Asia-Pacific geography

University academics: Prof Bill Pritchard, A/Prof Jeffrey Neilson

External collaborators/industry partners: Tata Institute of Social Science

Geographers at Sydney maintain diverse connections with a broad range of topics in India. Long-standing interests in rural development, food security and plantation crop landscapes are complemented by extensive engagement with Indian institutions across issues including urban change, migration and public policy. The University of Sydney has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which has been a key partner for much of this work.

Recent research projects and initiatives

• November 2019 University of Sydney-Tata Institute of Social Sciences research agreement on Human Security and the Anthropocene
• December 2016 to December 2018, Inclusive reform? Evidence-based assessment of the changing landscape of India’s social safety nets”, International Program Development Fund
• January 2015 to December 2018 Farmers of the future: The challenges of feminised agriculture in India, Australian Research Council Discovery Project
• January 2010 to January 2015 Institutions for Food Security: Global Insights from Rural India, Australian Research Council Discovery Project

Current and recent postgraduate research students:

• Mark Vicol. Potatoes, Peasants and Livelihoods: A Critical Exploration of Contract Farming and Agrarian Change in Maharashtra, India
• Chetan Choithani. Livelihoods on the Move: Understanding the Linakages Between Migration and Household Food Security in India

University academics: A/Prof Jeffrey Neilson, Prof Bill Pritchard, Dr Sophie Webber

External collaborators/industry partners: The University of Indonesia, SSEAC

Geographers at Sydney maintain multiple, in-depth engagements across a broad range of topics in Indonesia. These include agrarian change, land reform, climate policy, food security, economic development, cultural histories, the coffee industry, and contested urban development. Many researchers in the School are Indonesian language speakers and provide media commentary on recent political and social developments In Indonesia. The school coordinates an undergraduate Geography Immersion Program in partnership with the University of Indonesia, which provides an enriching 8-month cultural experience and intensive language training that prepares students for subsequent Indonesia-based research at both the Honours and Postgraduate level.

Recent research projects

• January 2022 to June 2025: "Building Urban Resilience: Adaptation Economies in the Asia Pacific" (ARC)
• October 2022 to October 2024: "Wind turbine construction at the Ends of the Earth: Materials and Materialisms of the Anthropocene" (USyd-UCL with Dr Paige Patchin)
• December 2014 to December 2019: Evaluating smallholder livelihoods and sustainability in Indonesian coffee and cocoa value chains, (ACIAR)
• June 2015 to December 2018: Evaluation of the Early Impacts of Sustainability Standards on Smallholder Coffee Farming Households in Lampung and South Sumatra, Indonesia; (ISEAL Alliance)
• January 2016 to December 2018: Agricultural land distribution in Indonesia: fragmentation, aggregation and agrarian change (SSEAC Cluster Grant)
• July 2018 to December 2019: Smart city policy and practice in Jakarta, Indonesia (SSEAC Cluster Grant)

Current and recent postgraduate research students

• Wahyu Kusuma Astuti. Assembling Metabolic Flow: Waters and infrastructures in Jakarta Metropolitan Area
  
• Yunie Nurhayati Rahmat. Livelihoods and Global Value Chain of Marine Commodities: Understanding Agrarian Transition in Indonesia's Coastal Regions
• Lisa Susilowati. Developing a model of women’s participation in agriculture sector through village policy making in Central Java, Indonesia

University academics: Dr Robert Fisher, A/Prof Dan Penny, Dr Josephine Gillespie, Dr Rebecca Cross

External collaborators/industry partners: Sydney Southeast Asia Centre (SSEAC)* 

Research interests in this region are diverse and extensive, and include studies of natural resource management and environmental histories of the region.  Using a range of empirical approaches, we explore environmental change and governance across mainland Mekong countries.  Our interests range from determining past climate change through paleo-environmental research, to protected area management from forests to wetlands and marine protected areas, to governance of the Mekong as a transboundary river system. The Mekong Research Group, previously the Australian Mekong Resource Centre, ran for 20 years at the University of Sydney from 1997 to 2017, and constituted an important node for research in natural resource management right across mainland Southeast Asia. Ongoing work in geography is closely associated with the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre.

Recent postgraduate research students

• Ming Li Yong (PhD), Producing scales of resistance: Transboundary community-based responses and resistance to mainstream Lower Mekong Basin hydropower dams
• Ngoc Pham (PhD): Driving forces of Environmental Behaviour Changes of Cu Lao Cham Island Community in Hoi An, Vietnam
• Allan Thorburn (MPhil): Emergence of trading states on the Mekong River delta of Vietnam.
• Chieh-Ming Lai (PhD), Urban learning and civic participation in Bangkok’s Arboreal Landscapes

University academics: Prof Bill Pritchard

Recent research has addressed the issues of food security and rural socio-economic change in the context of a rapidly transitioning national context. Until the democratic reforms of 2011, Myanmar was a closed economy and there was very little authoritative data or research on the social, economic and environmental conditions of the country. Current research efforts at the School of Geosciences are generating important original new evidence of how processes of change are altering the livelihoods of the rural population.

Recent research projects

• January 2015 to December 2018, Nutrition insecurity and livelihood decision-making in rural Myanmar”, Australian Research Council Discovery Grants Scheme
• January 2017 to December 2019, Fresh fruit value chains to China, Japan External Trade Research Organisation 

Current postgraduate research students

• Aye San Dar Phyo (PhD) Climate change and rural transformation in Myanmar.

University Academics: Prof John Connell, A/Prof Eleanor Bruce, Dr Sophie Webber

Pacific island-states is a longstanding area of interest within the University of Sydney. Recent work is focused on the intersection of climate change impacts and policy, and development imperatives, seeking to contribute to climate compatible development in the region. Our researchers have collaborated with Universities, policy makers, NGOs, and multilateral organisations in the regions to contribute to research informed policy. Areas of research include:

• Interdisciplinary collaborations focused on sustainable livelihoods at the nexus of water-energy and food security.
• Spatial modelling and remote sensing to assess environmental livelihood security in coastal environments.
• Examination of the potential and challenges of climate finance and other market based environmental tools for adaptation.
• The dynamics of rural-urban migration and south-north migration.
• Climate-smart landscapes for promoting sustainability of Pacific Island agricultural systems, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
• Using the Environmental Livelihoods Security (ELS) framework for developing climate-smart landscapes; Biggs E, Bruce E, Boruff B; Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)/Research and Development Programs (R&D Programs).

Current research projects:

• January 2022 to June 2025: "Building Urban Resilience: Adaptation Economies in the Asia Pacific" (Australian Research Council)

Current and recent postgraduates:

• Vosawale Lesuma. Community based adaptation in informal settlements in Fiji.
• Annie Wu. Timorese Participants in the Australian Seasonal Workers Programme: Migration, Remittances and Development