Professor Vicziany pursues lifelong research passion
Cover image of China - Kashgar on the Silk Road by Marika Vicziany
Renowned academic, Professor Marika Vicziany has announced that she will be stepping down as Director of the Monash Asia Institute (MAI) from 1 July in order to pursue her long-term research interest in minorities in India.
During her 10 years as director of MAI, Professor Vicziany has developed the institute as a major centre for research on Asia as well as fostering a lively community of postgraduate coursework and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students.
Throughout her time at the University, Professor Vicziany has been an important mentor, encouraging students to publish their research work, as well as co-producing papers with a number of doctoral students on subjects of mutual interest.
“I am stepping down as Director to focus on my own research projects, many of which involve other University staff and fellows of the Monash Asia Institute,” Professor Vicziany said.
Since taking on the Director role in 2001, Professor Vicziany has sought to build the institute’s reputation by developing a vigorous, multi-disciplinary doctoral program, expanding international research collaborations and promoting publications of excellence.
Professor Vicziany’s greatest accomplishment as Director has been to contribute to the diversification of the University’s expertise on Asia. There are now postgraduates, staff and research fellows working on Central, South-East and East Asia.
“The most important achievement of the MAI has been the creation of a vibrant research culture that brings together young scholars with older experts. The result is that the MAI has had a 100per cent doctoral completion rate,” Professor Vicziany said.
Professor Vicziany thanked MAI’s supporters, donors, fellows and students, she explained how important it was to continue with the institute’s ongoing research projects.
“Many of our students are supervised by honorary research fellows who have retired from official appointments but continue to be leaders in their field of research – the depth of their expertise is hard to replicate,” Professor Vicziany said.
Dr Tikky Wattanapenpaiboon, Research Fellow at MAI, will continue at the Institute as the Administrative Officer, helping in the transition period.