Dr. Yuri Mansury’s Fulbright project, “Transforming Slash-and-Burn Practices to Sustainable Farming in Central and East Java,” considers how attitudes, peer influences, and poverty affect farming methods in Javanese forest villages. Taking as goals (1) the identification of eco-friendly alternatives and (2) assessing the potential for these alternatives to improve villagers’ economic conditions, Dr. Mansury employs an agent-based approach that uses fieldwork to engage directly with forest communities and stakeholders. His research aims to empower marginalized peoples to participate in the identification of sustainable farming solutions.

Dr. Mansury is collaborating with Department of Economics and Business (FEB) faculty members at Universitas Pertamina in Jakarta and with field representatives from Pertamina Foundation in central Java to identify initiatives that could help farmers transition from forest burning to eco-friendly practices. The locations of interest include 15 villages within the Kawasan Hutan Dengan Tujuan Khusus/KHDTK—Forest Area with a Special Purpose) of Blora in central Java and Ngawi in east Java.

Yuri Mansury holds a PhD in regional science from Cornell University and teaches as an associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. He previously taught at Cornell University’s Department of City & Regional Planning and the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy. His latest work is the book The Indonesian Economy and the Surrounding Regions in the 21st Century, published by Springer in April 2024.