Invisible Rohingya refugees and climate change in Cox’s Bazar

As a Research Scholar in the Ronin Institute, my research focuses on the Rohingya Muslim minority of Burma, one of the world’s most persecuted and vulnerable refugees. My interest in these refugees from Burma (Myanmar) developed during my M.Phil. years at the University of Delhi where I was studying colonial labour migration, particularly the pace …

Save Cantonese: language advocacy for a project to preserve Cantonese in the West

By Research Scholar Keith Tse Cantonese means a lot to me. My interest in it is twofold: academic and personal. As I do research in Linguistics and I frequently analyse my native language (Chinese), I am naturally interested in Cantonese and its reception in the West. I also come from Hong Kong, China, and Cantonese …

Sustainability at the Ronin Institute

By Research Scholar Oumaima Ben Amor What we innovate, invent, advance, or know today started off as research fueled by our curiosity. Research is an essential phase in the understanding of problems and challenges which involves the development of new ideas and solutions. It has long shed light on the global threats that we are …

A Young Scientist’s Journey: There and Back Again

By Research Scholar Bryan Quoc Le I had the extraordinary fortune of having the opportunity to publish a book on the topic of food science while completing my Ph.D. program – 150 Food Science Questions Answered. The book was published in 2020, right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. The experience of writing the …

If physical education is taught to children, why not mental education? —A proposal to educate the mind

By Research Scholar Jose Luis Perez Velazquez We live in a paradoxical world. In a time when everybody cries for freedom, where liberties are championed, we live in conditions that constantly enslave us. From social media to technology, we do not seem to have time for ourselves anymore, our beliefs and opinions being manipulated as …

Preserving cultural heritage in times of crisis: the role of social media

By Research Scholar Kristin Parker I identify as a cultural heritage defender.  I’ve been fortunate to have spent decades working with several remarkable museums including The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. With a speciality in managing museum collections, I’ve worked with  every …

Multilingualism, global competency and language learning for a better world: The role of independent scholars

By Research Scholar Kathleen Stein-Smith Languages offer benefits and opportunities for those who can learn and use additional languages in their studies and professional lives, and in their roles as citizens both locally and globally. Language learning and language use also offer cognitive benefits at all ages. Unfortunately, US students do not always have the …

Reshaping environmental education towards ecosystem restoration in the new normal

By Ronin Research Scholar Christopher Punzalan On November 11-12, 2021, I was able to participate in the 13th Philippine Network of Educators on Environment (PNEE) Virtual International Conference and Scientific Meeting held via Zoom through the conference scholarship grant from the Ronin Institute. The theme of the conference was “Reshaping Environmental Education towards Ecosystem Restoration …

Image by Martin Bohle.

The story of making “Geo-societal Narratives – Contextualising geosciences”

By Ronin Research Scholar Martin Bohle The drafting of the book Geo-societal Narratives – contextualising Geosciences was a unique experience. The group of twenty authors were assembled in late 2019 by correspondence. The outlay of the book was agreed upon in early 2020 by correspondence. The book was also drafted by correspondence. No meetings, not …

Citizen Science Tabor Tree Project: Field Report No. 2

By Ronin Research Scholar Candace Gossen See the first Tabor Tree Project post.  “NASA’s citizen science projects are collaborations between scientists and interested members of the public. Through these collaborations, volunteers (known as citizen scientists) have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries.” — NASA In January 2021, using the GLOBE Observer app, the Mt. …