Ruth Daroesman Graduate Study Grant
About the Ruth Daroesman Graduate Study Grants
Each year the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific in conjunction with the ANU Indonesia Project may offer an award known as the Ruth Daroesman Graduate Study Grant.
The objective of the Grant is to support a graduate or HDR student in their research associated with Indonesia. Funding for this Grant has been provided by the Ruth Daroesman Endowment. This grant may be used for research expenses (including travel) directly related to the student’s academic interests or future career aspirations.
The Ruth Daroesman Endowment was established in 2013 in memory of Ruth Daroesman by Ruth’s family and friends.
About Ruth Daroesman
Ruth Daroesman was born in California. At the end of World War II she married an Indonesian and briefly lived in post-war Europe before moving to Sumatra, Indonesia in 1950. She adjusted quickly to life in Indonesia, learning the language and developing enduring relationships with her in-laws. After separating from her husband, and with three young children, she lived in Malaysia and then Singapore from 1957 until 1968 when she joined ANU. She had lifelong interests in formal education, which she saw as professionally and personally transformative, and spent all of her working life from the 1950s engaged with Indonesia and South-East Asia.
As Assistant Editor of the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies at what is now the Research School of Asia and the Pacific, and in her research, she came into regular contact with graduate students from Indonesia as well as other parts of Asia. Her familiarity with the region, its languages and cultures – and her understanding of what it meant to be alone and struggling in a foreign country – made her a sympathetic figure for many students for whom she acted as informal or formal adviser and friend. She knew from personal experience how kindness and generosity could change lives. She had a particular affection for Indonesia and Indonesians and maintained her ties for many years following her formal retirement.
Recipients
2024
Keira Mullan
Keira Mullan is a PhD candidate in linguistics in the School of Culture, History and Language. She is currently working on a grammar of Simalur, a Barrier Islands (Austronesian) language spoken on Simeulue Island in Aceh Province. Her main interests are in morphology and the evolution of morphological complexity. Her research examines a grammar of contemporary Simalur, an under-documented Barrier Islands Language spoken on Simeulue Island off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Hendri A. F. Kaharudin
Hendri A. F. Kaharudin is currently a PhD candidate at CHL Archaeology and Natural History, focusing his research on coastal subsistence strategies in the Islands of Southeast Asia (ISEA) during the Pleistocene and Holocene. He has been involved in archaeological fieldwork on many remote islands in Wallacea, including Kisar, Alor, Lembata, Obi, and Tanimbar.
His research explores a current reef gleaning activities on Wetar Island, Indonesia, examining methods, material culture, participants, timing, and targeted fauna.
Gita Putri Damayana
Gita Putri Damayana is a PhD candidate in School of Regulation and Global Governance. Her main research areas are law and regulatory reform, legislative process and civic space. Prior to her study at ANU, Gita is Executive Director at the Indonesia Centre for Law and Policy Study and lecturer at Indonesia Jentera School of Law in Jakarta.
Her research examines on who and what shapes Indonesia’s legislative process after the ‘98 Reformasi period, and to what effect.
2023
Rani Dwi Putri
Rani Putri commenced her master of philosophy program in Anthropology, School Culture, History and Language, at College Asia and Pacific, The Australian National University in 2023. Before this, she worked with two of Gadjah Mada University (UGM)’s research institutions, namely the Youth Studies Centre (YouSure) and The Center for Security and Peace Studies (CSPS).
Her research examines “Female youth transition and identity: Navigating agency and life pathways within local Muslim-extremist networks in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara”.
Chris Morris
Chris Morris is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political and Social Change, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.
His research examines the nature of politico-bureaucratic relationships at the subnational level in Indonesia and their consequences for both policymaking and politics.
2022
Lila Dwilita Sari
Lila Dwilita Sari commenced her PhD in the Department of Political and Social Change, the Coral Bell School of Asia and the Pacific, the Australian National University in 2019.
Her research examines the variations of clientelistic politics and how it affects the healthcare services at the sub national level in Indonesia.
Lila has over seventeen years of experience in institutional capacity building and advancing Indonesia’s public sector reforms. Prior to commencing her PhD she was a Program Manager at AusAID and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Jakarta). She has also served as the Program Manager for the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (Corruption Eradication Commission). She received a Masters in Public Accounting from the University of Indonesia in 2015.
