Intellectual Exchange
Overview
ASEF’s Intellectual Exchange aims to provide and communicate quality, actionable inputs for the policy dialogue between Asia and Europe.
Our Goals
- To regularly monitor and analyse developments in Asia-Europe relations in order to identify relevant policy issues where ASEF provides an added value;
- To design and implement programmes responsive to the identified needs of Asia-Europe relations;
- To transform the outcomes of programmes into inputs actionable for Asia-Europe policy dialogue;
- To deliver and implement a communication strategy for the dissemination and advocacy of the outcomes of IE activities.
Our Work
In 2011 the focus areas of the Intellectual Exchange Department include:
Human Rights and Governance: We bring together government and civil society actors to dialogue and share good practice.
Our programmes:
- Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights: The largest government-civil society dialogue on human rights issues in Asia and Europe.
- Asia Europe Roundtable on Conflict Management: Promotes action-oriented discussion on conflict management and peace-building in Asia and Europe
Education and Academic Co-operation: We promote inter-regional partnership in Asian and European studies.
Our programmes:
- The EU through the Eyes of Asia: measures and analyses the perceptions of the EU in Asian countries
- Asia in the Eyes of Europe: A mirror study to the EU through the Eyes of Asia project. Explores the perceptions of Asia amongst European ASEM members
Environment and Sustainable Development: We discuss environmental and sustainable development issues relevant to Asia and Europe.
Our programme:
- Asia-Europe Environment Forum (ENVforum): The ENVForum’s Asia-Europe Strategies for the Earth Summit 2012 aims to produce an analysis of International Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD) options for Rio+20
Economy and Society: We explore a range of social and economic issues with the aim of developing policy recommendations for enhanced inter-regional cooperation.
Our programme:
- The impact of the Crisis on regional Economic Integration: Discusses coping strategies, mechanisms and long-term solutions to the crisis and potential future crises in Asia and Europe.
ASEF Public Health Network: A multi-sector and multi-level platform between Asia and Europe for public health policy dialogue.
The Network activities are classified under three thematic areas:
- Regional Integration and Infectious Diseases – The Network aims to create a platform for consistent exchange of knowledge and experience between Asia and Europe on regional integration and infectious diseases.
- Multi-sector Pandemic Preparedness and Response – Through the ASEF-ASAP (Accurate Scenarios Active Preparedness) scenario exercise, the Network aims to engage health and non-health sectors towards multi-sectoral pandemic preparedness and response.
- Public Health Dialogue – The Network aims to engage multiple actors to address the health issues that affect vulnerable groups such as young people, migrants as well as sexual and ethnic minorities.
Intellectual Exchange Team
- Ms Sol IglesiasDirector
- Ms Anjeli NarandranAssistant Director
- Mr Rachmat IrwansjahProject Manager
- Ms Sunkyoung LeeProject Executive
- Ms Grazyna PulawskaProject Executive
- Mr Ronan Joseph LenihanProject Executive
- Ms Ratna Mathai LukeProject Officer
- Ms Grace FooAdmin/Project Executive
- Mr Christopher MasseyTechnical Assistant
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Ms Sol Iglesias
Director
Sol Iglesias joined ASEF in 2003 and was nominated by the Philippine government to head the Intellectual Exchange department in 2009. Prior to her secondment, she directly managed ASEF projects in international relations, human rights and democracy, sustainable development, and academic co-operation.
Before joining ASEF, she worked for the Local Government Academy in the Philippines on UN poverty alleviation and social reform projects.
Sol is currently on the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Development of Abengoa -- the Spanish alternative energy and environmental services group. The Panel was constituted to scrutinise Abengoa’s Corporate Social Responsibility Report. In 2007, she volunteered as an International Election Observer of the first parliamentary elections in East Timor and led the observation team in the Ainaro District.
She lectures occasionally on contemporary Asia-Europe relations and was a guest lecturer on ethnic politics in Southeast Asia at the National University of Singapore.
Sol received her BA degree in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines and obtained her MA degree in Political Science from the National University of Singapore. She also attended a summer course on European institutions at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. She has published journal articles and book chapters on Southeast Asian politics as well as Asia-Europe relations.
