CAPSTRANS CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS 2006

• VOLUNTEERING ABROAD IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC: POSTGRADUATE WRITING WORKSHOP
  30 June - 1 July 2006

The Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS), with the support of the Asia-Pacific Futures Research Network (APFRN), held a workshop titled Volunteering Abroad in the Asia Pacific: Postgraduate Writing Workshop on 30 June and 1 July, 2006.

Aims of Workshop
Who was the convenor?
Who were the participants?
Who were the invited speakers?

Aims of Workshop

Follows-up workshop to the earlier (November 2005) successful workshop on: Human Security and Development in Marginal Communities: A National Workshop on Volunteering Abroad in the Asia-Pacific. Selected postgraduate papers and presenters were chosen to refine their topic and papers, and prepare them for publication.

The aim of the workshop was:

• To work towards a peer-reviewed publication;
• To assist doctoral students and early career researchers to enhance their academic knowledge and expertise;
• To develop scholarly networks.

This 2 day workshop was convened by Tim Scrase (CAPSTRANS). It brought together young scholars from the social sciences working on a range of topics related to volunteering and development in the Asia-Pacific. Topics include: the pitfalls of short-term volunteering; volunteering and the limits to development; who gains from volunteering?; health sector volunteering in Cambodia; profiles of international volunteers; volunteers, the host community and the role of NGOs.

WHO Was the convenor?

Dr Tim Scrase is Deputy Director of CAPSTRANS. His research and writings focus on the impact of global social and cultural change in Asia. He was recently awarded two ARC grants: one to examine the social impact of the transformation of Asia Pacific Ports; the other to explore the role of overseas volunteers in marginal communities. He has been a visiting research fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), University of Amsterdam. He has published widely on development and social change in a range of leading academic journals and edited collections, and has previously published four books.

WHO were the participants?

The following participants were selected by invitation based on their high quality research and writing, experiences and interests, on development, NGOs and volunteering issues (see “aims” above):

Susan Engel
PhD candidate, CAPSTRANS, University of Wollongong
International Volunteering for Development — is it a good thing?

Peter Devereux
PhD candidate, Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University
International Volunteers: Pursuing Security and Sustainability with Human Solidarity

Beth Rushton
PhD candidate, University of Sydney
Measuring Volunteer Participation in Cambodian Committees

Nicole Georgeou
PhD candidate, CAPSTRANS, University of Wollongong
Transformations of Volunteering in Japan

Daniel Gilfillan
Research Assistant, CAPSTRANS, University of Wollongong
Short-term Volunteering and International Development: Volunteering for Whom?

who were the invited speakers ?

Assoc Prof Brian Martin teaches in the Science and Technology Studies program, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong. He has for many years run workshops for postgraduates and academics and mentored them on research and publishing issues. He has published numerous articles, papers and books on a range of topics. See his details at: http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/

Ms Lucia Tome is the Research Training Librarian at the University of Wollongong library. She has recently published on issues relating to journal quality.

Dr Jeannette Stirling is a Lecturer in the Learning Development Centre, University of Wollongong.

Draft Program [pdf 25kb]