Public Policy Seminar 2022
YSEALI ACADEMY’S PUBLIC POLICY SEMINAR
Regional Environment and Resilient Development
March 14 – 25, 2022
SEMINAR CURRICULUM
I. TIMELINE AND VENUE
Timeline
- Application opening: December 13, 2021.
- Application deadline: January 17, 2022.
- Result announcement: February 15, 2022.
- Seminar dates: March 14–25, 2022 (two weeks, ten working days, Monday - Friday).
Venue
- Due to COVID complication and unpredictability, the seminar will be conducted wholly online (by the YSEALI Academy based in Fulbright University Vietnam located in Ho Chi Minh City).
II. PARTICIPANTS
- 35 YSEALI fellows who are young professionals between the ages of 25-40, highly qualified and motivated, from all 10 ASEAN member states and Timor-Leste.
- Participants are required to commit at least 36 hours for online seminar activities and approximately 12 additional hours for individual and group assignments over a period of 2 weeks. Therefore, participants are highly recommended to take two fully committed weeks to participate productively in and achieve the most from the seminar.
III. OBJECTIVES AND LEARNING OUTCOME
Objectives
- Expand YSEALI fellows’ knowledge and skills of topics related to environmental challenges and resilient development in Southeast Asia that can be applied in participants' careers.
- Build a network with other Southeast Asian professionals for future collaboration in public affairs, including environment sector.
Learning outcomes
Upon graduation, fellows are expected to have a better picture of Southeast Asian environmental landscape, including challenges, emerging trends, and solutions for resilient development. Fellows would also understand and apply basic economic frameworks and policy tools to addressing environmental issues and resilient development.
IV. THEME AND TOPICS
1. Major theme – Regional Environment and Resilient Development
The seminar provides an overview of environmental challenges to Southeast Asia and how to cope with them by (and for) resilient development with economic and policymaking perspectives. It will focus on selected environmental issues facing Southeast Asia including environmental pollution, water security, climate change, oil and gas exploration, upstream hydropower impacts and carbon intensity in exports.
2. Seminar topics
- Topic 1 – Introduction, macroeconomic frameworks, and policy tools for environmental management and resilient development
This section introduces frameworks and policy tools to examine and analyze environmental issues in Southeast Asia. It will also address the approaches to cope with environmental challenges through resilient development.
e.g., carbon intensity in exports, carbon tax, nature conservation and biodiversity, sustainable cities or agriculture.
- Topic 2 – Environmental trends, issues, and resilient development
This part provides an overview of Southeast Asian environmental landscape, including emerging trends, issues, and policies for resilient development.
- Topic 3 – Air, soil, and water environment: from the Lower Mekong Region to the South China Sea
This section deep dive into various environmental problems extending from the Lower Mekong Region to the South China Sea. It will analyze pertinent challenges to air, soil and water environment, including impacts of coal-power plants, waste management, upstream hydropower projects, water security, water governance, coastal environment, marine ecology.
- Topic 4 – Climate change in the 21st century: Past observation, future projection, and potential impacts
This part focuses on climate change and related themes such as emission, global warming, sea level rise as well as their impacts on Southeast Asia, particularly the coastal cities and regions. It will also address Southeast Asian/ASEAN cooperation on environment and the COP 26 meeting.
V. SEMINAR FORMAT AND STRUCTURE
1. Seminar format
As the seminar is conducted wholly online without field trips, it will be delivered in diverse formats to maximize the engagement of participants, including faculty lectures, guest talk/presentation, panel discussion, team projects (discussed below) and class discussion.
Team project: fellows from at least three nations will work in a team and deliver a presentation on issues relevant to the seminar theme e.g., environment impacts of fossil fuel, water security, hydro power and livelihood, climate change, cross-border haze, biomass open burning, public reaction to controversial projects. Comparative and cross-nation analysis and views are appreciated in these team projects which are expected to add practical, diverse, bottom-up and updated examples and perspectives of Southeast Asia to the seminar.
2. Structure
There are 22 sessions in total over two weeks (Monday – Friday), 2-3 sessions /day (morning, afternoon, or evening).
