Southeast Asia @ UBC

Vancouver is Canada’s gateway to Asia and home to a large and vibrant Southeast Asian diaspora. UBC acts as a natural hub that connects communities, businesses, and government agencies that have an interest in Southeast Asia.

UBC has over 70 faculty members with professional interests in Southeast Asia, including some of North America’s leading experts on the region. These faculty members represent a broad spectrum of disciplines from the natural and applied sciences to the humanities and social sciences.

UBC has a dedicated Centre for Southeast Asia Research (CSEAR), housed within the Institute of Asian Research, that acts as a hub for UBC’s Southeast Asia-related activities. Aside from faculty expertise, the Centre’s advisory council includes two former Canadian Ambassadors to Southeast Asia and a former President of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

UBC has a long history of working together with the Southeast Asian consulates based in Vancouver. UBC is grateful for their on-going contribution to and support for our academic and community events. In 2015, UBC hosted a large delegation of over 40 ASEAN officials who visited UBC as part of the 12th Canada-ASEAN dialogues.

UBC has partnerships with 16 universities and 4 research institutes in Southeast Asia. UBC faculty also regularly engage strong personal connections in the region, including to key civil society and private sector leaders, and representatives of the Canadian government. Through these additional connections, UBC faculty are active in a range of scientific, social, and economic capacity building projects across Southeast Asia.

UBC has nearly 750 students from Southeast Asia representing Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar, Brunei, and Cambodia. A similarly large number of Southeast Asian heritage students create a critical mass of student representation from the region. Student associations representing Indonesian, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai, and Filipino students ensure high levels of activity and facilitate student connectivity.

The newly-established UBC Southeast Asia Graduate Student Network connects UBC graduate students working on Southeast Asia across academic disciplines, featuring networking sessions, brown bag lunches for students to present their research, and informational sessions that cover a range of topics relevant to research in the region.

Click here for our Southeast Asia @ UBC brochure.