Sustainable development for thriving communities 2023
The Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability (CDES) at Monash Business School, Australia and the Thriving Communities Research Cluster of the School of Business, Monash University Malaysia, are delighted to co-host this event.
SDTC 2023 is a collaboration with the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific Chief Economist (EAPCE) Research Center and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). It will present a unique opportunity to bring together leading researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to share their insights and experiences on collaborating to drive impactful change and progress regional sustainable development strategies. Interdisciplinary cooperation and new ideas for sustainable development and flourishing communities are anticipated from this conference.
It will focus on these crucial themes for sustainable development and thriving communities:
- Thriving communities: Indigenous groups, ethnic minorities, marginalized and vulnerable communities (i.e., any citizen deprived of access to a ‘good life’).
- Environmental sustainability: Climate change mitigation and balancing environmental protection with economic development.
- Social and economic inclusion: Promoting inclusive and resilient communities and equal access to resources and opportunities.
- Good governance and openness: Examining how good governance promotes sustainable development and combats corruption and lack of transparency.
- Innovation and technology: Demonstrating how technology and innovation may be used to tackle environmental harm, inequality, and poverty.
We hope to see a dynamic dialogue between development practitioners and academic scholars, with participation from government and non-government decision-makers.
Paper submissions are now open. To register your interest, please submit a 250-word abstract or full paper (if available) to sdtc@monash.edu by 15 September 2023. Registration is also open to those who are not presenting, including industry and government practitioners, think-tank contributors, researchers and students.
All participants will also have the opportunity to join a post-conference workshop on Randomized Controlled Trials ; more information is available below.
Keynote speakers:
Professor Gabriella Conti, Department of Economics, University College London. 
Prof Conti’s areas of interest are health economics, the economics of human development, and biology and economics. She was recently awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics, which “recognises the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising”. Prof Conti has published in top journals including Science, the Economic Journal, the Journal of Econometrics, and Lancet, and her work has been mentioned in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and discussed in the British Parliament.
Dr Sudarno Sumarto, Senior Research Fellow, The SMERU Research Institute. 
Dr Sumarto is an economist, the first director of The SMERU Research Institute, and one of SMERU’s founders. His current position as a Policy Adviser at the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) under the Office of the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia shows his strong link to Indonesian policymakers. Dr Sumarto’s current positions reflect his commitment to bridging research and policy-making in Indonesia. He has published in top journals such as the American Economic Review and the Journal of Political Economy.
Professor Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Senior Advisor, Khazanah Research Institute.
Prof Sundaram is a Fellow at the Academy of Science Malaysia, and an Emeritus Professor at the University of Malaya. He is the former Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development at the United Nations (UN), Assistant Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Founder-Chair of the International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs), and President of the Malaysian Social Science Association. Prof Sundaram has authored and edited more than a hundred books, and written many academic papers, research reports and media articles. He received the 2007 Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.
Invited speakers:
Associate Professor Hyuncheol Bryant Kim, Economics Department, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 
A/Prof Kim is an applied empirical micro-economist focusing on the causal impacts of policy interventions in health and education sectors through large-scale data analysis and social experiments. His research aims to understand the fundamental relationship between human capital investment and individual and societal well-being in Africa and Asia. He has published in leading journals such as Science, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Development Economics and the Journal of Health Economics.
Professor Euston Quah, Albert Winsemius Chair Professor of Economics, Nanyang Technological University, SIngapore. 
Prof Quah has primary research interests and expertise in cost-benefit analysis and environmental economics. He has published more than 100 papers in journals, and lead opinion articles in a range of media. His internationally known book Cost-Benefit Analysis, with E. J. Mishan, is widely cited and now in its sixth edition (2021). Professor Quah is president of the Economic Society of Singapore and the editor of the Singapore Economic Review. In 2021, Prof Quah was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver), on Singapore’s National Day.
Dr Diahhadi Setyonaluri, Researcher, Universitas Indonesia. 
Dr Setyonaluri’s work focuses on factors contributing to women’s economic participation and welfare, from gender norms to social protection, and violence against women. She is currently working on Time Use and Agency study in urban Indonesia and supporting the Ministry of Women Empowerment for Violence Against Women national-representative survey, implemented in 2024. She received her PhD from the Demographic and Social Research Institute at the Australian National University.
Assistant Professor Xing Xia, Department of Economics, Yale-NUS College. 
Asst/Prof Xia is an applied microeconomist with research focuses on human capital, education, health and the labour market. She studies how individuals make decisions on educational and health-related investments, how the changing demand of modern labour markets influences educational institutions, and how households and firms respond to the challenges of globalisation and climate change.
Asst/Prof Xia’s current research focuses on Singapore, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and the USA. She holds a BA in Economics and a BSc in Mathematics from Wuhan University and a PhD in Economics from Columbia University.
