Visiting Research Fellows 2015­16

Winter Term 2016

Dr. Gholamreza Jafari is faculty member at the Physics and Cognitive Science Department of ​ Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. He earned a Ph.D. in Physics from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in 2005. His research focuses in general on the field of complex systems. Currently he is researching on the following topics: complex network dynamics and collective behavior and their application in social and economic problems and cognitive science; data analysis, criticality, coupled systems analysis, fractional calculus.

Dr. Grace Bosibori Nyamongo is Research Associate/Lecturer at the African Women's ​ Studies Centre at the University of Nairobi. She was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue PhD studies and in 2009 received her PhD in Women's Studies from York University. In November ­ December 2009 she was GEXCel Scholar at Linkoping University in Sweden. In 2009 ­ 2010 she was Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, USA. In 2011 ­ 2012 she was lecturer at Kenyatta University. She has and continues to supervise several postgraduate students' research projects and theses. She has published various articles in the areas of gender, politics and African sexuality. Her research interests include women and work, violence against women and girls and other vulnerable groups, gender issues, and African sexuality. She has also worked as an independent consultant for the African Development Bank (AFBD) on Higher Education Science and Technology (HEST) – Gender and Labour market dynamics in Uganda. In the area of transformative advocacy she is actively engaged in the sensitization of rural people, and mentoring the youth on issues including poverty eradication strategies, HIV/AIDS, education, FGM and conflict resolution among others. Dr. Grace Bosibori Nyamongo is hosted by the CEU Department of Gender Studies.

Dr. Jose Pablo Prado Cordova is a tenured lecturer at Universidad de San Carlos in ​ Guatemala, where he teaches social sciences and rural development to first year students at the Faculty of Agronomy. His research interest is in political ecology as such an overarching approach to environmental problems gives him the chance to navigate between both social and biophysical sciences. He is also very interested in exploring the human condition and, above all, how people came to be what they are as citizens, nature appropriators, subjects and free thinkers. At this point of his career he decided to devote a significant amount of time to write down his ideas about these topics and delve into the particulars of environmental ethics in the process. Earlier he has spent a great deal of time as a volunteer with the YMCA of Guatemala.

Dr. Vo Van Dut is lecturer and researcher at the Department of International Business, the ​ College of Economics, Can Tho University, Vietnam, where he obtained his bachelor degree. Vo Van Dut has been awarded the PhD title in 2014 from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He received master degree (MSc) in International Economics and Business in 2007 and the master by research degree (Mphil) of International Business in 2009 at the same university. His PhD project focused on subsidiary decision­making autonomy in multinational enterprises. His research interests are in the field of international business, SMEs and cooperate governance. His current works have been published in peer­reviewed journals like International Business Review, Asian Academy of Management Journal, Problems and Perspectives in Management. Vo Van Dut has also visited several times the Halle Institute for Economic Research during his PhD project. His current interest stems from his ambition to understand how cultural distance affects MNE subsidiary's access to local complementary assets and how subsidiary's forward and backward linkages impact its innovation.

Fall and Winter Terms 2015­16

Dr. Ernest Ngeh Tingum is a Cameroonian and holds a PhD in Economics from the University ​ of Dar es Salaam. Professionally, he is an economist and researcher who has been working with various national and international organizations, to mention a few: University of Dschang (Cameroon), National Polytechnic Cameroon, University of Dar es Salaam, The Open University of Tanzania and WageIndicator Foundation in Holland. As an Economist and Lead Specialist with WageIndicator Foundation based Amsterdam (since August 2011) he has been involved in a number of activities which include data collection in East and West African Countries, research and analysis as well as a vast experience on the issues of collective bargaining in the African labor market. He has been a member of the “Tobacco Control Analysis and Intervention Evaluation in China and Tanzania” in the Department of Economics since 2013. He is board member of the national NGO Sustainable Holistic Initiatives Organization (SHIO) based in Morogoro, Tanzania. Currently he is a visiting research fellow at the School of Public Policy at the Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary. His current research interest is on gender issues, job satisfaction and collective bargaining in the African labor market.

