Culture, Heritage, & Conservation
Culture, Heritage, & Conservation
Ongoing projects starting in AY25/26
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Hands of Heritage
Hands of Heritage
Hands of Heritage
Our project aims to support the Ban Puek community in eastern Thailand, which boasts skilful crafts including natural soap, eco-friendly bags, and handmade textiles. Despite their rich craftsmanship imbued with cultural heritage and environmental awareness, the village faces inadequate youth participation and market reach. With the partnership from Burapha University (BUUIC) and under the professional guidance of the community itself, we intend to enhance product visibility and lay the groundwork for a distribution system to sustain the upscaled market reach. First, we will conduct market research and guided product ideation to build and promote a brand image that appeals to wider audiences yet retains its intrinsic cultural identity. Then, endeavours to establish rudimentary distribution networks with enhanced digital presence will also be made to secure the community’s long-term self-sufficiency with extended market reach. Beneficiaries include local artisans, predominantly elderly women, who will gain economic stability and cultural recognition.Hands of Heritage
Project Country: Thailand
Project Supervisor: Dr Lee Chee Keng
Group Ref: 25ADCK02R
Community-led Tourism in Omadal
Community-led Tourism in Omadal
Sabahnanas
Our project intends to equip the community with tools and skills needed to ensure sustainable tourism, mitigating the negative effects of having an influx of tourists. Since the core problem lies within the unequal power relationship between tourists and community members, we would like to assist the community at Omadal to curate the tourism experience (through guided museum and cultural showcases), and to raise awareness especially in children for interacting with tourists (through workshops). Our secondary project involves implementing lighting, either solar-powered on shared pathways along the shore or emergency search lights (depending on the community’s preference) to enhance safety.Sabahnanas
Project Country: Malaysia
Project Supervisor: Dr Ng Keng Khoon
Group Ref: 25ADKK04R
Youths in (Opera)tion
Youths in (Opera)tion
Youths in (Opera)tion
Our project aims to promote traditional Hokkien opera, as public interest for it has been declining in recent years. One major reason is the growing disuse of Hokkien, as well as lack of awareness of Hokkien opera amongst youths. We have partnered with an ad-hoc opera troupe, Opera in Action. Through this partnership, we aim to ultimately increase exposure of Hokkien opera to youths, and encourage interest in picking up the language. By posting across social media platforms, we plan to increase awareness of Hokkien Opera. This will be done through posting our partner’s performances, behind-the-scenes content, and curated informational posts about both Hokkien drama and the language used. While posting on social media always carries a risk of posts not gaining sufficient traction, we aim to mitigate this problem by posting regular and engaging content that appeals to the youths.Youths in (Opera)tion
Project Country: Singapore
Project Supervisor: A/P Miguel Escobar
Group Ref: 25ADME01
Sawu – Textiles and Traditions
Sawu – Textiles and Traditions
DéSàvu
Our project looks at promoting bilingual vernacular and cultural literacy alongside culturally relevant scientific and environmental literacy among children and youth in Savu, Indonesia through documentation via a book as well as workshops. We were drawn to the island's rich Tenun Ikat weaving tradition and wanted to explore ways to contribute to indigenous cultural and heritage preservation as well as indigenous knowledge production on the island. To do so, we are working with our community partner Pak Nando and his community organization Generasi Peduli Sarai and their children's Reading Park which aims to address exactly this. Complementing their cultural festival scheduled for next year, we intend to co-create a book with various groups in the local community, including local weavers, indigenous Jinggi Tiu community members and children and youth through a series of workshops and enrichment activities. It is co-created because we hope to distill what they share and contribute to our project into a book. With the children, this might be in the form of illustrations, while with weavers and the indigenous community, this might come in knowledge and information. The workshops double as replicable and scalable frameworks that can be reused by the Reading Park to develop future programs. Community leaders have expressed their enthusiasm for any efforts related to cultural documentation. Our project further doubles as a literacy project for local children. DéSàvu
Project Country: Indonesia