Event Details
- Date:
- 13 December 2023 at 9:00 am – 14 December 2023 at 5:00 pm
- Venue:
- Sasana Kijang, Bank Negara Malaysia, 2, Jalan Dato’ Onn 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Categories:
- Alumni; General; Sustainability & Social change
Description
The Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability (CDES) at Monash Business School, Australia and the Thriving Communities Research Cluster of the School of Business, Monash University Malaysia, are delighted to co-host this event.
SDTC 2023 is a collaboration with the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific Chief Economist (EAPCE) Research Center and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). It will present a unique opportunity to bring together leading researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to share their insights and experiences on collaborating to drive impactful change and progress regional sustainable development strategies. Interdisciplinary cooperation and new ideas for sustainable development and flourishing communities are anticipated from this conference.
It will focus on these crucial themes for sustainable development and thriving communities:
- Thriving communities: Indigenous groups, ethnic minorities, marginalized and vulnerable communities (i.e., any citizen deprived of access to a ‘good life’).
- Environmental sustainability: Climate change mitigation and balancing environmental protection with economic development.
- Social and economic inclusion: Promoting inclusive and resilient communities and equal access to resources and opportunities.
- Good governance and openness: Examining how good governance promotes sustainable development and combats corruption and lack of transparency.
- Innovation and technology: Demonstrating how technology and innovation may be used to tackle environmental harm, inequality, and poverty.
We hope to see a dynamic dialogue between development practitioners and academic scholars, with participation from government and non-government decision-makers.
Paper submissions are now open. To register your interest, please submit a 250-word abstract or full paper (if available) to sdtc@monash.edu by 15 September 2023. Registration is also open to those who are not presenting, including industry and government practitioners, think-tank contributors, researchers and students.
All participants will also have the opportunity to join a post-conference workshop on Randomized Controlled Trials ; more information is available below.
Keynote speakers:
Professor Gabriella Conti, Department of Economics, University College London.
Prof Conti’s areas of interest are health economics, the economics of human development, and biology and economics. She was recently awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics, which “recognises the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising”. Prof Conti has published in top journals including Science, the Economic Journal, the Journal of Econometrics, and Lancet, and her work has been mentioned in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and discussed in the British Parliament.
Dr Sudarno Sumarto, Senior Research Fellow, The SMERU Research Institute.
Dr Sumarto is an economist, the first director of The SMERU Research Institute, and one of SMERU’s founders. His current position as a Policy Adviser at the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) under the Office of the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia shows his strong link to Indonesian policymakers. Dr Sumarto’s current positions reflect his commitment to bridging research and policy-making in Indonesia. He has published in top journals such as the American Economic Review and the Journal of Political Economy.
Professor Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Senior Advisor, Khazanah Research Institute.
Prof Sundaram is a Fellow at the Academy of Science Malaysia, and an Emeritus Professor at the University of Malaya. He is the former Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development at the United Nations (UN), Assistant Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Founder-Chair of the International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs), and President of the Malaysian Social Science Association. Prof Sundaram has authored and edited more than a hundred books, and written many academic papers, research reports and media articles. He received the 2007 Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.
Invited speakers:
Associate Professor Hyuncheol Bryant Kim, Economics Department, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
A/Prof Kim is an applied empirical micro-economist focusing on the causal impacts of policy interventions in health and education sectors through large-scale data analysis and social experiments. His research aims to understand the fundamental relationship between human capital investment and individual and societal well-being in Africa and Asia. He has published in leading journals such as Science, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Development Economics and the Journal of Health Economics.
Professor Euston Quah, Albert Winsemius Chair Professor of Economics, Nanyang Technological University, SIngapore.
Prof Quah has primary research interests and expertise in cost-benefit analysis and environmental economics. He has published more than 100 papers in journals, and lead opinion articles in a range of media. His internationally known book Cost-Benefit Analysis, with E. J. Mishan, is widely cited and now in its sixth edition (2021). Professor Quah is president of the Economic Society of Singapore and the editor of the Singapore Economic Review. In 2021, Prof Quah was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver), on Singapore’s National Day.
Dr Diahhadi Setyonaluri, Researcher, Universitas Indonesia.
Dr Setyonaluri’s work focuses on factors contributing to women’s economic participation and welfare, from gender norms to social protection, and violence against women. She is currently working on Time Use and Agency study in urban Indonesia and supporting the Ministry of Women Empowerment for Violence Against Women national-representative survey, implemented in 2024. She received her PhD from the Demographic and Social Research Institute at the Australian National University.
Assistant Professor Xing Xia, Department of Economics, Yale-NUS College.
Asst/Prof Xia is an applied microeconomist with research focuses on human capital, education, health and the labour market. She studies how individuals make decisions on educational and health-related investments, how the changing demand of modern labour markets influences educational institutions, and how households and firms respond to the challenges of globalisation and climate change.
Asst/Prof Xia’s current research focuses on Singapore, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and the USA. She holds a BA in Economics and a BSc in Mathematics from Wuhan University and a PhD in Economics from Columbia University.