Recipients of the 2025 International Social Science Collaboration and Development Grants

Nov 19, 2025 | News

The Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils (AASSREC) is pleased to announce the 11 recipients of the 2025 International Social Science Collaboration and Development Grant Program.

The program enables and supports international collaboration between social science researchers in the Asia-Pacific region with a focus on capacity-building through support for Early to Mid-Career Researchers (EMCRs) and underrepresented scholars from the region. It is designed to support EMCR researchers from two or more countries to engage in collaboration as part of an existing research program, or in the development or piloting of a new research project or idea.

See below the names of the 2025 recipients and their research projects:

Dr. Nik Nur Ainin Soffiya binti Nik Mat, Universiti Malaya (Malaysia)

Articulating ‘Microfeminism’ as a Subversion of Patriarchal Structure in Social Media Spaces

This study situates microfeminism as a form of subversion, where users share and document these microfeminist actions online. The study will examine how women use TikTok to share their experience of microfeminist actions. Using digital ethnography and critical discourse analysis, the project will map the online circulation of microfeminist narratives and understand how women attempt to subvert patriarchal structures through covert means. It will outline a typology of microfeminist actions, based on which the project will then conduct online focus group discussion (FGD) to see if Malaysian and Indonesian women know what this term means and whether they themselves engage in these microfeminist actions in their lived realities. The expected outcomes include providing recommendations for integrating the insights obtained from this study into creating a gender sensitisation workshop to 1) recognise how subversive actions, whether through language, art, protest, or everyday resistance reveal how patriarchal power operates in subtle and overt ways, 2) validate lived experiences as legitimate sources of knowledge, and 3) suggest ways men can become allies to women in situated contexts such as the workplace and home.

Collaborator:

  • Dr. Putri Wahyuni, Universitas Syiah Kuala (Indonesia)
Dr. Dinamani Biswal, National Institute of Technology Silchar (India)

Climate Change, Coastal Erosion, and Livelihood Transitions: A Study of Kendrapara District, Odisha

To cope with climate change in Satabhaya village in Odisha, migration has emerged as one of the adaptation strategies. Reports suggest that in the Satabhaya and Bagapatia region, men often migrate to urban areas to get employment. Migration, however, does not provide a permanent solution; while it can provide income diversification, simultaneously it increases the inequalities, shifts the burden of household’s responsibility on women and children who remain behind, and also exposes the migrants to various forms of exploitation. Hence, it becomes crucial to assess whether migration functions as an effective adaptation strategy or leads to a maladaptive outcome. This project aims to investigate the impact of climate-induced migration on households’ livelihoods in Satabhaya. It will also evaluate both economic and non-economic losses arising from climate change and examine the role of migration in adaptation to climate change. The study’s findings will enable the government and policymakers to formulate effective risk-coping mechanisms for agricultural households to mitigate the impact of climate change in the state. Further, it will provide insights for the government to formulate policy for large-scale employment using agriculture as a channel in Odisha.

Collaborators:

  • Dr. Ujjal Protim Dutta, National Institute of Technology Silchar (India)
  • Dr. Marichu B. Montecillo, Bukidnon State University (Philippines)
Dr. Sunetra Ghatak, O.P. Jindal Global University (India)

Bordered but Not Broken: Women’s Agency and Livelihood Resilience in the India–Bangladesh Border

This project explores how women in the India–Bangladesh borderlands adapt their livelihoods following the closure of border haats—once vital spaces for trade, mobility, and resilience. The research focuses on Cooch Behar (India) and Kurigram (Bangladesh), documenting how women sustain households through rural or peri-urban markets, self-help groups (SHGs), informal credit systems, and migration-linked networks. It highlights women’s agency in contexts shaped by fragile trade regimes, ecological risks, and male out-migration. The project’s beneficiaries include marginalized borderland women and their communities, while outcomes aim to inform inclusive governance and gender-responsive policies that strengthen resilience in South Asia’s sensitive border regions. It is positioned as a rare cross-country comparative study that links micro-level lived experiences to macro-level governance frameworks, producing actionable knowledge for policymakers. This study is expected to generate grounded, gender-sensitive insights into women’s agency and household resilience in collapsing cross-border systems, informing evidence-based policies for inclusive border governance and sustainable livelihoods.

