Given the importance of contemporary energy and climate issues in ASEAN, and the need for interdisciplinary research on such topics, in early 2020, the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) through their joint ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project (ACCEPT) established a new group of scholars, analysts, researchers, students, and other stakeholders organised around the themes of “energy studies/researches” and “climate studies/researches”. It is called as the “ASEAN Researchers Network on Energy and Climate Change,” or ARNECC. ARNECC provides an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of social, economic, governance and technical issues related to energy and/or climate change.

Today, it has around 300 members with various professional backgrounds but mainly the researchers doing their studies on the energy and climate change issue in the region or any countries in the Southeast Asia region.

To further promote the information sharing on various papers on energy and climate change about ASEAN or any countries in the region, ACCEPT developed an ARNECC Research Database. It is designed to become a library and showroom of the papers published by researchers addressing the issues of energy and climate change in the region. Through its filtering function, the users can explore various papers on the topic or country of their interest. Through ARNECC Research Database, it is expected that the researchers further promote their papers, and open the windows of collaboration.

When officially welcoming the participant during the webinar “Growing the Research Environment on Energy and Climate Change in ASEAN” on 22 July 2020, ACE Executive Director, Dr Nuki Agya Utama, mentioned that ARNECC Research Database could also potentially become a benchmark of the development of research environment in ASEAN. Furthermore, Dr Nuki Agya Utama mentioned that it will be a solid basis and reference for the policymakers in developing national energy policy.

As part of this launching event, Beni Suryadi, ACCEPT Project Manager moderated the discussion with the experts, namely Prof. Dr. Eniya Listiani Dewi, B.Eng., M.Eng., Deputy of Information Technology, Energy and Material, Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, Indonesia, Assoc. Prof. LEE Poh Seng, Executive Director, Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore, and Dr. Per Christer Lund, Science and Technology Counsellor, Innovation Norway/Royal Norwegian Embassy in Singapore.

The experts agreed that this initiative is a handy reference to mapping the progress of research in the region, and hopefully, will be further developed to support the research at the national level.

In addition to this initiative, ACCEPT is also regularly organising ARNECC Paper Talks. ARNECC Paper Talks is a regular discussion among scholars about the published papers and articles on energy and climate change in Southeast Asia. Any researchers that want their published paper to be featured, may contact [email protected].

Recording from the event can be seen at ACE YouTube.

Visit ARNECC Research Database.