Meeting with the Team: Laos

We travel to Vientiane to meet with our key partners: National University of Laos, MMG and Burnet Institute. As the principal investigator of this project, I hope to foster our relationship and to discuss key objectives of the project. 

The National University of Laos was established in 1997 and it is the largest University in Lao PDR. The amalgamations of academic from various disciplines make this University a real interdisciplinary academic institution. We met with Associate Professor Saengdeone Wayakone, the Director of the international affairs of the university and we discussed a number of ideas in terms of the management of this research project, expected outcomes and potential capacity building activities with postgraduate students and/or novice researchers from the National University of Laos.  

From this meeting we have achieved three important learning points:

1) Understanding research protocal in the host country is very important. New knowledge regarding research protocal in any institutions, country must be learnt, with your partners.

2) Engaging research team members from various academic backgrounds will add more views and value to your research in terms of methodology, vigor, and research approaches.

3) The values of your research project must be clearly communicated and commonly understood by all research partners. We learn from this process that we need to communicate the values/benefits of the project to the public. This will give a true meaning of our research project to the communities in Lao PDR, Thailand and Australia.

                                               The Monument of Prince Anuvong