Fall Term 2015

Dr. Thwin Pa Pa is a Professor and Head of the Department of Law at Mandalay University in central Myanmar. She holds a Doctor of Law degree in Transnational law and Policy from Tohoku University (Japan, 2006). She has over 20 years of teaching experience and was appointed the Head of Department in 2014. Her teaching and main fields of interest cover Constitutional Law, Business Law, Labor Laws and Land Laws; she received further training and presented at academic events in India, Italy and, most recently, Sweden. The research area that Thwin Pa Pa currently focuses on is Constitutional Rights and Rule of Law in Myanmar, and she is a Fellow at the CEU Department of Legal Studies.

Dr. Myint Thu Myaing is a Professor at the Law Department, University of Yangon in Myanmar. She received her first law degree in 1985, then an LLM in 1992 and a PhD in 2005 from the University of Yangon, as well as a Diploma in Management and Administration in 2000 from the Yangon Institute of Economics. In 2003, she was also awarded an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from WIPO and Turin University in Italy. Since 1986 she has been teaching at the University of Yangon, East Yangon University and Mawlamyine University in Mon State in Southern Myanmar. She teaches full­time LLB and LLM courses, Diploma Course in Business Law for public servants and professionals, and a PhD preliminary course at the University of Yangon. She also contributes to the Diploma in Law at Defense Services Administration School in Pyin Oo Lwin in central Myanmar. Her fields of expertise and research interest are Intellectual Property Law, International Environmental Law, International Human Rights Law and Investment Laws. She has been supervising theses of Master's students and dissertation projects of PhD candidates. Her current research, bringing her as a Fellow to the CEU Legal Studies Department, focuses on settlement of intellectual property rights related laws and practices, in light of Myanmar's covenants with WTO, ASEAN and WIPO and is timely for the needs of legal reforms underway in Myanmar.

Dr. Thida Tun is Professor of International Relations at the University of Mandalay in Myanmar. She received a BA in 1991, MA in 1997 and PhD in 2007, all from Mandalay University. Her PhD project focused on the Role of National Unity in the Constitutional Development of Myanmar (1947­ 1974). Since the start of the higher education reform in Myanmar, she has been working actively in the area of quality assurance, notably in the project focused on the study and application of the ASEAN University Network Quality Assurance model and its implementation in the ASEAN countries, and a current three­year project on strengthening capacity of Myanmar universities towards establishing the quality assurance system for improving the quality of higher education in the Greater Mekong Sub­region countries supported by the Asian Development Bank. In 2013, with support of the Open Society Foundations, she represented Myanmar in the Summer Institute "Higher Education Leadership for Tomorrow" at the University of Hong Kong. Thida Tun is a member of Open Access Policy Working Group and Secretary of Internal Quality Assurance Committee at Mandalay University. She currently teaches Introduction to International Relations at the BA program; PhD course in the foreign policy of Myanmar, as well as Postgraduate Diploma courses in International Relations, Political Science, Public Policy, Public Opinion and Public Administration. Her fields of research and PhD supervision are Foreign Policy Analysis, Comparative Constitutions and Public Administration. At CEU she is working to enrich her current research on the subject of Administrative Reform in Myanmar.

Dr. Thin Thin Aye is a Professor at the Department of International Relations at Yadanabon University, a largest undergraduate university in Mandalay, Myanmar. She teaches International Relations, Political Thought, US Government and Politics, Diplomacy at the undergraduate program and new subjects of Democracy and Democratization for the Honors and Master's students. Her own Master's thesis focused on the legacy and impact of the Japanese occupation on the nationalist movements in Myanmar post­World War II; her PhD research examined the collaboration between the government of Myanmar and the UN agencies in the immunization and prevention against child diseases in 1988­2004. Her publications on the subjects of awareness raising in Myanmar's response to major diseases and development of ICTs in Myanmar were published by the Myanmar Academy of Arts and Sciences. She presented on Human Resources Development in Myanmar (1988­2010) at the Asia Pacific Human Resources Conference in Beijing; more recently on the role of civil society in Myanmar's democratization at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar in Transition in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She comes to CEU with a strong interest in the advancement of the civil society actors and non­governmental organizations as Myanmar embraces democratic practices. She seeks to enhance her mastery of theories of civil society and research methods as a Fellow at the Departments of Political Science and International Relations.

