On Saturday 11 June, the KAS staff introduced an overview of KAS’ organization and mission to the students. After that, KAS gave the floor to each of the scholar to update on their educational progress and social projects. Both their educational and social projects are various and very interesting, for example, a local media to strengthen local democracy and human rights, a digital platform to provide consultation on child and teenager psychology affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, theatre of the oppressed, speculative study on “city” and “future”, or joint design of application on water management for farmers. Seeing the scholars’ high potential, the KAS Thailand also invited a study counselor from DAAD to share information on pursuing higher education and research in Germany which drew so much interest from the participants.
In the afternoon, Asst. Prof. Dr. Chanintorn Pensute of the Faculty of Political Sciences and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University led a workshop on participatory democracy with several thought-provoking examples and case studies. Following the lecture, the scholars were assigned to do a group work, requesting them to design policies for their imaginative countries and pitched their ideas. Throughout the workshop, the scholars learned to integrate their various expertise in the policy making to make the best benefit for all groups in the society. At the end of the event, many students shared their positive feedback on the activities and wished that KAS Thailand would organize such a wonderful event like this again in the future to help them stay connected and better understand perspectives of their academic fellows!
