Dr. Tin Maung Maung Than, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore
Keynote title: “State and Managing Diversity in Myanmar“
Tin Maung Maung Than is currently an Associate Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute (formerly Institute of Southeast Asian Studies) in Singapore, where he was a research staff member and resident Myanmar specialist from May 1983 to June 2015. He is the vice chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Economic and Social Development (CESD) in Yangon and also an academic advisor to the Panna Institute (Yangon). He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in physics (Rangoon Arts & Science University, a D.E.P. (Rangoon Institute of Economics) and a Ph.D. in politics (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London). He authored State Dominance in Myanmar: The Political Economy of Industrialization (Singapore: ISEAS, 2007) and has published widely on Myanmar’s economy, politics, security, foreign relations and society as book chapters, journal articles, reports, policy briefs and commentaries. He has participated in dozens of international and regional workshops, conferences and forums as well as discussions on news media on Myanmar issues. He has been training Myanmar government officials, civil society personnel, students and university faculty for more than 15 years and had given lectures in Brunei, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
Dr. Sunait Chutintaranond, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Keynote title: “Reform Legacy: People and Society in a Stream of Disharmonious Changes“
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sunait Chutintaranond from the History Department of the Faculty of Arts of Chulalongkorn University is one of Thailand’s pre-eminent scholars on Myanmar history and culture, and the history of relations between Siam and Burma. Dr. Sunait received his bachelor’s degree in History at Thammasat University, and then moved to Cornell University where he completed both his master’s and Ph.D in Southeast Asian History. He is currently Dean of the Graduate School of Chulalongkorn University, Director of its Southeast Asian Studies Master’s Program, and also former Director of Chulalongkorn University’s Institute of Asian Studies. He has published many books on Burma and Burma-Thailand historical relations and connectivity, including “On Both Sides of the Tenasserim Range: History of Siamese – Burmese Relations,” (Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, 1995); “The Wars between Burma and Thailand'” (Bangkok, 1996); “Bayinnaung, A Burmese King in Thai Perception,” (Bangkok, 1996); “Burma Reading Thailand,” (Matichon Books, 2001). He also served as historical advisor/writer for Thai film director Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol on the films The Legend of Suriyothai (2001) and King Naresuan (2007)
Prof. Dr. Frauke Kraas, Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Germany
Keynote title: “Transformation processes in Myanmar: Recent developments“
Frauke Kraas is Chair for Human Geography at the Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Germany. She studied Geography, Biology, Anthropology and Philosophy at Bochum and Münster University, Germany. In 1991 she finished her PhD on the Rhetoromansh minority in Switzerland (University of Münster) and 1996 her Habilitation on megaurban development processes in Bangkok (University of Bonn). In 1997 she received the Gerhard-Hess-Award and in 1998 Heisenberg Postgraduate Scholarship from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Her research projects focus on (mega)urban and regional development, transformation processes, urban governance, heritage, urban health, risk/disaster research, migration and ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia), India and China. Frauke Kraas is member of the Academia Europaea and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina as well as Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. She is member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and Chair of the Expert Network “Forum for Urban Future in Southeast Asia”.