The American Indonesian Exchange Foundation, or AMINEF, the bi-national administrator of the prestigious Fulbright scholarship in Indonesia, will convene top Indonesian and American scholars at a seminar in Yogyakarta to discuss important social, environmental, cultural, and educational issues in Indonesia.

The Fulbright Indonesia Research Seminar 2015: Society, Environment and Education will be held at the Melia Purosani Hotel in Yogyakarta on May 21-22. It will feature leading Indonesian scholars including renowned Islamic scholar Prof. Dr. Azyumardi Azra and Gadjah Mada University Rector Prof. Dwikorita Karnawati, M.Sc., Ph.D., and prominent American professors such as Prof. Nancy Peluso from University of California, Berkeley, an expert on Indonesian forestry issues, and Dr. Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a Tibetan monk from University of San Diego doing research on Buddhist women in Indonesia

Prof. Azyumardi, a Fulbright alumnus, will lead a plenary session on inter-religious tolerance in Indonesia. The panelists will look at whether intolerance is growing Indonesia, a country that is frequently hailed as the model of religious tolerance, among other issues.

Prof. Dwikorita, also a Fulbright alumna, will helm the last plenary session that will discuss the importance of research collaborations between Indonesian and foreign researchers to respond to trends in the globalization of knowledge production throughout the world.

Around 30 scholars, both American and Indonesian, including young scholars doing doctoral research, will be speaking at the event, which is open to the public by registration. The speakers will relate their own work to various thematic issues: biodiversity and human interactions, science education in Indonesia, history and cultural heritage, and land, forests and resource sustainability.

The seminar is being held in conjunction with an orientation program (PDO) for about 60 Indonesians awarded  Fulbright scholarships to pursue master’s or doctoral degrees at various universities in the U.S., several senior scholars doing research in the U.S., and two special fellowships. The orientation aims to provide the Indonesian grantees with adequate information about academic study and living in the U.S.

Many prominent Indonesian scholars, including Prof. Azyumadi and Prof. Dwikorita, have received Fulbright grants to pursue higher education in the U.S.  Prof. Azyumadi was awarded a Fulbright grant to study Islamic studies at Colombia University in 1986. Prof. Dwikorita, meanwhile, received a Fulbright grant in 2011 to conduct a research in geology at San Diego State University.  Minister of Elementary and Primary Education and Culture Anies Baswedan also received a Fulbright grant to study for a Master’s degree in public management at the University of Maryland in 1977.

Twenty-one American Fulbright awardees will also join the PDO to share their experiences of academic life graduate in the U.S. They have been in Indonesia since last year to conduct research on various fields including history, education, biology, and music. Some are also teaching as visiting professors at various universities in Indonesia.

For more the complete seminar schedule please click here