The Royal Golden Jubilee (RGJ) Ph.D. programme, the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) and Mae Fah Luang University held a seminar with the theme “Social Development” on 24 February 2017 at MFU.
The seminar consisted of two sessions including “The Direction of the Humanities and Social Sciences Research” and "Community of Common Destiny: the Destiny of the Border." In the first session, a senior researcher of TRF Prof. Dr. Anan Ganjanapan encouraged participants to connect social science with wider global contexts. He stated that the world has changed from being a place of solid phase locality to liquid phase globality; in other words, much of the world is connected through globalization. Therefore, researchers have to change their research methods by applying social issues and concepts in their research to understand societies and strive for social change. He added it is essential for researchers to think outside the box in the flexible, complex and synergistic ways.
Director of the Institute of Asian Studies (IAS) at Chulalongkorn University Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nualnoi Treerat pointed out two examples that show the adaptability of economic research. Firstly, he demonstrated how behavioral economics use psychological knowledge to understand the human behavior. In addition, he stated that researchers can benefit from using big data and from using an algorithm for analyzing logical thinking.
In the second session, the topic of "Community of Common Destiny: the Destiny of the Border" was discussed. Lecturer at MFU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nathapornpan Uttama said that if we believe that connectivity is the origin of a community, communities of common destiny have existed for ages. Associate Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University Assist. Prof. Dr. Jakkrit Sangkhamanee added that borders are fundamental parts of networks and connectivity. Increased border crossings increase the flow of goods, people and services.
All in all, reaching a new dimension for doing research begins with thinking differently. Most importantly, research results must be advantageous for societies and have a positive impact on social change.
