Student profiles
Guy Roberts
PhD Candidate
Studying at the Asia Institute has been a fantastic opportunity and will be the final cap on my student experience. Before arriving at the Institute, I had completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Monash University in 2004, and a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies with Honours from the ANU in 2006. I then worked as a political speech writer and foreign policy advisor before returning to academia in 2009.
My study examines how President George W. Bush engaged with China during his first term in office – a topic that builds on my Masters thesis, and is proving very interesting amid the ongoing strategic debate – in Australia and the world – about how to engage with a ‘Rising China’ in the 21st century.
My studies have also opened doors to fantastic opportunities and experiences – in July 2011 I attended the Australia-China Futures Dialogue, Emerging Leaders Dialogue, held at Peking University in Beijing, while in July 2012 I’m visiting Washington DC and New York City as a youth delegate to the Australian American Leadership Dialogue. I have also delivered a number of papers and lectures at conferences throughout Australia.
At the same time, the staff and students of the Asia Institute are great to work alongside, and there is a genuine sense of collegiate equality and mutual respect throughout the building – which is a big support when the study is going though a slow patch!
While I was studying at the Asia Institute, I also took the opportunity for some tutoring in a different field – the French Revolution and American history at the University of Melbourne’s School of Historical and Philosophical Studies. This gave me a break from direct focus on my thesis, and has injected some very valuable multidisciplinary perspective into my work.
I’m nearing submission of my thesis, and really hope for a career in academia, lecturing and researching on the future relationships between the Commonwealth of Australia, the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China.
Graduates of Asia Institute
Naomi Kaufman
Graduate of Honours in Islamic Studies
Since picking Islamic Studies as my major in my undergraduate Arts degree I am repeatedly asked why I, a non Muslim female with no political inclinations and thirteen years of Catholic education behind me would want to get into Islamic Studies?
Like many uni students I started out with little idea of what I wanted to do with my degree. I picked general studies including an Introduction to the Muslim World mainly because of the media hype surrounding the region. This class highlighted my serious lack of real understanding about the conflicts in the region and the nature of Islam.
Studying Islamic studies has not only increased my knowledge of the underlying issues influencing every conflict in the region, it has also educated me about the true nature of Islam as opposed to the cultural manipulations that fill today's media. The staff at the Asia Institute are dedicated to furthering this kind of understanding through guest lecturers, sharing resources between universities as well as taking the time to help students personally.
Currently, I'm completing my Honours year before moving onto a Masters in Islamic Studies. While I haven't a solid idea of what career path I'd choose I know this area of study makes it possible for me to enter a variety of exciting and relevant fields that significantly impact the nature of the word today.
Greta Cunningham
My time at the Asia Institute was invaluable. My studies not only built my knowledge and passion for Asia, particularly Southeast Asia, but also opened up a range of Asia focused career opportunities.
I graduated from The University of Melbourne in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Indonesian and Asian Studies. In addition to the formal classes, as part of my degree I undertook a Melbourne Abroad Exchange for one semester to a university in Indonesia, where I was able to build my Indonesian language and cultural skills.
After graduating, I worked for Asialink at the University of Melbourne, where I delivered public programs promoting networks between Australia and Asia, such as the Asialink Leadership Program.
I subsequently accepted a Canberra based position in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's 2005 Graduate Development Program. I have been with the Department for five years and have been fortunate to hold an incredible array of interesting roles, often drawing on the skills that I gained at the Asia Institute. It is rewarding to contribute in a positive way to shaping the fabric of Australian society.
In my Graduate year at the Department, some of my work experiences included analysing immigration policies of countries in the Asian region for trade negotiations; preparing changes to the Australian Citizenship Act 1948; and investigating grievances from immigration detainees and reporting on these to the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
At the conclusion of the Graduate Program I moved to the Multicultural Affairs Branch where I developed and implemented a national action plan promoting social cohesion in response to global events like the 2005 London Bombings.
In the Department's international area I was responsible for international protection issues and Australia's engagement with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. Opportunities included representing the Department at a regional workshop on people smuggling in Malaysia, and accompanying the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on his Guest of Government visit to Australia in 2009. Presently, I manage policies for the settlement of unaccompanied humanitarian minors who arrive in Australia under our humanitarian program.
I recently completed a Masters of International Affairs and will soon take extended leave to travel and volunteer with refugee communities in the Asian region.
