Academic Forum on "The Mekong River Basin in the Current Context: From the Perspectives of Neighboring Countries' Archives, Great Powers, and Academics"
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, joins forces with the Mekong River Basin regional network, opens an academic forum on "The Mekong River Basin in the Current Context: From the Perspectives of Neighboring Countries' Archives, Great Powers, and Academics"
On Wednesday, February 5, 2025, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, in collaboration with the Humanities and Social Sciences Network and the Institute of Global Studies (Thatcha), organized an academic forum on "The Mekong River Basin in the Current Context: From the Perspectives of Neighboring Countries' Archives, Great Powers, and Academics." The event was honored by the presence of Assoc. Prof. Chanchai Phanthongwiriyakul, M.D., President of Khon Kaen University, who presided over the opening ceremony. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Orathai Piayura, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, welcomed the participants, and Kantaphong Chitkla, Vice Dean for Academic and Digital Affairs, reported the objectives of the event. Over 200 people, including members of the Mekong River Basin working group, researchers, academics, and students, attended the event held in Room 3218, HS03 Building, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University.
The forum featured many interesting activities. The morning session began with a special lecture on "Strategy of Connectivity: Belt and Road Initiative, ASEAN, and Mekong Sub-region" by Dr. Suwit Mangkala, Deputy Director-General of the Department of ASEAN, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was followed by an academic seminar by regional studies experts, journalists, and international relations specialists, covering important issues and phenomena related to the area, politics, people, society, culture, and international relations in the Mekong River Basin.
The afternoon session featured a roundtable discussion by academics in the fields of archives, history, language and society, economics, arts and culture, and literature under two main topics: "The Transnational World in the Perspective of Regional Studies, History, and Language and Society" and "The Transboundary World in the Interdisciplinary Context: Social Well-being, Economy, Literature, Architecture." In addition, a workshop was held to enhance knowledge and a quiz competition with prizes on "Thailand in the World Stage," which attracted more than 14 teams of high school students from across the Northeast. The results of the competition can be summarized as follows:
- Winner: Kaennakhon Witthayalai School
- 1st Runner-up: Khonkaenwitthayayon School
- 2nd Runner-up: Princess Chulabhorn Science High School Buriram
- Honorable Mentions: Yangtaladwittayakarn School and Kanlayanawat School
This forum was an important platform for experts from various fields to exchange and share their knowledge about the Mekong River Basin in terms of history, society, culture, economy, and politics, which is important for Thailand and neighboring countries to determine the direction of future cooperation. It also served as a platform for building international academic cooperation networks.
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