Our DEEP Asia Coordinator, Anna Christi Suwardi, has officially been selected as a fellow in the Rotary Peace Fellowship (RPF) for 2025. Currently residing in Thailand, Anna is working as a lecturer and researcher. Anna will begin her residency at Bahçeşehir University (BAU) in Istanbul, Turkey, from September to November 2025, as part of the Professional Development Certificate Program. The Rotary Center at BAU is a newly established center that primarily serves the MENA region.
Although Anna is based in Southeast Asia, her eagerness to expand her knowledge and skill in peace and conflict resolution has led to her selection to learn from the best practices in MENA. As a component of the fellowship, Anna will engage in roughly a year-long pre- and post-residency program. This will commence with a two-week preliminary online course, followed by a ten-week on-site and field study experience. Upon her return from Istanbul, Anna will focus on her nine-month social change initiative project, concentrating on promoting peace in Thailand and Indonesia. Anna will collaborate with her DEEP En-Gender team to implement her initiative. The program will conclude in an on-site capstone seminar back in Istanbul the following year. After completing her RPF, Anna is dedicated to continuing her efforts to foster peace for communities.
The DEEP members congratulate Anna on this beautiful achievement and look forward to hearing more about where her passions take her. Anna previously successfully initiated the establishment of the DEEP En-Gender Circle. Coming from multicultural Indonesia, she practices multitasking and respects diversity in her professional and socio-cultural relationships. She teaches Multiculturalism in Southeast Asia for undergraduate programs at Mae Fah Luang University. Her voluntary and community service mainly focuses on peace and gender justice as well as indigenous ecological regeneration. Her areas of interest in terms of research have included multicultural studies, gender and women’s studies, and peace and conflict studies. She is a proud mother of a young teenage boy, enjoys travelling, karaoke, and finds peace while cooking and singing! She is full of life, and we are very proud of who she is.
Other projects have progressed this month. We are currently working on our first podcast episode featuring Alberto Gomes and Jennifer Murphy interviewed by Keren Poliah. This episode will focus on the threads connecting DEEP members and the foundations on which the network is built. Stay tuned to our posts and website to find out the release date and other updates!
Authors
Anna Christi Suwardi and Keren Poliah
Anna is our Asia Coordinator and Keren is our communication coordinator