grants to Filipino scholars whose research examines the inextricable link between forests, climate, and people through the social science and humanities lens were awarded:
- Estrella Y. Dacillo, Central Mindanao University, “Folk Narratives and Art Media: Towards a Theoretical Model of Cultural and Environmental Restoration among the Bukidnons”
- Ma. Zenia Dulce, University of the Philippines Tacloban College and UP Baguio, “Semiotics and Cultural Logic of the Mamanwa Rituals through Dance as Embodied Knowledge”
- Agnes Beatrice Silva and Marian Gongora, Far Eastern University, “The ‘Normalisation of Inconvenience’: A Study on the Philippines’ Sustainability of Climate Change Policies and its Effects on Women Post-Typhoon Rai (Odette)”
- Eden Hulipas-Terol, University of the Philippines, “The Sierra Madre Ayta Youths’ Perception on Environmental Conservation and Management Strategies on Ecotourism in their Ancestral Domain in the Province of Aurora”