Luke Arnold
BA LLB(Hons 1) (Melbourne), LLM (London)
I commenced studying Indonesian language and politics at the Asia Institute (in conjunction with a Bachelor of Laws from Melbourne Law School) in 1999. The experience was so enjoyable that the following year, with the assistance of a Melbourne Abroad Scholarship, I enrolled in an immersion course studying philosophy at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Apart from being personally enlightening, this experience set me upon a career path linked closely with Asia: I have since worked for the University of Melbourne's Asian Law Centre, Minter Ellison Lawyers (one of the leading law firms in the Asia Pacific region) and the Jakarta Office of International Labour Organization.
In 2007, after being nominated by the University of Melbourne, I was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship for postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom. I used this to study at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, undertaking a Masters in Law, Development and Governance. I completed the degree with top marks, an achievement in part thanks to the strong academic foundations offered by Asia Institute.
I now develop policies on governance assistance to Indonesia for the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), continuing the interest I developed in law, Asia and international development while an undergraduate student at the Asia Institute.
Current students
Anthony Swan
Undergraduate student of Chinese
I am in my final year of a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Chinese. As a young person, I never imagined I would end up studying Chinese. I studied German and Latin in high school without much success, as I had no previous connection to either language, and in any case was much more interested in art. I completed my first degree in Visual Arts Education, majoring in ceramics. I later worked as a potter.
During this time I started to use traditional Chinese glazes in my work and began to decorate my cups with images of traditional Chinese painting. I had little understanding of this art, so decided to attend Chinese painting classes at a Buddhist monastery. As I became more interested in Chinese culture, I went on to study Taijiquan. Eventually I realized that in order to really understand Chinese culture, I would have to learn the language, which I came to find completely fascinating.
The course at the Asia Institute suits me well. Like the Chinese language itself, it is structured and logical. As well as being interesting and challenging, the classes have also, perhaps surprisingly, been fun. I'm sure some of the lecturers could well be comedians as well as academics. Furthermore, the breadth of the subjects offered in the Arts degree has also allowed me to study my mother's first language, Swedish, concurrently with Chinese.
When I become sufficiently proficient in Chinese I hope to undertake postgraduate studies in translation and interpreting and one day work as a translator.
Supriyanto Abdi
Scholarship recipient and current PhD candidate
I first came to the Asia Institute in 2003 to pursue a Masters program in contemporary Asian analysis with the support of Australia Development Scholarship. I had previously studied Islamic Studies in Indonesia, and I found my postgraduate study at this Institute and my contact with academic staff and other students from different academic disciplines here to be very worthwhile.
My academic interests were in Islamic thought, discourses and movements in face of contemporary social, economic and political change and transformation. My contact with a range of academic backgrounds and approaches at the Asia Institute was instrumental in introducing me to various different theoretical and disciplinary approaches.
After completing my Masters program in 2005, I joined a research centre working on human rights issues in my home country of Indonesia for a couple of years. In 2009 I was offered a Melbourne International Research Scholarship and International Fee Remission Scholarship by the University of Melbourne to pursue my doctoral study at the Asia Institute. I happily accepted the offer and commenced my PhD study in July 2009.
My rewarding previous experience of studying at the Institute as well as the stimulating academic environment and impressive range of expertise and resources it offers are key reasons why I decided to come back and continue my studies here. I am now at the stage of building a solid foundation for my PhD project on dynamic encounters between Islam and liberalism in contemporary Indonesia, and I find the academic guidance and supervision offered by academic staff here very helpful and constructive at this critical stage.
Phillip van Gaalen-Prentice
Undergraduate student of Arabic
I first decided to study Arabic after returning from time spent volunteering at a hospital in Nazareth, Israel. The city has a predominantly Arab population and I was fortunate enough to be able to learn and to use some basic Arabic on a day-to-day basis. Having enjoyed this experience I was eager to continue my study of Arabic and so applied to undertake a Graduate Diploma in Arts (Arabic Studies) at the Asia Institute. On completion of this degree I hope to work for an organisation focusing on aid and development issues within the Arab world.
The staff at the Asia Institute help to make the study of this difficult language both interesting and enjoyable. Their passion for Arabic is demonstrated by their availability to answer even the simplest of questions, and by the constant encouragement that they provide to students to achieve a high standard of proficiency. Having worked and travelled in the Middle East I have been impressed by the way that my degree has combined the study of Arabic language with the development of an understanding of both Arab culture and Islam. I highly recommend the experience of studying Arabic at the Asia Institute.