Tag: Panel Events

Thursday, October 25, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Chung-wen Shih Conference Room
Suite 503
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies would like to invite you to a roundtable discussion with the 2018 Sigur Center summer language fellows to talk about their study abroad experiences in Asia! This event is open to the public and media.

Topics for Discussion:

Language Study in Taiwan

Language Study in Indonesia

The audio recordings for this event can now be found below:

Speakers:

Alexander Bierman is a M.A. candidate in Security Policy Studies focusing on East Asian security and cyber security. His interests include U.S. policy towards East Asia, Cross-Strait policy, and Chinese politics.

Amoz JY Hor is a PhD student in Political Science at the George Washington University. His research explores how emotions affect the way the subaltern is understood in practices of humanitarianism.

Chloe King is a rising senior in the Elliot School, majoring in international affairs with minors in sustainability and geographic information systems. She spent seven months in Indonesia in 2017 as a Boren Scholar, researching NGO conservation initiatives in marine ecotourism destinations around the country. A PADI Divemaster, her passion for protecting the ocean keeps pulling her back to Indonesia and some of the most diverse—and threatened—marine ecosystems in the world.

Alexandra Wong was a Sigur Center 2018 Asian Language Fellow who studied Mandarin in Taipei, Taiwan at National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Center. Lexi is currently a second-year graduate student at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs where she is studying International Affairs with a regional concentration on Asia.

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies would like to invite you to a roundtable discussion with the Sigur Center summer research fellows to talk about their research experiences in Asia!

Tuesday, October 2, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Chung-wen Shih Conference Room
Suite 503
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

Roundtable Audio (1)

Roundtable Audio (2)

Roundtable Audio (3)

Topics for Discussion:

“Chinese Communist Party Military Strategy During the War of Resistance against Japan”

“Bringing Power-sharing Down to the Streets: Micro-level Interaction with the State in Myanmar”

“Religious Revival amid Riverine Erosion in the Island of Majuli, Assam”

Speakers:

Zhongtian Han, is a history Ph.D. student interested in modern East Asia and strategic studies. His research focuses on the strategic history of modern China and Japan.

Jangai Jap, is a Ph.D. Candidate in George Washington University’s Political Science Department. Her research interest includes ethnic politics, national identity, local government and Myanmar politics. Her dissertation aims to explain factors that shape ethnic minorities’ attachment to the state and why has the state been more successful in winning over a sense of attachment from members of some ethnic minority groups than other ethnic minority groups. She has won the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and her dissertation research has received support from the Cosmos Club Foundation and GW’s Sigur Center for Asian Studies.

Shweta Krishnan, is a PhD Candidate in the department of Anthropology at George Washington University. Her research interests include the anthropology of religion, science and the environment. Her current project explores religious revival amid riverine erosion in the island of Majuli, Assam.

Ichhya Pant, works at the intersection health, evaluation, data and information and communication technologies (ICTs) with a focus on vulnerable population such as immigrants, refugees, women and children. Currently, she serves as a Research Scientist focusing on monitoring and evaluation on the RANI Project which aims to test whether a multi-level social norms based intervention will reduce anemia in women of reproductive age in Odisha, India. 

Thursday, October 4, 2018
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
Lindner Family Commons – Room 602 (6th Floor)
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies will host a panel of news journalists based in Washington, DC reporting from a variety of Asia-based news outlets to discuss how audiences in Asia view contemporary U.S. politics and government.

Light refreshments will be available. This event is free to the public, but is off the record and not for attribution.

Speakers:

Ms. Seema Sirohi is a graduate of Delhi University in India. She has a Master’s degree in journalism from Jawarahal Nehru University in Delhi and an M.A. In sociology from the University of Kansas in the USA. She has worked as a reporter for the Associated Press and as a correspondent and feature writer for the Telegraph. She has also served as a writer and editor for a number of internationally prominent newspapers and magazines. Since 2011, she has been a correspondent and columnist for the Economic Times , India’s largest daily business newspaper.

