The 2017 conference held from October 25-27 successfully welcomed more than 80 scholars from 17 countries including Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines, UK, Thailand,Taiwan, etc, presenting topics ranging from regional cooperation, education and migration, to economic issues and borders. More than 200 student, professor or citizen participants had benefits from knowledge presented by international scholars.
ASEACCU Newsletter Dec, 2017 (p. 12)
Building on the success of the 2017 Wenzao ICSEAS, Wenzao continued to host the second 2018 Wenzao ICSEAS. The theme of this year was “Southeast Asia: Transition and Transformation”. The 2018 ICSEAS was held from 10/25-27 successfully. More than 120 scholars from 17 countries presented 107 topics ranging from regional cooperation, education, ASEAN, sustainability and migration, to economic issues and borders.
Wenzao ICSEAS is by hosting a 3-day international conference and publish an edited book from selected presenting papers annually to create opportunities of sharing, learning and enhance cooperation between international presenters and local audiences. There are about one hundred paper-presentation will be delivered during 2019 Wenzao ICSEAS.
The title of the 2020 conference is "Southeast Asia 2020: New Era, New Goals, New Challenges”. As an annual event, WENZAO Ursuline International Conference on Southeast Asia Studies (ICSEAS) brings together the ASEAN’s leading scholars and promising graduate students under one roof to discuss the old issues and new challenges of Southeast Asia.
The COVID-19 pandemics have exposed the Southeast Asian nations to political and socio-economic vulnerability and risk. The geo-political order has been tested and once again ASEAN finds itself at a crossroad. The political and economic health of Southeast Asian countries are under stress, and the social fabric of societies strained. This major theme of this conference will be the exploration of the challenges faced by Southeast Asia in a politicized environment of the global pandemic. It aims to reflect on the externalities of geopolitical changes and on-going struggle of political-economy linkages shaping responses to the COVID-9 in these nation-states.
COVID-19 has left long-term scars on the Southeast Asian region’s economy, politics and public health, the impacts of which can last well into the recovery in years to come. Going forward, in the short-run, as Southeast Asian countries jumpstart their economic recovery much will depend on the speed of vaccination, the possible emergence of new COVID variants, as well as any major slowdown in the momentum of global and regional growth. In the long-run, Southeast Asian governments are still facing deep-rooted challenges which could cause a U-turn in the uneven path of development. Significant efforts are still needed to address poverty, environmental degradation, security, education and social welfare. This conference will address these short-term and long-term challenges as policy-makers prepare to shift gears to accelerate structural transformation of regional economic activities.