On 22-24 April 2014, The University of Sydney hosted the 12th International conference on Thai studies. The conference was well attended by approximately 500 scholars worldwide. This important conference promotes various ideas and research studies regarding contemporary Thailand. The sub-themes of this conference are eclectic. Examples of the themes include archaeology, art and design, rural issues, ASEAN, borders, monarchy, politics, sexuality, environment, music. This is a great academic event for us and we decided to submit our paper from MIDAS project to share some findings and research points with scholars in Thai studies.
The University of Sydney
Our paper was accepted under 'environment' theme because the focus of the paper is on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its impacts upon the community and women in Thailand. Under the peer-review process by the conference committee, we finalized the paper and decided to include it in the conference program (proceedings).
H.E. Mr. James Wise, the Australian Ambassador to Thailand
Two team members (Dr. Pimpa and Dr. Moore) represented the team to present our paper at this conference. The presentation was scheduled in the afternoon of the 24th April. we were very fortunate to be in the same panel with a number of interesting scholars who work intensively in South East Asia. In the panel, we worked with Danny Marks (Australia National University), Sanita Ganjanapan (Chiang Mai University) and Sasithorn Onlao (Rajabhat Mahasarakham University).
Our Presentation
The session was lively with discussion on CSR policies and practices that affect contemporary environmental conditions in Thailand, the concept of Thai Buddhism and CSR, and arguments on CSR or PR. The critical issue on CSR and culture were raised by Professor Philip Hirsch from the University of Sydney. He questions the roles of cultural factors and how other actors such as MNCs, community and local government can play different parts in the developmental process of CSR programs.
Q&A and Discussions
By the end of the session, we realized that we have learnt a number of interesting perspectives and constructive criticisms from the audiences. This is one of the very interactive dissemination activities of MIDAS project. If you are interested in reading our paper, please visit this link:http://sydney.edu.au/southeast-asia-centre/thai-studies-2014/conference-papers.shtml