Dr. Lwin Lwin Mon is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Yangon (Myanmar). She holds a BA (Hons), an MA and a Doctorate in Anthropology, as well as MA and MRes degrees in Archeology. For 21 years she has been teaching and conducting research in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Archaeology, Ethnology, Medical Anthropology, Research Methods, Paleontology and Anthropology of Tourism. During this time, she produced twelve international publications, twenty publications in national journals, six research entries, and conducted over twenty special training projects. In 2013 she contributed to a project on "Inclusive Local Community Development in Myanmar" initiated by the University of Yangon, Hanyang University and ReDI (Re­shaping Development Institute), supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency. As a fellow of the Asia Leadership Fellow Program (Japan Foundation and International House of Japan), in 2013 she lectured at Hosei University in Japan focusing on Myanmar ethnic conflicts and democracy from the point of view of political and social anthropology. During 2014­2015 she contributed to UNESCO Consultation Meetings and Workshops on Bagan and Innlay bids for the World Heritage site status. Lwin Lwin Mon has a special interest in the Budapest UNESCO World Heritage programs and learning more about its historical aesthetics. Her research at CEU focuses on the challenges emerging from the changes in life­styles of migrants of Kachin ethnic groups living in Yangon.

Dr. Moe Moe Oo is a visiting research fellow in the Department of History. She comes from Mandalay University in Myanmar, where she has been a History faculty member, currently an Associate Professor, for seventeen years. She has advised seven PhD candidates in History. A graduate of Mandalay University, with the PhD from her alma mater, she also studied and conducted postdoctoral research at Korea University in Seoul. She has published widely on cultural history, social history and socio­economic history. Her latest paper explores the socio­economic patterns of Yintaw Township (1752­1885) and was recently presented at the International Conference on Myanmar Studies at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. Her current research interest is on marriage customs of crown cultivators in the 18­19th century Burma and comparisons with the crown service groups in other monarchies of the same period. She plans to spend the three months of her visiting research fellowship at CEU developing a thorough grounding of regional historiography, theories and methods of writing, curriculum design and cultural history.

Dr. Thinn Thinn Latt comes from Dagon University – an institution of higher education that serves some 30,000 undergraduate students in the city of Yangon in Myanmar. She holds a BA (Hons) in International Relations awarded by the University of Mandalay in 1994 and an MA degree (1998). She was awarded a PhD by the University of Yangon in 2007 for her research on Myanmar's efforts in the area of environmental conservation. She has recently been appointed an Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations at Dagon University, and previously was a Lecturer at the Department of International Relations at the University of Yangon, where she taught courses on Diplomacy and Governments of Southeast Asia for Diploma students, Myanmar Foreign Relations after 1948 for distance education students, and Introduction to International Relations for undergraduate Philosophy students. Her areas of specialization are non­traditional security issues, development studies, diplomacy and foreign policy analysis. She holds a Diploma in International Studies from Chung Ang University­KOICA Program at the University of Yangon and a certificate of Social and Demographic Research Methods Training from Australia National University. Her on­going research focuses on political development in Myanmar and its impact on foreign relations; her research Fellowship at CEU's Department of International Relations will focus on the process of democratization in Myanmar and Its impact on peacemaking process.

Dr. Tin Tin Mar is an Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations, University of Yangon, Myanmar. She holds a BA (Hons) in International Relations awarded by the University of Yangon in 1996, an MA degree (2000) and a Doctorate (2008). She was an International Scholar Exchange fellow funded by the Korean Foundation of Advanced Studies in 2006­2007. Her teaching career started at the University of Yangon in 1997. Currently, she teaches Myanmar Foreign Policy and Foreign Relations to Doctoral students, Post­Cold War International Relations for professional development Diploma students, Introduction to International Relations for first year undergraduate political science students. She contributes with a course on Foreign Policy and Introduction to International Relations at the Institute of Development of Public Administration of the Myanmar Ministry of Home Affairs. Her latest research–based articles "The Sunshine Policy and the Process of Korean Reunification", "The Significance of UN Conferences on Climate Change", "The Spratly Islands Dispute" were published in the Journal of the Myanmar Academy of Arts and Sciences, she also presented a paper on Myanmar and International Community: the World Bank, IMF and the United Nations at the International Symposium on Myanmar 2014: Reintegrating into International Community, held at Yunnan University, China in July 2014. Her research focuses on the Korean peninsula and the relations between Myanmar and South Korea in particular. As a Fellow at the CEU Department of International Relations, she works on the subject of political reforms in Myanmar and reopening of bilateral relations with South Korea.