Mr. Prashanth Parameswaran has lived in Malaysia, Singapore and the Phillipines. He is currently a Ph.D candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He has previously worked on Asian affairs at several think tanks in the U.S., including the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. And he is currently senior editor of The Diplomat Magazine which covers Asian affairs and has its headquarters in D.C.

Mr. Takeshi Kurihara is a graduate of the University of Tokyo where he earned a B.A. in journalism. He began his career as a reporter for NHK (Japan public television), working in western Japan and then eventually was transferred to Tokyo where he worked as a political reporter. Takeshi first came to the United States as a visiting scholar at Stanford University in 2015. In June 2018, he was transferred to the Washington bureau of NHK where he specializes in covering news related to U.S. government policies.

Moderator: Professor Andrew Krieger, senior adjunct professor at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD; teaches courses in international relations, sociology, and American government.

Event Recording

Tuesday, July 24, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Lindner Family Commons – Room 602 (6th Floor)

Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E St. NW, Washington, DC 20052

This event is co-sponsored with the Global Taiwan Institute. This event is free and open to the public and media.

Wind Turbines in Taichung, Taiwan, June 19, 2016. Image Credit: EPA/Ritchie B. Tongo

Event Description:

Climate change is as much an environmental issue as it is a national security concern for Taiwan. While Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, its energy policies are guided by the Paris Climate Accord. Although Taiwan was not even among the top 10 countries for offshore wind in 2017, it is now leading the way in Asia through partnerships with several European companies, which see Taiwan as an entry to the Asian offshore wind power market.

Taiwan’s recent push towards renewable energy follows the 2011 Fukushima Disaster in Japan. In the aftermath of that disaster, public opinion in Taiwan shifted dramatically against the use of nuclear power due to its potential danger. President Tsai Ing-wen was elected into office in 2016 on a promise that Taiwan will become “nuclear-free” by 2025. Yet in 2017, the island experienced significant power outages that raised some doubts about the viability of the government’s ambitious plan for Taiwan’s energy future.

Please join the Global Taiwan Institute and co-sponsor, The Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University, on July 24th to explore the future of Taiwan’s energy. This event is the third installment of the Civil Society and Democracy Series, which is partially funded by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. The panelists will discuss Taiwan’s policy and opportunities in sustainable energy, how it will impact the Asia-Pacific region, and what it means for US interests.

Please direct questions or concerns to Global Taiwan Institute Program Associate Marzia Borsoi-Kelly.

** Media that would like to bring additional crew members or equipment, please contact Ms. Borsoi-Kelly directly.

Panelists

Wen-Yu Weng is a low-carbon energy and sustainability consultant. Currently based at the Carbon Trust in the UK, she delivers and designs low-carbon strategy and implementation projects in Southeast Asia, East Asia, the UK, and other European countries, working closely with local partners, governments, the private sector, and international organizations. She has particular interests in solar and wind energy, storage and grid issues, energy policy, circular economy, green finance, and the application of IT innovations for a low-carbon future. Outside her environmental consultancy and research work, Wen-Yu co-founded the Emerging Leaders Program at the Caux Dialogue on Land and Security in Switzerland, and is also the Co-founder of the non-profit Taiwan Debate Union. She received her M.Sc. in Environmental Policy from the University of Oxford, as well as a M.Sc. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Clara Gillispie is the Senior Director of Trade, Economic, and Energy Affairs at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). Her subject-matter expertise focuses on shaping program and research agendas on energy security, trade and innovation policies, public health and the environment, and geopolitical trends in the Asia-Pacific. Prior to joining NBR in 2011, Ms. Gillispie served as a consultant for Detica Federal Inc. (now a part of BAE Systems), where she conducted program assessments and policy reviews for US government clients. She has also worked both at the US House Committee on Science, Technology, and Space and the American Chamber of Commerce in the People’s Republic of China. Ms. Gillispie graduated from the London School of Economics and Peking University with a dual M.Sc. in International Affairs. Prior to her graduate studies, Ms. Gillispie received a B.S. from Georgetown University and attended Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, for language training.