Due to the time zone constraint (with international speakers), the seminar is mostly conducted in the afternoons and evenings. The 2-hour evening/morning sessions include a 90-minute lecture after a 30-minute national cultural activity; the 2-hour afternoon/morning sessions include guest talks, panel discussion, leadership workshop or participants’ teamwork. The seminar schedule is based on Hanoi/Bangkok time.
- 10 sessions for lectures (scholars together with guest speakers, if any). Each lecture lasts for 90 minutes.
- 4 sessions for panel discussions/industry experts.
- 7 sessions for leadership workshop, networking, teamwork, and team presentations.
- 1 welcoming session and 1 closing session, including class review (reflection, Q&A, comments) and graduation ceremony.
- Cultural activities: 30-minute national cultural show by fellows before each lecture.
Seminar structure
Week 1 |
Day 1 Monday |
Day 2 Tuesday |
Day 3 Wednesday |
Day 4 Thursday |
Day 5 Friday |
Saturday |
Morning 9:00–10:30am |
Plenary Session
|
Homework 1 |
Homework |
Lecture 4 |
Soft skill workshop |
Distinguished public lecture |
Afternoon 2:00 – 4:00pm |
Intro of YSEALI Academy/ seminar agenda Fellows’ networking |
Panel discussion 1 |
Team project Session 1 |
Homework 2 |
Panel discussion |
|
Evening 6:30-8:30pm |
Lecture 1 (intro)
|
Lecture 2
|
Lecture 3
|
Lecture 5
|
Team project Session 2 |
|
Week 2 |
Day 6 Monday |
Day 7 Tuesday |
Day 8 Wednesday |
Day 9 Thursday |
Day 10 Friday |
|
Morning 9:00–10:30am |
Lecture 6 |
Leadership workshop 1 |
Leadership workshop 2 |
Team presentation |
Lecture 10 |
|
Afternoon 2:00 – 4:00pm |
Panel discussion 3 |
Team project Session 3 |
Homework 3 |
Team presentation |
Class reflection; Graduation Ceremony |
|
Evening 6:30-8:30pm |
Lecture 7
|
Lecture 8 |
Lecture 9 |
Panel discussion 4 |
Free |
|
VI. AGENDA
Morning (M): 9:00-10:30; Afternoon (A): 14:00-16:00; Evening (E): 18:30-20:30 unless otherwise specifed. Hanoi/Bangkok time (UTC+7)
Date |
|
Topic |
Speaker/Host |
Day 1 Monday March 14, 2022
|
M |
Opening Session Guest welcoming
Welcoming remarks
Remarks
Keynote speech Q&A session
Fellow’s remark |
Madam Dam Bich Thuy, President, Fulbright University Vietnam US Department of State Keynote speaker: Ali Badreddine, Vice President, Project Delivery, Energy and Sustainability Asia Pacific, Johnson Controls A Representative Fellow |
A |
Overview of seminar agenda and logistics information. Networking |
Huynh Trung Dung, Public Policy Faculty Lead, YSEALI Academy Nguyen Xuan Ngoc Hanh, Program Officer, YSEALI Academy
|
|
E
|
Lecture 1 Environmental Economics: A Primer |
David Dapice Harvard Kennedy School |
|
Day 2 Tuesday March 15, 2022
|
M |
Homework
|
|
A |
Panel Discussion 1 Climate Change, COP26, and the Role of Energy Transition
|
Koos Neefjes, Director, Climate Sense (Vietnam) Nashin Mahtani, Director, Yayasan Peta Bencana (Disaster Map Foundation) Anatole Boute, Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Tue Anh Nguyen, Research Fellow, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London (UCL) Puree Sirasoontorn, Assistant Professor at Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University
|
|
E |
Lecture 2 (7:00-8:00pm) Climate Change: Carbon Capture and Net Zero: A primer
|
Damo Menon Former executive at ANZ Bank; currently Independent Consultant for NGOs and start-ups, Strategic Advisor – Americas for UK’s Cambridge Center for Climate Repair
|
|
Day 3 Wednesday March 16, 2022
|
M |
Homework |
|
A |
Team project |
Team Feedback Le Viet Phu Huynh Trung Dung Fulbright University Vietnam |
|
E
|
Lecture 3 Governance in the environment |
Edmund Malesky Duke University |
|
Day 4 Thursday March 17, 2022
|
M |
Lecture 4 Climate Impact on Urban Development: How Robust Decision Making (RDM) May Help Policymakers
|
