CONFERENCE PROGRAM

MYANMAR UPDATE 2021 Living with the pandemic and the coup

Myanmar Research CentreANU College of Asia & the Pacific

Supported by

2 Myanmar Research Centre

Thursday 15 July

12.30 - 1.00pm Welcome address by Prof Helen Sullivan, Dean, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific and Dr Nick Cheesman, Director, Myanmar Research Centre

1.00 - 2.00pm Keynote address by Prof Yanghee Lee, Sungkyunkwan University and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar

2.00 - 2.10pm Break

2.10 - 3.50pm Panel one: The coup UN, please ignore us: Addressee-design in Myanmar’s ongoing anti-coup uprising Elliot Prasse-Freeman, National University of Singapore

The contested state of Burma: Conflict, coups and the federalism promise Nicola Williams, The Australian National University

New friends, old enemies: Politics of ethnic armed organisations after the coup Salai Samuel Hmung, The Australian National University Centuring heterogeneity in Myanmar’s civil disobedience movement Michael Dunford, The Australian National University

3.50 - 4.00pm Break

4.00 - 4.40pm Book launch and dialogue on the coup with contributing authors of Living with Myanmar (Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute)

4.45 - 5.30pm Speaker address by Khin Zaw Win, Director, Tampadipa Institute

Myanmar Research Centre 3

Friday 16 July

12.00 - 1.05pm Political update by Dr Morten Pedersen, University of New South Wales

1.05 - 1.10pm Break

1.10 - 2.30pm Panel two: Foreign relations, aid and the coup

The nature, scope and limits of international responses to Myanmar’s coup Nicholas Coppel, Monash University

The pendulum of neutralism: Myanmar’s shifting approach to non-alignment from 2010-2020 Andrea Passeri, University of Malaya Hunter Marston, The Australian National University

How are fashion workers in Myanmar surviving the COVID-19 pandemic? Initial findings of struggles and resilience Sara Tödt, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

2.30 - 2.40pm Break

2.40 - 4.00pm Panel three: Politics, elections and the pandemic The Myanmar 2020 elections and the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic Michael Lidaeur, Goethe University Frankfurt Gilles Saphy, Election Observation and Democratic Support

Vanishing network: USDP’s position in Myanmar’s democratic consolidation (2015-2020) Constant Courtin, University of British Columbia

Exploring Myanmar prison departments responses to COVID-19 and the implications of the coup Anonymous scholar Tomas Martin, DIGNITY

4.00 - 4.15pm Break

4.15 - 5.00pm Speaker address by H.E Lian H. Sakhong, Minister of Federal Union Affairs, National Unity Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar

4

Saturday 17 July

12.00 - 1.05pm Economic update by Htwe Htwe Thein, Curtin UniversityVicky Bowman, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business

1.05 - 1.10pm Break

1.10 - 2.50pm Panel four: Struggle and resilience

The Myanmar economy, COVID-19 and the current political context: Issues and prospects for recovery Linda Calabrese, Max Mendez-Parra, Laetitia Pettinotti, Overseas Development Initiative

Socioeconomic challenges of local fisherman due to the pandemic Mie Mie Kyaw, independent expert

Human rights and access to worship places Seng Rose, independent expert

Debt, precarity and the politicisation of state aid: COVID-19 impacts and post-coup options Gerard McCarthy, National University of Singapore Anonymous scholar Andrea Smurra, University College London Russell Toth, University of Sydney

2.50 - 3.00pm Break

3.00 - 4.20pm Panel five: Poverty, food insecurity and social protection under COVID-19 and the coup in Myanmar

Poverty, food insecurity and social protection during COVID-19 and the coup in Myanmar: Combined evidence from household phone surveys and micro-simulations Afke Jager, Innovations for Poverty Action-Myanmar

How could COVID-19 affect maternal and child nutrition? An exploration of impact pathways in Yangon, Myanmar Sophie Gaudet, KYS Research

Myanmar’s microfinance sector, agriculture, under COVID-19 and the coup: Emerging insights and new challenges Russell Toth, University of Sydney

4.20 - 5.15pm Speaker address by Swe Win, Editor-in-chief, Myanmar Now

5.15 - 5.30pm Closing remarks

Myanmar Research Centre