The Asia Pacific Research Group explores the transformation and diversity of this century’s most dynamic region, including research on Australia and the Pacific, the Indo-Pacific, South and Southeast Asia, and specialty research on China, Japan, and Korea.
Our research
Building on leading research on China, Japan, Korea, and the Indo-Pacific, our research embraces the global region in the neighbourhood through transnational and transcultural approaches to globalising Asia. Research is expanding to multiple shores of Asia and the Pacific including diaspora communities in Sydney.
Our research on governance involves geopolitics, territory, borders, maritime security, and social and capital mobility. Policy research on natural resources economies investigates livelihoods, sustainability, and realities of climate change. Researchers in this group pursue multidisciplinary projects through discourse analysis, decolonization, multilingualism, multi-scaled and multi-sited approaches to place and community, political economy, and foreign relations.
Asia Pacific group research is as diverse as the dynamic region it studies. Originally established in the Institute for International Studies, founded at UTS in 1994, UTS research on Asia and the Pacific has grown with the former Institute’s amalgamation with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in 2008. We collaborate with universities and research institutes in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Research themes
- Australia’s foreign relations
- Cities and urban transformation
- Citizenship studies
- Communications and social media
- Digital media
- Disaster risk communication
- Environmental policy
- Fisheries and marine resources
- Gender relations
- Global governance
- Health governance
- Migration and diaspora
- Political and social change
- Public diplomacy
- Social identity
- Social and economic development
- Spatial analysis
- Urban multilingualism
- Visual culture
Group members
Core members
Kristine Aquino, International Studies and Global Societies
Carolyn Cartier, International Studies and Global Societies, China major
Lai-Ha Chan, Social and Political Sciences
Kate Delmo, Public Communication
Chongyi Feng, Social and Political Sciences
Kyungja Jung, Social and Political Sciences
Olga Oleinikova, Social and Political Sciences
Andrew Song, Social and Political Sciences,
Jingqing Yang, International Studies and Global Societies, China major
Associate members
Sarah Attfield, Writing
Sameera Durrani, Public Communication
Michael Fabinyi, Social and Political Sciences
Amelia Johns, Digital Sound Music
Emi Otsuji, International Studies and Global Societies, Japan major
Annie Song, Social and Political Sciences
Current research projects
Accelerated Migration from Eastern Europe to Australia since 2000s (USFA grant and UTS grant)
| Olga Oleinikova |
| Advance Japanese Networking (the Japan Foundation) | Emi Otsuji with Associate Professor Nakane from Melbourne uni, Associate Professor Carol Heys, ANU and Ms. Nagisa Fukui (UNSW) |
| 'Australian Network for Japanese as Community Language' (the Japan Foundation). | Emi Otsuji with: Professor Chihiro Thomson (UNSW), Dr. Nomi Kurata (Monash), Dr. Kayo Oriyama (Melbourne) and others. |
| China's Belt and Road Initiative and coastal livelihoods (Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Centre) | Michael Fabinyi with Annie Song |
| Class on Screen: The Global Working Class in Contemporary Cinema | Sarah Attfield |
| Climate technologies (mobile apps) in disaster risk resilience in the Asia-Pacific region | Kate Delmo with Dr. Natalie Krikowa |
| Coral Reef Restoration in the Philippines (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) | Michael Fabinyi with collaborators at UTS, Uni of the Philippines, Southern Cross Uni, Macquarie, Melbourne and QUT |
| Cross-cultural research on the government's use of social media in disaster risk communication: Indonesia and Philippine contexts | Kate Delmo with Associate Professor Gregoria Arum Yudarwati, Atma Jaya Yogyakarta Indonesia |
| Cross-cultural study of digital and social media and misinformation in Australia and the Philippines | Kate Delmo with Christine Kearney |
| Decoding the Weaponising of Popular Culture on WhatsApp in Singapore and Malaysia (Facebook Integrity Award, Dec 2018 - Dec 2019) | Amelia Johns with Crystal Abidin, Niki Cheong, Natalie Pang |
| Fishy crimes: Partnering to improve small-scale fishers livelihoods" (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) | Andrew Song with Philippe Le Billon, Dyhia Belhabib, Rashid Sumaila, Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood, Nathan Bennett, Dedi Adhuri & Paula Satizabal |
| Fostering Global Digital Citizenship: 'Everyday' Digital Practices of Diaspora Youth in a Connected World (ARC Discovery project) | Amelia Johns with Anita Harris, Jessica Walton, Gilbert Caluya |
| Governing the City in China: The Territorial Imperative (ARC) | Carolyn Cartier |
| Governing transboundary small-scale fishing in the Asia-Pacific (ARC DECRA) | Andrew Song |
| Heroic narratives on Chinese media (Australia China Research Institute) | Jingquing Yang |
| Indonesian Tuna Fisheries (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) | Michael Fabinyi |
| Japanese Kakenhi research project on South (the Japan Foundation) | Emi Otsuji with CI Professor Matsuda (Kanazawa uni) with: Professor Chihiro Thomson (UNSW), Dr. Nomi Kurata (Monash), Dr. Kayo Oriyama (Melbourne) and others. |
| Local Agency and National Responses to Globalisation: The South Korean Case in Comparative, Transnational and Diasporic Perspective (Academy of Korean Studies, South Korea) | Kyungja Jung with Gilsoo Han (Monash University) |
| Mapping and review of online resources for, and perceived needs among vulnerable and marginalized young people in the Asia-Pacific region on digital literacy, safety and participation (UNESCO research contract) | Amelia Johns with Paul Byron, Niki Cheong, Hendri Yulius
|
| Migrant urbanisms and male Filipino migrant workers in Singapore | Kristine Aquino |
| Rights Lawyers and Constitutionalism In China; CCP United Front and Chinese Immigrants in Australia | Chongyi Feng |
| The Blue Economy (ARC) | Michael Fabinyi with collaborators at UTS, Melbourne Uni and Palawan State Uni |
| The Civilized City (ANU) | Carolyn Cartier |
| The competitive Dynamics of Order-Building in the Indo-Pacific: The Belt and Road Initiative versus the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (The Australian Political Studies Association) | Lai-Ha Chan with Dr Pak K. Lee of the University of Kent, UK
|
| Visual currency in community engagement in disaster communication: The case of Instagram | Kate Delmo with Dr. Natalie Krikowa |
Contact us
Research Group co-conveners: Lai-Ha.Chan@uts.edu.au & Chongyi.Feng@uts.edu.au
Banner image. In new high-rise Guangzhou, a Xiaogang village dragon boat cruises Liede creek, an interfluve of the Pearl River delta, en route to Xian village for the annual duanwu or dragon boat festival. Hundreds of historic rural villages, transformed by urbanisation, have restored village ties through annual dragon boat visits that build inter-village social networks and contest village space in the criss-crossed waterways of the city. Photograph by Gao Yu.