2025 Euan Crone Scholarship Recipients

Branch: AIIA Victoria

Educational Experience: Healthcare systems, Indonesia

Callum undertook a three-part educational experience in Indonesia aimed at deepening his understanding of healthcare systems and contributing to greater Australian awareness of health issues in the Asia-Pacific region. In preparation for his trip, he completed advanced Indonesian language study to strengthen his ability to communicate effectively with patients, clinicians, and researchers. He then completed a three-week clinical elective at Dr. Sardjito General Hospital in Yogyakarta, under the guidance of the Universitas Gadjah Mada Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, where he worked alongside Indonesian clinicians, observed patient care, and learned about the country’s approaches to infectious diseases and other pressing health concerns. Following his elective, Callum undertook an independent study and published an article exploring healthcare challenges and health beliefs in Indonesia, drawing on his clinical observations and discussions with healthcare workers and patients to examine barriers to care, stigma surrounding disease, and community perceptions of health and illness, with the aim of sharing these insights with Australian professionals.

Branch: AIIA Victoria

Educational Experience: Human rights & Sustainable development, Multiple countries

Nicole will undertake a three-week full-time internship at a legal NGO in Asia, where she will work in the areas of human rights and sustainable development. Rather than focusing on a specific country, she will engage broadly with international law and approaches to legal reform across the region, primarily contributing to research and policy-focused tasks. Through this work, she will deepen her understanding of the law and the politics of law reform in Asia, while further developing her analytical, research, and writing skills. She will also gain exposure to other dimensions of her host organisation’s work, including legal advisory, strategic litigation, and community advocacy. Complementing her practical experience, Nicole will participate in the University of Tokyo’s Winter School Program on Japanese Law, a one-week program exploring Japanese law and its intersection with international law, where she will engage with leading academics and peers from around the world and broaden her understanding of how Japanese law interacts with broader international legal frameworks in the region.

Branch: AIIA Victoria

Educational Experience: Business & Trade, Vietnam

Regina will undertake an educational experience in Vietnam focused on deepening her understanding of the Vietnamese business environment and strengthening two-way trade and investment opportunities between Australia and Vietnam. She will engage with local startups, corporate partners, and business chambers, gaining practical insights into market entry strategies, growth sectors, and cross-cultural business practices, as well as attending workshops, seminars, and networking events hosted by both Vietnamese organisations and international stakeholders. Alongside this structured learning, Regina will conduct targeted research on industry trends and trade opportunities, interviewing business leaders and key stakeholders to capture qualitative insights, which she will document in a report with recommendations to support future Australian-Vietnamese business collaboration. She will share her findings through a published article in Australian Outlook and engage with the AIIA community to contribute to Australia’s broader Asia engagement initiatives.

Branch: AIIA Victoria

Educational Experience: Workplace dynamics, Multiple countries

Lucy will undertake fieldwork research in Indonesia as part of her PhD in International Relations, exploring how foreign policy professionals navigate the everyday dilemmas of their work and the impact this has on relationships between countries. Her research will focus on ‘street-level bureaucrats’ across development, diplomacy, and defence, including diplomats, government officials, consultants, NGO workers, think tank staff, journalists, and academics from Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. She will spend time in Yogyakarta and Jakarta solidifying her existing networks, improving her spoken Bahasa Indonesia through classes, and undertaking observational research in settings such as the offices of development programs, alongside initial interviews with key diplomatic stakeholders. Drawing on a ‘yo-yo’ fieldwork approach — spending short periods across multiple locations to gain rich, nuanced, and comparative insights — she anticipates making two to three trips to Indonesia, as well as a domestic trip to Canberra to speak with professionals who have returned from overseas postings. Building on these initial visits, Lucy will then conduct deeper relational interviews, focus group discussions, and further observational research.

Branch: AIIA Queensland

Educational Experience: Geoeconomic competition, Sri Lanka

Aaron will travel to Sri Lanka to conduct fieldwork research for his PhD in International Relations, undertaking up to 100 interviews with policymakers, bureaucrats, and members of the business community to examine contemporary geoeconomic competition in the country. Working in partnership with the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, Sri Lanka’s leading think tank, he will be connected to leading figures and institutions across finance, government, and civil society to gain an inside-out perspective on geoeconomic activities and access information not publicly available. Beyond his interviews, Aaron will deliver guest lectures at the International Relations department of the University of Colombo, contributing to the broader intellectual community in Sri Lanka. He will also visit infrastructure projects that have been the subject of significant political controversy — including port infrastructure, rail network installations, and wind farms — conducting further interviews with local stakeholders and community members to develop a holistic understanding of how geoeconomic competition shapes everyday life in Sri Lanka.