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Ms Anjeli Narandran
Assistant Director
Anjeli Narandran joined ASEF in 2004 as a Project Executive, where she oversaw multi-stakeholder projects to promote cultural exchange between Asia and Europe. In 2007, she left for Japan on a two-year teaching programme and was subsequently a volunteer teacher onboard the 67th global voyage of the Peace Boat, a Japan-based international NGO in Special Consultative Status with the UN ECOSOC.
She rejoined ASEF in 2010 as Project Manager and defacto deputy of the Intellectual Exchange department. She is in charge of the department's day-to-day operations. She also manages the implementation of projects especially in the field of Human Rights and Governance.
Anjeli received her BA degree from the National University of Singapore where she read European Studies and Theatre and her Master's degree (DESS) in Geopolitics and International Relations from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Toulouse in France.
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Mr Rachmat Irwansjah
Project Manager
Rachmat Irwansjah joined ASEF in September 2010.
Before joining ASEF, Rachmat worked with the ASEAN Secretariat as a Health Officer, overseeing the areas of HIV and AIDS, pharmaceuticals, elderly health, and tobacco control. He is passionate about public health issues and has participated in various public health courses and workshops at regional and international levels.
He obtained his BA degree in Regional Planning from the Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia and received his Master of Science degree in Ecological Marine Management from the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels. During his studies, he interned at Enhesa, a global environmental, health, and safety consultancy.
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Ms Sunkyoung Lee
Project Executive
Sunkyoung Lee joined ASEF in April 2009 as Project Executive for the ASEF Network for Public Health. Her involvement in this five-year project centres on building an interactive network across regions and organisations, and ensuring information is easily shared and disseminated through a web-based communication platform.
Sunkyoung has worked in Korea and Europe, and prior to joining ASEF, she interned at the Information Society and Media Directorate General of the European Commission in Brussels.
She obtained her BA degree in English Language and Literature at Ajou University and her MA degree in European Public Affairs from Universiteit Maastricht.
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Ms Grazyna Pulawska
Project Executive
Grazyna Pulawska joined ASEF in February 2010. She is responsible for the Asia-Europe Environment Forum programme, which aims to strengthen co-operation between Asian and European stakeholders in the field of environmental and sustainable development.
Grazyna worked for the Ministry of Economy in Poland, working in the field of regional development. She has also been active in the NGO sector, mainly with the Service Civil International network in Belgium and the Development Wheel, a Bangladesh-based NGO specialising in supporting local entrepreneurship and fair trade.
She received her Master's degree in International Relations through a joint programme between the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and the Warsaw School of Economics.
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Mr Ronan Joseph Lenihan
Project Executive
Since joining ASEF in 2008, Ronan has coordinated the EU Through the Eyes of Asia research project, and its new mirror project, Asia in the Eyes of Europe. He also works on ASEF activities focusing on regional economic integration,developing research focusing on foresight strategies for regional financial integration mechanisms in Asia and Europe.
He graduated from Dublin City University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies in 2006 and following this completed his MA in Globalisation and International Relations at the Centre for International Studies at Dublin City University in 2007. Prior to joining ASEF, he worked for Rabobank International in Dublin.
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Ms Ratna Mathai Luke
Project OfficerRatna Mathai Luke joined ASEF in 2009. With a strong interest in human rights and governance issues, she works on the Asia-Europe Roundtable series on conflict management.
She received her BA (Hons) degree in History from Delhi University (St. Stephen’s College) and her Master's degree in Forced Migration from the University of Oxford. Her Master's thesis was on “HIV and the Displaced: Deconstructing Policy Implementation in Tsunami Displacement Camps in Tamil Nadu.” Her research papers have been published by UNICEF, Refugee Watch, and the Global Action on Aging.
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Ms Grace Foo
Admin/Project Executive
Grace Foo reports to and assists the Director of Intellectual Exchange in administrative and departmental matters. She also helps in preparing various departmental reports. Grace also works with other project officers on the Informal ASEM Semianr on Human Rights series and the Asia-Europe Environment Forum.
Grace joined ASEF’s Intellectual Exchange Department in 2007. Prior to this, she worked at GP Batteries International Limited, the Singapore Manufacturer’s Federation, and GE Global Controls Services.
She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma City.
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Mr Christopher Massey
Technical Assistant.
