To kick start the new semester, MGL will have a special lecture series on Global Partnerships & SDGs.

Online MGL Lecture series are offered in place of field visits to IO and NGOs for K5 internships.

The theme of the lecture series is GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS AND SDGS.

The speakers will each offer how their organizations contribute to the achievement of SDGs, then also offer their roles and responsibilities.

Speakers will also offer advice on finding jobs at their organizations or other international organizations.

Lectuer 1: Mr. Upalat Korwatanasakul

Mr Upalat is a research Fellow at the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), He holds a PhD in International Studies majoring in Development Economic Analysis from the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan).

He  is an international development economist with interest in a wide range of economic and social development topics in East and Southeast Asia such as digital economy, global value chains, informal economy, labour market, and small and medium-sized enterprises.

In his lectuer, Mr. Upalat shared with students his experience collaborating with major international organisations and research institutes such as the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute (JICA-RI), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), among others.

Lecture 2: Mr. Tristan Knowles

Tristan has a Bachelor Degree in Applied Economics from Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. During university, Tristan undertook a 12 month exchange program to study abroad in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Kuala Lumpur.

Tristan is a Climate Investment Specialist based in ADB's private sector infrastructure team in Bangkok and covering the Mekong region including Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

In his lectuer, Mr Tristan shared with students his experience working with ADB for four years and is responsible for originating and structuring of deals with a focus on renewable energy, energy storage, and sustainable transport, with a focus on blended finance transactions. Prior to ADB, Tristan worked at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, a $10 billion climate focused green bank in Australia.

Lecture 3: Ms Thapa

Ms. Thapa, Regional Project Development Officer, IOM 

Ms. Thapa is an International development professional with 10 years of headquarter/regional office (Washington, D.C., Canberra, Bangkok) and field (Nepalganj, Kathmandu, Kabul).

In her lecture, Ms Thapa shared with MGL students her experience in project development and support, project implementation, and development research and communications. Committed to safe, orderly, and dignified migration for all.

Lecture 4: Mr Pham Van Tan

Mr. Pham Van Tan is Deputy Director-General of the Department of Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Viet Nam.

In his lecture, Mr Tan shared with MGL students information about his responsibilities include developing and guiding the implementation after approval of policies, regulations, strategies, and plans for climate change mitigation, guiding the implementation. He was one of the key persons who lead the process of development of the Viet Nam's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) in 2014-2015; updated NDC in 2017-2020; development of the National Plan for Implementation of the Paris Agreement; development of climate change parts in the Laws on environment protection (2014 and 2020), Decree on climate change mitigation (2022) and many others. He has rich experiences in coordinating multi-sectoral and international support for climate change actions in Viet Nam.

He is the Deputy Chief of Vietnam’s Climate Change Negotiation under the United Nation Framework on Climate Change. He served as the Chairman of the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC) for the period 2015-2017; Member of the Steering Committee of the NDC Partnership for the period 2016-2019.

Lecture 5: Ms Boran Choi

Ms. Boran Choi is an Education and Advocacy Sr. Specialist at the Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict (PEIC) Programme of Education Above All Foundation (EAA).

In her lecter, Ms Choi shared with MGL students stories about her expeirence at PEIC and UNESCO, advocating for education

At PEIC, she plays a key role in developing and implementing global advocacy strategy including EAA’s global campaign for the protection of the right to education from attack, #UniteToProtect; and field level projects for empowerment and mobilization of conflict-affected youth and communities for education advocacy and sustainable peacebuilding.

Previously, Boran worked at the UNESCO Project Office in Myanmar, UN Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative (GEFI), UNESCO Liaison Office in New York, and Education Directorate of the OECD in Paris. She is a passionate advocate for empowerment of youth to become active contributors to building a more just, equitable, peaceful, and prosperous world. She holds a M.S.Ed. in International Educational Development from the University of Pennsylvania and B.A. in Political Science and Economics from SungKyunKwan University.

MASTER'S PROGRAM IN GLOBAL LEADERSHIP In the midst of the rapid globalization that marks the contemporary world, the presence of Vietnam, ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region is becoming more significant than ever in the fields of international politics, economy, society and culture. The mission of the Global Leadership Program (MGL) is based on following two principles:  1) To pursue academic research that balances global and regional perspectives in addressing the range of historical, political, economic, business management, industrial, social, and cultural issues arising among and across the nations of the Asia-Pacific region. 2) To cultivate future leaders, who can contribute broadly to United Nations based global governance and ASEAN centered regional governance in Southeast Asia, East Asia (ASEAN+3) and Asia Pacific. Solving various issues emerging out of the contemporary global society requires historical and cultural understandings of the region combined with analytical skills from the disciplines of international relations, political science, and international development. To this end, MGL is one  of the few educational programs in the world that offers an interdisciplinary program to provide students with graduate-level education in Global Leadership with three social science dimension of Politics/ Security, Economy and International studies. For more information, please visit here.