Navhat Nuraniyah
Navhat Nuraniyah commenced her PhD in the Department of Political and Social Change, the Coral Bell School of Asia and the Pacific, the Australian National University in 2020. Her research examines Islamist mobilisation and State repression in contemporary Indonesia.
Immediately prior to commencing her PhD she worked as an analyst at the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), where she conducted an extensive research on sectarian conflict, violent extremism (including its gender aspect), Salafism and other types of Islamic social movements in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Before joining IPAC, she was an Associate Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security, Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She completed a dual-master’s program in International Relations and Diplomacy at ANU in 2013. She attended traditional Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) in East Java and Yogyakarta and obtained a bachelor degree in International Relations from Muhammadiyah University Yogyakarta.
2021
Elena Williams
Elena Williams commenced her PhD in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific in February 2020. Her research examines the impact of DFAT’s higher education and public diplomacy initiatives on Australia-Indonesia relationship building, with a particular focus on student mobility and the New Colombo Plan (NCP).
Prior to commencing her doctoral studies, Elena worked in gender and development roles with Oxfam Australia, Reconciliation Australia and UN Women Indonesia. Between 2013 – 2017 Elena served as Resident Director with The Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Study (ACICIS), facilitating NCP-funded study programs in Indonesia and lecturing in development studies. Since returning to Australia, Elena has worked as a higher education consultant and held roles with AFS Intercultural Programs Australia, Asia Society Australia, the Victorian Government’s Department of Education and Training, and The University of Melbourne.
Elena holds a Masters of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development (Gender Studies) from ANU, a BA Honours degree in Indonesian Studies from The University of Sydney, and a BA in Communications and International Studies (Indonesian) from The University of Technology Sydney. Fluent in Indonesian, Elena regularly volunteers as a ‘Go Global’ Literacy Ambassador with the Asia Education Foundation and as mentor and advisor with the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association (AIYA) and National Australia Indonesia Language Awards (NAILA). Elena currently serves as a board member with Balai Bahasa NSW and with DFAT’s Australia-Indonesia Institute, and is a selection panel member for The Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange program (AIYEP) and the Australia Awards Indonesia.
2019
Jacob Wray
Jacob has been a PhD candidate in the Department of Political and Social Change since 2018. His interests focus primarily on the history of Indonesia, though he also has broader interests in the history of other parts of Asia and the Pacific. His undergraduate studies involved research in the Indonesian provinces of Papua, Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, and Central Java.
2018
Carly Gordyn
Carly Gordyn is a doctoral researcher in the Department of International Relations. Her PhD examines the historical cooperation between Australia and Indonesia in managing irregular migration.
In 2018 Carly was awarded the Australian Government’s Endeavour Research Fellowship, which she spent as a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta and at the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) at York University in Toronto. She is also the recipient of the Ruth Daroesman Graduate Study Grant for her field research in Indonesia.
In 2014, Carly was awarded the Australian Journal of International Affairs’ Boyer Prize for her co-authored article (with Dr Amy Nethery), ‘Australia-Indonesia Cooperation on Asylum-Seekers: A Case of “Incentivised Policy Transfer”’.
Carly received a First Class Honours in 2011 from Deakin University where she majored in International Relations and Indonesian language. Prior to joining the ANU in 2014, Carly worked in Australia’s immigration detention facilities on Nauru and Christmas Island. She is also an Affiliate of the Refugee Law Initiative and a member of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.
2017
Katiman
Katiman was a PhD scholar at the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU. His PhD thesis is titled Village governance, social relations and patterns of deliberation. He is originally from Indonesia and worked at the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Republic of Indonesia.
2016
Ahmad Dhiaulhaq
Ahmad was a PhD scholar at the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU. His PhD thesis is titled Environmental justice and the political economy of land conflict resolution in Indonesian forestry and palm oil. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at KITLV, Leiden.
2015
Yuhao Wen
Yuhao Wen holds a Master of Arts (Asia-Pacific Studies) with Honours from The Australian National University, with special interests in Southeast Asia, Australia and ethnic Chinese communities in the region, particularly in Indonesia. He is currently a freelance writer and professional translator (English-Chinese) based in Sydney.
2014
Melissa Bourne