Project Supervisor: Ms Yueh Siang Chang
Group Ref: 25ADYS01R
Documenting Case Studies of Fishermen from North of Penang
Documenting Case Studies of Fishermen from North of Penang
Penang Paramount
The Paramount fishing community is simultaneously losing its rich cultural legacy and receiving insufficient institutional support, causing its decline to accelerate amid Penang’s rapid urban development. Land reclamation has not only displaced this community physically but has also eroded its rich cultural heritage. Despite the losses, their values, knowledge, and practices that defined their life can still be preserved. We will engage with the fishing community frequently through interviews and focus group discussions. During the interactions and cooperation with the fishermen, we can build rapport with them as we help with their work. We would also have regular update sessions with Andrew from JEDI, the local NGO. Through our interaction with the community, we will document the cultural practices of the marginalised fishermen communities on a website. Through documentation and publicity, we aim to inspire the people of Penang to imagine a more inclusive and sustainable future.Penang Paramount
Project Country: Malaysia
Project Supervisor: Ms Yueh Siang Chang
Group Ref: 25ADYS03R
Bokator Beyond Borders: Preserving a Living Cambodian Legacy
Bokator Beyond Borders: Preserving a Living Cambodian Legacy
B.O.K.A (L'Bokator Outreach and Khmer Appreciation)
This project seeks to preserve and amplify L’Bokator, Cambodia’s ancient martial art, which remains under threat due to generational discontinuity, limited global awareness, and the recent passing of revivalist Grandmaster San Kim Sean. Despite its UNESCO recognition in 2022, Bokator remains largely confined to local practice, with untranslated texts and under-resourced academies. Our project addresses this civic and cultural urgency by documenting and translating rare materials, including hand-illustrated technique books, and creating digital platforms to share Bokator’s heritage globally. We aim to raise awareness, facilitate intergenerational knowledge transfer, and increase visibility for Bokator practitioners through storytelling, archiving, and community engagement. Beneficiaries include Bokator masters, students, cultural institutions, and the broader Cambodian diaspora. We are working in partnership with the Cambodian Bokator Federation, and hope to connect with heritage NGOs, translators, and digital archivists to support long-term sustainability of this living tradition.B.O.K.A (L'Bokator Outreach and Khmer Appreciation)
Project Country: Camnbodia
Project Supervisor: Dr Alberto Pereiro
Group Ref: 25CCAP03R
Threads of Renewal
Threads of Renewal
Loom and Bloom
Our project addresses the erosion of Cambodia’s cultural and textile heritage and with it, the marginalisation of traditional weavers. This issue is not only significant as it leads to the gradual loss of intergenerational skills that are culturally indispensable to national identity, but also poses a threat to the weavers’ livelihoods.Loom and Bloom
Project Country: Camnbodia
Project Supervisor: Dr Alberto Pereiro
Group Ref: 25CCAP04R
Integrating Textiles into Local Markets
Integrating Textiles into Local Markets
Project Tight Knit
The Dara'ang community risks cultural loss due to their status as marginalised, displaced people. Therefore, our project seeks to work with and support them in preserving their cultural textile heritage while enhancing the sustainability of their craft. We intend to engage with women-led weaving groups through a series of workshops and interviews, co-developing product prototypes that balance tradition with contemporary market appeal. Our group envisions market-ready textile products such as pouches and bags, while documenting this entire process to make into a short documentary. With this project, we aim to strengthen Mae Chon’s cultural preservation, provide a source of income, and create opportunities for long-term visibility and sustainability of the village’s craft.Project Tight Knit
Project Country: Thailand
Project Supervisor: A/P Peter Vail
Group Ref: 25CCPV02R
Sustainable Ecotourism at Gili Bidara
Sustainable Ecotourism at Gili Bidara
Bubbles
Our group aims to promote sustainable eco-tourism in Gili Bidara, East Lombok, in order to tackle the issues of damage to marine ecosystems (marine conservation) by both locals and tourists, limited marine education, waste management and the lack of funds and facilities on the island. We will be working with the local NGO JARI Foundation to create a local tour initiative around and to Gili Bidara, along with tour materials like guidebooks to facilitate the tour.Bubbles
Project Country: Indonesia
Project Supervisor: Ms Sam Shu Qin
Group Ref: 25STSQ03R
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