Gender, Migration
& Post-Disasters Communities in Asia Pacific Island Countries eNetwork
The aim of this network is to engage in collaborative research projects and publications; promote teaching and learning between and among students,
scholars and practitioners; and conduct activities involving local, national, and international communities on the intersections of gender, migration, and disaster in island countries in Asia-Pacific.
Contact person: Glenda Tibe Bonifacio, PhD Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Lethbridge, Canada Email: glenda.bonifacio@uleth.ca
Network Chair
Glenda Tibe Bonifacio
Professor, Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Lethbridge, Canada
Glenda is a full professor at the University of Lethbridge. She obtained her Ph.D. in Political Science at the School of History and Politics, University of Wollongong, Australia. Her BA in Social Sciences and MA in Asian Studies were completed at the University of the Philippines. Glenda is an interdisciplinary scholar with varied research and teaching areas related to gender, migration, religion, disaster, and equity. She is the author of Pinay on the Prairies: Filipino Women and Transnational Identities, and the editor and co-editor of eight books. Her current edited book project on disasters in the Philippines is in collaboration with Roxanna Epe (Ph.D. candidate) and colleagues in the Philippines, Australia, and Mexico. Glenda initiated the CAPIC (Canada and Asia-Pacific Island Countries) hub on gender, migration, and post-disaster communities.
Members
DIAS PRASONGKO
Research Centre for Politics and Government, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia
Dias Prasongko works as a researcher at the Research Centre for Politics and Government (PolGov), Department of Politics and Government, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Gadjah Mada University. He received a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Government from Gadjah Mada University with a focus on democracy and discourse studies. Before becoming a researcher, he has worked as a journalist in TEMPO Media Group. As a PolGov researcher, Dias has been involved in research projects related to democracy, environmental policy, water governance, discourse, and electoral politics. He has joined the research consortium, “Ground Up: A practice-based analysis of groundwater governance for integrated urban water resource management in Semarang”. In this consortium, he joined researchers from the University of Amsterdam, IHE-Delf, Katolik Soegijapranata University, Diponegoro University, Amrta Institute and KRuHA including the Department of Politics and Government. He also participated in research titled "The impact of COVID-19 on women’s access to water, sanitation and hygiene in an Indonesian fishing village." This research was conducted by Gadjah Mada University and Monash University, Australia funded by the Australian Indonesia Center and DFAT Australia.
Sumiko Ogawa
Professor of Public Health, Meio University, Okinawa, Japan
Sumiko Ogawa teaches Public Health and Global Health in Okinawa, Japan, as a Professor in Meio University's Faculty of Human Health Sciences. Dr. Ogawa has a Ph.D. in Human Sciences from Osaka University, Master's degrees in both Public Health (Antwerp, Belgium) and in Medical Sciences (Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University), and diplomas in Tropical Medicine (Tokyo University) and Tropical Epidemiology (London, LSHTM). From 1992 to 1996 she lived and worked in Khammounane Province, Lao PDR, as Chief Technical Advisor to the Lao PDR Ministry of Health's JICA and WHO sponsored Primary Health Care Project, playing a key role in supporting community participation in the project area and implementation of a still-sustained Drug Revolving Fund system which later became a nationwide program. She was awarded the third class labor decoration by the government of Lao PDR in 1996. From 2000 to 2003, she was Principal Investigator for the Japan Ministry of Education funded research project on the Development of Okinawa's Health and Health Sector since World War II and for the development, with JICA support, of eight related educational videos and eight sets of case-based training materials. Dr. Ogawa frequently serves as a JICA short-term expert (e.g., in Laos, Indonesia, Tanzania and Ghana) and as a JICA trainer from JICA staff and JICA international course participants. She is also the last President of the Okinawan Association of JICA Experts. Her special interests, other than teaching, include health workforce development and the urban-rural imbalance in health staffing in both developed and developing countries. Her research interest is currently toward "Global impact of island women's proactive migration on modern society" and "Resilience of women's diasporas from islands and their challenges under globalization".
Raveenthiran Vivekanantharasa
B.Ed,HNDE,DiTech,CTHE,M.Sc (Educational Management (Reading), M.Phil- PhD (Reading)
Dept of Secondary and Tertiary Education Faculty of Education, The Open university of Sri Lanka
Raveenthiran Vivekanantharasa is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, The Open University of Sri Lanka. After working as a lecturer and instructor in the field of English in various government institutions in Sri Lanka and as a director of a NGO in Sri Lanka for some years, he was appointed as a lecturer in Faculty of Education, Open University of Sri Lanka in 2016. In his academic career, he has been appointed as a resource person in various government and non-government organizations in Nigeria and attended number of international conferences as keynote speaker, panelist and resource person and judge of the conference. He has published extensively in the field of Education and has received a number of international awards in international conferences (EDUxICON Award ceremony in India, 2021 and an Academic Excellence Award in 2nd “Digital Education Summit” organized by SAIARD, India in association with Global Opportunities Globalization, Australia and Global Talk Education Foundation, India from 29-30 July). He received an research leadership award in an international virtual conference in Athens, Greece, September 2021.