Collaborator:

  • Dr. Sufia Khanom, Bangladesh Institute of Internatiojal and Strategic Studies (Bangladesh)
Dr. Md Tareq Bin Hossain, Thammasat University (Thailand)

Analyzing the Role of Organizational Culture and Management Practices in Facilitating and Combating Modern Slavery within Corporate Environments

The primary aim of the study is to explore how firms’ leadership commitment, ethical standards, transparency, and employee protection mechanisms influence their ability to prevent exploitative practices, while examining how these organizational drivers are moderated by cultural and institutional contexts. To achieve this, the project will employ a qualitative comparative design, selecting four companies—two in Thailand and two in India—as in-depth case studies. Data will be gathered through the analysis of company reports, codes of conduct, and audit documents, complemented by thirty semistructured interviews with corporate leaders, compliance officers, employees, policymakers, and civil society representatives. These interviews will provide rich insights into the lived realities of management practices, the challenges of implementation, and the role of cultural and institutional settings in either amplifying or constraining anti-slavery measures. A cross-case comparison between Thailand and India will then illuminate both convergences and divergences, allowing for the refinement of Crane’s framework and the identification of best practices. The study is expected to provide new conceptual insights into how cultural and organizational contexts shape firms’ responses to modern slavery, while equipping stakeholders with actionable strategies for embedding ethical practices, enhancing transparency, and strengthening protections for the most vulnerable workers.

Collaborator:

  • Dr. Ruchi Agarwal, Management Development Institute Gurgaon (India)
Dr. Rana Nadir Idrees, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus (Pakistan)

Surveillance, Stress, or Support? Examining South Asian Remote Workers’ Well-Being

Unlike Western economies, most South and Southeast Asian countries lack comprehensive regulations governing remote work practices, data privacy, and worker well-being. Existing research is heavily concentrated in Europe and North America, offering limited insights into how regional factors—such as cultural norms, hierarchical workplace practices, infrastructural disparities, and policy gaps—shape the experiences of remote workers in Asia. Therefore, there is a pressing need to investigate the interplay of surveillance, stress, and support in shaping the well-being of remote workers in South and Southeast Asia. Understanding these dynamics is essential not only for protecting workers’ rights and mental health but also for ensuring the region’s long-term economic competitiveness, social equity, and sustainable digital transformation. This study takes a mixed-methods, cross-sectional, and comparative research design that combines quantitative and qualitative methods, aiming to capture the dynamic interplay between surveillance, stress, and support mechanisms and how they affect remote workers’ well-being across different cultural and economic environments in South and Southeast Asia, with Pakistan and Malaysia as examples. The study is expected to generate valid and reliable assessments of remote workers’ well-being under monitoring environments, comparative understanding of the various organizational cultures and policy reactions in Malaysia and Pakistan, and evidence-based policy recommendations for organizations, governments, and higher education institutions.

Collaborators:

  • Dr. Asma Imran, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus (Pakistan)
  • Dr. Aizza, Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia)
  • Mr. Qamar Zaman
  • Dr. Mohi Ud Din, University of Central Punjab (Pakistan)
Dr. Neha Jaiswal, National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur (India)

Digital Inclusion and Policy Innovation for Indigenous Women Entrepreneurs in Rural Asia-Pacific: A Pathway to the SDGs

Indigenous women entrepreneurs in rural Asia-Pacific face barriers towards participating in the digital economy. Limited digital infrastructure, inadequate training, and policy awareness hinder their ability to access online markets, financial services, and government programs. This digital divide exacerbates socio-economic inequalities and slows progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This cross-country collaboration project will generate actionable evidence to support more inclusive policies and build capacity of early-career researchers to conduct transnational, policy-relevant social science research. The project, adopting a mixed-methods and participatory social science research approach, aims to identify barriers and opportunities for digital inclusion of indigenous women entrepreneurs in rural Malaysia, Nepal and India, and co-design policy innovations that strengthen their economic participation and resilience. More specifically, the project will map digital inclusion barriers affecting indigenous women entrepreneurs in selected rural communities in Malaysia, Nepal and India; document best practices and innovative policy measures supporting digital skills, infrastructure, and entrepreneurship development; co-develop evidence-based policy recommendations with local stakeholders and policy bodies; and build capacity of early-career researchers and local organisations to undertake policy-oriented social science research on digital inclusion and women’s entrepreneurship.

