• Dr. Asmus Rungby, a post-doctoral fellow from Council on Southeast Asia Studies at Yale University visited the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) office on 2nd May 2023 to meet with ACE’s researchers on exploring potential research collaboration.  
• The in-person meeting discussed the potential of research collaboration between the institutions on Southeast Asia’s transition to green energy in the region by involving social economic parameter.  

In this meeting, Dr Asmus who is a southeast Asianist and anthropologist focused on issues of governance, political economy and democracy in Southeast Asia discussed his willingness to collaborate on conducting research during his post-doctoral fellow research in Yale University with ACE. Currently, his role is as the grant holder of the project “Squaring the Circle of Southeast Asia’s Green Transition.” 

Aligned with his research, Dr Asmus would like to build a new partnership with ACE. In this opportunity, ACCEPT II (ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project phase II) team gave an insightful explanation toward potential collaboration and the intersection between ACCEPT project and the proposed research. Muhammad Shidiq, Senior Researcher of ACCEPT II Project showed his enthusiasm for the open collaboration with Yale University. Further collaboration is an excellent opportunity for both ACE and Yale University to accelerate the green energy transition in ASEAN countries. As another potential, the research could give a specific recommendation toward ASEAN countries in terms of community building, existing regulation, and international organization’s support on the climate change sector. 

Through this project, Dr Asmus’s work extends his research concerns of community engagement, organizational work, and modes of governance into the urgent issues of climate change and the global transition to green energy. The project which will be estimated for a 4-month-long partnership for the ongoing climate project is focused on the political, international, and community participation of the grand infrastructure changes to support the Southeast Asian transition into a reliable and decarbonized energy system. The project balances concerns for the multicultural interests of local, communities, regional & national governments, NGOs, and private sector companies to chart the interweaving societal complexities of executing a transition of this unprecedented scale and rapidity. However, the research will focus on ACE as an international organization for data analysis, collection, and further meetings in the meantime. 

In addition, Aldilla Noor Rakhiemah, Senior Researcher of ACCEPT II Project also sees the project as a further step to strengthen regional structure, capacity, and gender equality in energy-climate nexus, which is one of the ACCEPT II outcomes. Another opportunity is to arrange the research with the following ASEAN Plan of Action on Energy Cooperation (APAEC)’s Program Areas namely; ASEAN Power Grid (APG), Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline (TAGP), Coal and Clean Coal Technology (CCCT), Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C), Renewable Energy (RE), Regional Energy Policy and Planning (REPP), and Civilian Nuclear Energy (CNE), said Adhityo Gilang Bhaskoro from Power, Fossil Fuel and Alternative Energy and Storage (PFS) Researcher of ACE.  

As a follow up, Dr Asmus will prepare a concise research concept and collaboration proposal which highlights a more detailed plan and strategy regarding the collaboration agreement. As part of the research collaboration, Dr Asmus would like to propose a secondment to stay in and engage with ACE’s researchers during the research work. It is expected through the research collaboration, the research will have a great result on data analysis and benefited for ASEAN’s climate and energy related information. 

Detailed information on ACCEPT II: https://accept.aseanenergy.org/  

Collaboration inquiries with ACCEPT: [email protected]