Speaker 5: Todd Wayne Saurman (Asia SIL Ethnomusicology Coordinator and Mainland Southeast Asia Group Ethnomusicology Consultant SIL International)
Todd Saurman has a BS in Music Therapy, an MA in Intercultural Studies/Ethnomusicology, and completed a Ph.D. in Social Science at Chiang Mai University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He has worked in Asia with SIL International for the last 22 years as an advocate for the music and arts of ethnic minority groups. In Thailand, he works for Mahidol University in Bangkok Thailand and trains others as catalysts for the creation of culturally relevant arts throughout Asia.
Plenary 1 Speaker - Dr. Sheldon Shaeffer
Sheldon Shaeffer was Director of UNESCO's Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok for over seven years, retiring at the end of 2008. A citizen of Canada, he was educated in history (B.A.), anthropology (M.A.), and comparative international education (Ph.D.) at Stanford University. He worked previously as a research fellow at the International Institute for Education Planning (UNESCO) and as Chief of the Education Section of UNICEF in New York. Although he has worked in every developing region of the world, his professional focus for over 30 years has been on education systems and reforms in Southeast Asia, including in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Timor Leste, and Myanmar. This included working as a university lecturer and carrying out Ph.D. research in Indonesia and developing and managing evaluations, pilot projects, and policy briefs for the Ford Foundation, UNESCO, UNICEF, AusAID/DFAT, and the World Bank in areas such as education system reform, decentralisation, multi-grade teaching, school-based management, school leadership, teacher development, early childhood development, language policy in education, inclusive education (both in regard to disabilities and more broadly defined), and child-friendly schools.
Plenary 2 Speaker - Prof. Emeritus Dato' Dr. Asmah Hj. Omar
Prof. Emeritus Dato' Dr. Asmah Hj. Omar. Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. Formerly, Professor in the Chair of Malay Linguistics, University of Malaya; and Professor in the Za’ba Chair of Malay Civilisation, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Tanjong Malim, Perak. As a member of the Malaysia-Indonesia-Brunei Language Council since its inception in 1972, she has done extensive fieldwork and published on Malay and indigenous Malaysian languages, particularly in the formulation of the common spelling system, and the common guideline in the coining of Malay scientific/technical terms. She was a consultant in the formulation of the standard spelling system for Iban (1995): Atur Sepil Jaku Iban. Her publications on indigenous languages (other than Malay) consist of those of Sabah, Sarawak, and the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia including Fonologi Bahasa Iban: Fonologi Jaku Iban, and Morfologi Bahasa Iban/Morfologi Jaku Iban.
Plenary 3 Speaker - Prof. Dr. Felix Tongkul
Prof. Dr. Felix Tongkul is Professor of Geology at the Faculty of Sciences and Natural Resources at Universiti Malaysia Sabah. He is also a Fellow of the Malaysian Academy of Sciences, the ‘Think Tank’ of the nation for matters related to science, engineering, technology and innovation. Dr. Felix holds a BSc and PhD in Geology from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (1983) and University of London (1987), respectively. For the past 30 years he has been doing research on the geological evolution of Sabah and Sarawak. Since 1996 he has been involved in research related to promotion of geological and landscape heritage for geotourism in Sabah. Lately, he has been actively involved in geological hazards studies, such as earthquake, landslide and flood. He is currently the Director of the Natural Disaster Research Centre (NDRC) at Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
Apart from his academic work, Dr. Felix Tongkul is actively involved with the empowerment of indigenous communities in Sabah, through PACOS Trust, which he has led since its establishment in 1987. He is passionate about the need for indigenous communities to maintain their traditional knowledge, adat, culture and language as an asset that can contribute towards nation building. He has published a book entitled: Traditional Systems of Indigenous Peoples of Sabah, Malaysia – Wisdom Accumulated Through Generations.
Plenary 4 Speaker - Prof. Dr. Wilfredo V. Alangui
Prof. Dr. Wilfredo V. Alangui is an indigenous person belonging to the Kankana-ey people of the Cordillera region, in northern Philippines. A professor of Mathematics at the University of the Philippines Baguio (U.P. Baguio), he obtained his PhD from the University of Auckland in 2010 in the field of ethnomathematics. Wilfredo is involved as resource person and researcher in the Philippine government’s Indigenous Peoples’ Education program, and is also a member of the Task Force on Indigenous and Local Knowledge Systems (TF ILKS) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES). He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of The Cordillera Review, U.P. Baguio’s peer-reviewed Journal of Philippine Culture and Society.
Plenary 5 Speaker - Dr. Victor P. Karunan
Dr. Victor P. Karunan was formerly Deputy Representative and Senior Social Policy Advisor in UNICEF Malaysia based in Kuala Lumpur. Earlier he was Chief of Adolescent Development and Participation in the Division of Policy and Practice in UNICEF Headquarters, New York, from 2004 to 2010. He has a Ph.D. in the Social Sciences from the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands with specialization in peasant studies and rural development in Asia. He has worked over 30 years with NGOs in South and Southeast Asia in the fields of human rights, social movements, participatory research, policy advocacy and training/capacity building. He has also taught Sociology and Development Studies at the Asian Social Institute in Manila, the Philippines, Chulalongkorn and Mahidol Universities in Thailand and the Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands.
Plenary 6 Speaker - Dr. Uniansasmita Samoh (Researcher at Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, 2008 until present)
My name is Uniansasmita Samoh. I was born in Narathiwat province (Thailand’s Deep South). I
graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2004 from Prince of Songkla University (Pattani, Thailand)
majoring in Arabic. I received my master's degree in Malay languages and linguistics from Universiti Sains Malaysia (Penang, Malaysia) in 2007. Finally, I have just completed my Ph.D. in Linguistics from Mahidol University (Salaya, Thailand) in 2016. I have been working as a researcher at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University since 2008. I have been involved in the Patani Malay-Thai mother tongue-based multilingual education Project from 2008 to present. My teaching portfolio includes teaching Malay, Arabic,
and linguistics courses.
Plenary 7 Speaker - Ms. Diane Dekker (Sr. Literacy and Education Consultant SIL International)
Diane is currently finishing up her PhD dissertation at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her study focuses on Filipino teachers within the context of a policy shift to MTB MLE. She holds a MA in Linguistics with a focus on Bilingual Education from Charles Darwin University, Australia, and a BA in Elementary Education from Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California.
In 1988 Diane began linguistic research and literacy and education activities with SIL Int’l in the northern Philippines where she worked with local teachers to develop a MTB MLE program in the school system. That MLE program subsequently revealed significant academic gains when the mother tongue is the primary medium of instruction. In 2010-2011 Diane worked closely with the Philippine Department of Education National Director of Training for MTB MLE training. Diane has consulted on MTB MLE in other several Asian countries.