Collaborators:

  • Prof. Rugayah Gy Hashim, Universiti Teknologi MARA (Malaysia)
  • Dr. Janiffa Saidon, Universiti Teknologi MARA (Malaysia)
  • Dr. Smrittee Kala Panta, Kathmandu University School of Management (Nepal)
Dr. Nucharapon Liangruenrom, Mahidol University (Thailand)

Peculiarities of Women’s Migration from Myanmar to Thailand: Legal Status and Health Conditions

Since Myanmar’s 2021 coup and ensuing conflicts, millions of Myanmar residents have fled to Thailand. Human Rights Watch estimates over four million Myanmar nationals now live in Thailand, nearly half undocumented. Thailand does not formally recognize refugees, so many of these migrants lack any legal status. Findings from recent studies highlight an urgent knowledge gap: there is little systematic data on how legal status affects the health and healthcare access of Myanmar women in Thailand. This research project will fill this gap by investigating the intersections of legal/documentation status and health outcomes (physical, reproductive, and mental) among this population. Using a cross-sectional, mixed-methods survey of Myanmar women migrants in Thailand, this study will profile the migrant population by characterizing their demographics, migration history, and legal/documentation status. The study will then assess health outcomes and examine access to care by documenting healthcare utilization, insurance coverage, and barriers to services. The project will then analyze how legal status (i.e., documented vs. undocumented) and other factors relate to health outcomes and care access, and based on these findings, policy recommendations and program strategies will be formulated to improve legal protections and health support for migrant women, targeting government stakeholders, NGOs, and local health programs.

Collaborators:

  • Dr. Sergey Ryazantsev, Mahidol University (Thailand)
  • Dr. Abubakr Rakhmonov, Mahidol University (Thailand)
  • Mr. Nikita Ryazantsev, Mahidol University (Thailand)
  • Ms. Naw Hla Hla San, Mahidol University (Thailand)
Dr. Ajeet Kumar Pankaj, Indian Institute of Science, Education, and Research, Bhopal (India)

Climate Change and Rural Health in South Asia: Insights from India and Sri Lanka

This research will investigate the dynamics of climate change and its sociological context around disease transmission in South Asia, specifically India and Sri Lanka. In particular, the study looks at the impact of climate variability on the seasonality of malaria, typhoid, dengue, and chikungunya, and how socio-economic inequities, relationships of power, and limited access to healthcare exacerbate the vulnerabilities of marginalized communities. Using a mixed-method approach to examine the interconnections of climate change and rural health concerns, the study aims to explore the potential vulnerabilities of marginalized community experience while engaging with climate change and health risks in these countries, understand the influence of social structures and power hierarchies which influence access to health care services due to differential exposure and resilience to climate change-sensitive diseases, and investigate the relationship between geographical variations in rainfall patterns and the incidence of climate-sensitive diseases in India and Sri Lanka. The study findings will be discussed with the relevant government department, panchayats and non-government organisations for scaling and future action. The project also will write and publish a policy paper with the aim of providing intervention through government and non-governmental organisations.

Collaborators:

  • Ms. Dinushika M. Yapa Abeywardhana, University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka)
  • Dr. Mohammad Niyaz Ahmad, Swami Vivekananda University (India)
  • Ms. J. N. D. Jayathunga, University of Colombo (Sri Lanka)
Mrs. Desfa Yusmaliana, M.Pd., Universitas Muhammadiyah Bangka Belitung (Indonesia)

Developing Family Environmental Education: A Participatory Study of Mothers’ Role Through Creative Imagination in China and Indonesia

This project aims to address a critical gap in environmental education by harnessing children’s creative imagination and the local ecological knowledge held by mothers’ communities in China and Indonesia. Climate change and environmental degradation disproportionately affect marginalised communities, yet existing educational programs often fail to resonate with their lived experiences. Recognising mothers as children’s first educators, this project argues that equipping them with relevant pedagogical tools can generate powerful and lasting impacts. By employing picture stories, the project enables families to actively construct their own environmental narratives and instill environmental values from an early age, thereby fostering a sense of ownership and collective action. Adopting a Participatory Action Research approach, positioning community members as active partners throughout the research process, the project aims to develop a culturally relevant environmental education model based on creative imagination for families in China and Indonesia. The project’s expected outputs include a practical module that supports families in fostering creative imagination and environmental awareness, and a set of multilingual illustrated stories that serve as engaging and accessible pedagogical tools at home. Through community capacity building, the project will also empower mothers and children to become proactive agents of change in addressing environmental challenges.

Collaborators:

  • Mrs. Yijing Chen, Leidian Central Primary School (China)

The grants are being offered as part of AASSREC’s Boosting Social Sciences and their Contribution to Better Lives across the Indo-Pacific program; a partnership between AASSREC and the Global Development Network (GDN), managed by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) and supported by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC).