With the Institute of Global Development, UNSW hosted the 12th Women in Asia Conference in June 2019. The theme of the conference was “Women in Asia in an Era of Anti-Elitism”. This interdisciplinary event is organised by Melissa Crouch, Felix Tan, Louise Edwards, Tanya Jakimow, Minako Sakai and Carmen Leong. The event was a key forum for networking and solidarity, fostering important research on issues of gender and development, and supporting the academic careers of early career scholars and students. Over several days we hosted 150 presenters in seven panel streams; and in addition we held two research methods masterclasses; a distinguished public lecture; an early career workshop with nine outstanding speakers to an audience of 80 participants; two sub-regional council AGMs, and a side event on China. Across all events this involved close to 300 people. Our speakers came from over 14 countries in Asia, including India, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, China and Korea. The speakers were drawn from at least 29 universities in the region, including the National University of Malaysia, Islamic University of Jambi, Muhammadiyah University, University of North Sumatra, the University of Indonesia; State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah; Indonesian Ministry of Finance; Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Gadjah Mada University Indonesia, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Nanyang Technological University, Ewha Woman’s University Seoul, the University of Hong Kong, University of Colombo, Maharashtra National Law University, Meijo University, Yonsei University; Bunkyo Gakuin University, University of Syiah Kuala; Flame University (India), Jawaharlal Nehru University University of Lambung Mangkurat, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University; Lahore College for Women University; National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University, University of the Philippines, Zhejiang University, Ochanomizu University, and Massey University. The event was funded by ASAA, FASS, the Business School, and the Women in Asia Forum. Bursaries were granted to 19 students (8 international and 11 domestic). The Early Career Workshop was funded by the Australian Academy for the Humanities. The Law Panels were funded by Konrad Adenaeur Stiftung and the Gilbert + Tobin Centre for Public Law