Lotta Danielsson is the Vice President of the US-Taiwan Business Council. Lotta’s duties include membership retention and development, research on current Taiwan policy issues, and research to identify the needs of U.S. businesses in Taiwan. She oversees all member products and services, and manages the development of new value-added membership services. She also oversees all events and conferences, and she has planned the annual US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference – which serves as an important platform for bilateral dialogue on Taiwan’s national security and defense needs – since its inception in 2002. As a student in the three-year International MBA program (Chinese Track) at the University of South Carolina, Lotta spent 19 months studying Mandarin Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan and in Beijing, China. Lotta also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Georgia State University.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Elliott School of International Affairs
**B12**
1957 E St. NW, Washington, DC 20052

This event is co-sponsored with the Global Taiwan Institute. This event is free and open to the public and media.

Event Description:

The Trump administration’s 2017 National Security Strategy warned that adversaries “are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies.” Indeed, there is a growing consensus that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is currently engaged in a comprehensive coercive campaign that utilizes political warfare to influence and undermine democracies through coercive, corrupt, and covert means. The impact of China’s authoritarian influence is being felt throughout the world, but most visibly in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Czech Republic, United States, and Taiwan. To be clear, the government in Taiwan has the longest experience contending with CCP political warfare than any other governments. Consequently, Taipei’s counter-measures to this emerging challenge deserves careful study. Please join GTI and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the George Washington University on July 11 for a timely discussion with a panel of experts: Toshi Yoshihara (Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments), Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian (The Daily Beast), and Shanthi Kalathil (National Endowment for Democracy).

Please direct questions or concerns to Global Taiwan Institute Program Associate Marzia Borsoi-Kelly.

** Media that would like to bring additional crew members or equipment, please contact Ms. Borsoi-Kelly directly.

Panelists

Toshi Yoshihara is a Senior Fellow at CSBA. Previously he held the John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies at the U.S. Naval War College where he taught strategy for over a decade. He was also an affiliate member of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the War College. Dr. Yoshihara has been a visiting professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University since 2012. He has also taught as a visiting professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California, San Diego and as a visiting professor in the Strategy Department at the U.S. Air War College. He has served as a research analyst at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, RAND, and the American Enterprise Institute. Dr. Yoshihara has testified before the Defense Policy Board, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is the recipient of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award in recognition of his scholarship on maritime and strategic affairs at the Naval War College.

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is a Security Reporter at The Daily Beast and previously a contributing reporter at Foreign Policy. She was previously an assistant editor at Foreign Policy’s China channel Tea Leaf Nation. Bethany has appeared on CNN, C-SPAN, BBC, Al Jazeera, PRI, and Deutsche Welle, among other outlets, and her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She covered the 2017 German federal elections as a correspondent in Berlin and has also reported from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Austria, China, Japan, and Taiwan. She was a 2017 Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Berlin, a 2016 Jefferson Fellow at the East-West Center, and a 2015 fellow with the International Reporting Project. Before joining Foreign Policy, she lived and worked in China for more than four years. She holds an M.A. in East Asian studies from Yale University and a graduate certificate from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies. Bethany speaks and reads Chinese.

Shanthi Kalathil is Director of the International Forum for Democratic Studies. Her work has focused primarily on issues pertaining to democratization, development, and the impact of information and communication technology, with a particular emphasis on Asia. Previously in her career, she served as a senior Democracy Fellow at the U.S. Agency for International Development, an associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a non-resident associate with the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, and as a consultant for the World Bank, the Aspen Institute, and other international affairs organizations. Kalathil has appeared on media including NPR, BBC, VOA, RFA, C-SPAN, and others, and has authored or edited numerous policy and scholarly publications, including Diplomacy, Development and Security in the Information Age (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, 2013), Developing Independent Media as an Institution of Accountable Governance (The World Bank, 2008), and (with Taylor C. Boas) Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2003). A former Hong Kong-based staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal Asia, Kalathil lectures on international relations in the information age at Georgetown University. She holds degrees from U.C. Berkeley and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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