Mahesti Hasanah
Research Centre for Politics and Government (PolGov), Department of Politics and Government, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Mahesti Hasanah is a researcher. She obtained her master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratisation at Mahidol University, Thailand. Her thesis, on the practice of contract farming in Mindanao in the Philippines, received an award as the best thesis for Asia Pacific Master Program (APMA) from Global Campus on Human Rights, Venice, Italy. Her research focuses on business and human rights; economy politics; local democracy; natural resources governance; and politics and technology. Since 2020, she has been involved in the Big Data Analytics Lab, supervised by PolGov management, whose aim is to mainstream big data in social science research. Recently, her work is focused on how local government preparedness utilizes the technology during the pandemic era. In collaboration with colleagues, her current journal article discusses corruption as a social process in issues about natural resources in Indonesia.
Eli Paolo Fresnoza
Instructor at the School of Tourism Management, Faculty Lead - Centre for Tourism Research and Extension Services, Capilano University, British Columbia, Canada
Paolo Fresnoza (DSocSci, Royal Roads University, 2021) is an accomplished tourism expert with a wealth of experience in the tourism industry in Canada, Australia, Thailand, and the Philippines. With over 15 years of experience, his specialties include tourism planning; destination and policy development; tourism research; sociological dimensions in tourism; equity, diversity, and inclusion; and disaster risk management in tourist destinations. Dr. Fresnoza brings together his experience and expertise into the classroom environment, as a former assistant professor at the University of the Philippines, Asian Institute of Tourism, and as a current instructor at Capilano University in North Vancouver where he also spearheads the Centre for Tourism Research and Extensions Services. Dr. Fresnoza believes in the synergy of tourism and urban planning in creating a progressive and innovative approach to develop sustainable communities that prosper through tourism. His latest achievement was the tourism planning of a 4,000-acre mixed-use, integrated tourism and heritage destination in the Philippines. This project is expected to generate CAD $200 million worth of investments and provide over 800 meaningful jobs for just the first two phases of its 10-year development. Dr. Fresnoza is a graduate of Capilano University's Tourism Management Degree program and holds a Master's degree (with honours) in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines. His doctoral dissertation focused on critiquing disaster risk management modernization in Indigenous island communities. His continuous research endeavours on disasters on small islands have recently been lauded, where his paper, titled "Transcending from Structural Functionalism to Theoretical Pluralism in Disaster Research," won the Best Research Paper Award for contribution to theory. As a think-outside-the-box advocate, Dr. Fresnoza is passionate about transforming communities to become more resilient, encouraged and empowered, realized through sustainable tourism.
Anita Garrido-Cular
University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban College, Philippines
Anita Garrido-Cular lectures in Economics and Gender at the UPV Tacloban College, Division of Social Sciences (UPVTC, DSS) Dr. Cular obtained her Doctor in Business Administration from UP College of Business Administration; her Master's degree in Business Management from UPV Tacloban College. and her undergraduate degree in BS Business Economics from UP School of Economics. Professor Cular has served UP in various capacities, but the most recent was her service as Dean of UPV Tacloban College at a time when Typhoon Haiyan hit Tacloban City. Disaster and its harrowing impacts on individuals and families is a lived experience of Dr. Cular, as she worked towards recovery and reconstruction of her own family and, that of the institution, UPV Tacloban College. Each one of us who survived the disaster has a story to tell and it will never be forgotten. Aside from teaching, Dr. Cular also engages in research where women and community associations are involved. At present, her research work is focused on marginalized sectors, like the fish vendors, and the impact of the pandemic on the health status of women.
Evangelia Papoutsaki
MA Leeds, PhD Cardiff
Evangelia is co-convenor of SICRI and Executive Editor of ePress at Unitec Auckland, New Zealand; former Associate Professor and Program Leader at the University of Central Asia; former Research Associate at the Pacific Media Centre, AUT and International Research Fellow at the Center for Pacific Islands Research at Kagoshima University where she developed a islands communicative ecology mapping approach (ICE). Her professional background and academic interests are on development and communication for social change and island studies. She has extensive experience in the Pacific, including her previous position as Head of Communication Arts Department at DWU in Papua New Guinea, UNESCO Chair for Media Freedom PNG, and involvement in major research projects including a research consortium that conducted a 14 Pacific Islands State of the Media and Communication research project. She is at the editorial/advisory boards of Island Studies Journal, Okinawa Journal of Island Studies and SHIMA, the co-founder of the Contemporary PNG Studies Journal and former Reviews Editor of the Pacific Journalism Review. She has published three edited volumes on Pacific and PNG communication issues. www.epapoutsaki.com