Robert Lempert RAND Corporation
|
A |
Homework |
|
|
E
|
Lecture 5 Environmental challenges to the marine ecosystem in the South China Sea
|
John W. McManus University of Miami |
|
Day 5 Friday March 18, 2022
|
M |
Soft skill workshop Practical tips on slide design based on cognitive science. |
Tran Thi Thuy Trang, YSEALI Academy
|
A |
Panel Discussion 2 Environment and Circular Economy |
Nguyen Hong Quan (moderator), Institute for Circular Economy Development (ICED), VNU - HCMC Jelmer Hoogzaad - Shifting Paradigms Richard McClellan – RMAC Advisory, LLC Loc Phan - Vietnam Food JSC Patrick Schröder - Chatham House Prof. Walter Vermeulen - Utrecht University |
|
E
|
Team project
|
Team feedback Le Viet Phu Huynh Trung Dung Fulbright University Vietnam |
|
Special Day Saturday March 19, 2022 |
|
Distinguished Public Lecture (9:00-10:00)
|
Daniel M. Kammen Director of Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL), Professor in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), Class of '35 Distinguished Chair in Energy, University of California, Berkeley Moderator: Le Viet Phu |
Day 6 Monday March 21, 2022
|
M |
Lecture 6 Air pollution emission reduction strategies for clean air in Asia with climate co-benefit |
Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) |
A |
Panel discussion 3 Air pollution, impacts and policy responses |
Do Van Nguyet (moderator) Nguyen Thi Trang Nhung, Professor, Hanoi University of Public Health Supat Wangwongtana, Senior Advisor, Thailand Environment Institute, former Director General of the Pollution Control Department Maria Katherina Patdu, Coordinator, Asia Pacific Clean Air Partnership (UNEP) Falguni Patadia, Scientist, Science and Technology Institute (STI), Universities Space Research Application (USRA), NASA Marshall Space Flight Center |
|
E
|
Lecture 7 Life Cycle Assessment vs. other tools for measuring environmental impact |
Edward Cunningham Harvard Kennedy School
|
|
Day 7 Tuesday March 22, 2022
|
M |
Leadership workshop 1 (7:30 – 9:00 am) Influencing without authority |
Suzanne C. de Janasz George Mason University |
A |
Team project |
Team feedback Le Viet Phu Huynh Trung Dung Fulbright University Vietnam |
|
E
|
Lecture 8 Waste Production in ASEAN countries: Pollution, Mitigation & Valorisation |
Su Shiung Lam, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT)
|
|
Day 8 Wednesday March 23, 2022
|
M |
Leadership workshop 2 (7:30 – 9:00 am) Capitalizing on everyday negotiations |
Suzanne C. de Janasz George Mason University |
A |
Homework |
|
|
E
|
Lecture 9 Mekong River sustainability, impacts of hydropower dams on environment and livelihood |
Brian Eyler Energy, Water, Sustainability Program Director Southeast Asia Program Director, The Stimson Center
|
|
Day 9 Thursday March 24, 2022
|
M |
Team presentation
|
Tran Thi Thuy Trang Le Thai Ha Le Viet Phu Huynh Nhat Nam Hoang Ha Thi Vladimir Mariano Huynh Trung Dung Fulbright University Vietnam |
A |
Team presentation |
Tran Thi Thuy Trang Le Thai Ha Le Viet Phu Huynh Nhat Nam Hoang Ha Thi Vladimir Mariano Huynh Trung Dung Fulbright University Vietnam |
|
E
|
Panel discussion 4 Water governance and geopolitics (the Mekong River region) |
Courtney Weatherby, the Stimson Center (moderator) Chayanis Krittasudthacheewa, Deputy Director, SEI Asia (Thailand) Le Hong Hiep, Senior Fellow, ISEAS Diana Suhardiman, Director, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies Socheata Sim, Oxfam Cambodia |
|
Day 10 Friday March 25, 2022
|
M |
Lecture 10 (8:00 – 9:30 am) Emission Trading System (ETS) and implications for developing nations |
Wil Burns Northwestern University
|
A |
Class review and seminar evaluation Graduation Ceremony Closing remarks Recapture & seminar highlights
Remarks Remarks Certificate Granting Ceremony Remarks |
|
|
E |
Networking event |
|