2017 postgraduate research grantees announced

Ashalyna Noa

Ashalyna’s PhD focuses on New Zealand and China’s foreign aid and soft power in the Pacific. The grant will help with funding fieldwork in Samoa and China

Ashalyna is a doctoral candidate at the University of Canterbury. Her PhD focuses on New Zealand and China’s foreign aid and soft power in the Pacific.

Ashalyna’s project requires fieldwork in Samoa and China, so the grant will help with funding her time overseas. She hopes the research helps in understanding New Zealand and China’s bilateral relationship in the context of Pacific politics and the changing perceptions of Asia across the Pacific.

In her spare time, Ashalyna works as the Kaiārahi Pasifika (Ako Project) on the UC Pacific Development Team.

She is a member of PACIFICA Inc, the Tertiary Education Union Pasifika Advisory Group, and a founder member of the Pacific Youth Leadership and Transformation (PYLAT) Council charitable trust.

Paul Winter

Paul's dissertation concerns the use of economic and technological controls to slow the spread of nuclear weapons in Southeast Asia

Paul Winter is a PhD candidate at Otago University’s political studies department where he also holds a teaching fellowship for 2017. His dissertation concerns the use of economic and technological controls to slow the spread of nuclear weapons in Southeast Asia.

In 2016, Paul was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study at Georgetown University where he completed research towards his PhD and gave guest lectures on nuclear-weapons free zones.

He is also a 2017 Freyburg scholar and has participated in Track II round table dialogues. Paul will use his grant to conduct a series of investigative interviews overseas, visit the National Archives in Malaysia and Singapore, and visit the archives of local newspapers.

Daniel Kleinsman

With a grant from the Foundation, Daniel will visit Manila and Davao in the Philippines to research the treatment of prisoners

Daniel Kleinsman is currently completing his LLM by thesis, focusing on the treatment of prisoners in the Philippines.

With a grant from the Foundation, he will visit Manila and Davao, in the Philippines to undertake a component of localised academic research towards his thesis.

This research comes after Daniel completed his undergraduate law degree, when he first went to the Philippines as a seminarian training towards Catholic priesthood.

While over there, he encountered the harrowing reality of overcrowding and under-resourcing in prisons. Daniel then left the seminary, inspired to engage with human rights issues in a more tangible way. Daniel will use is grant money for funding travel expenses associated with his fieldwork.

Each year the Asia New Zealand Foundation offers three $5000 grants to go towards assisting recipients with travel expenses and fieldwork.

The grants are intended for new research that will promote debate and discussion on matters relating to Asia and New Zealand with implications for foreign and trade policy.

The 2018 round of postgraduate research grants will be open between February and May next year. 

The Foundation is supporting research of Asia-related themes, especially in international law, trade, politics and security.  If you are interested in attending the 2017 NZASIA Conference in Dunedin in November 27-29, the Foundation can offer two $500 travel grants, and/or a $200 prize for best paper.  Find out more about this opportunity.