In 2014, the Gerda Henkel Foundation initiated a scholarship programme supporting young humanities scholars from Africa and Southeast Asia in honour of the foundation's founder, Lisa Maskell. It is the largest international support programme for PhD students in the history of the Foundation. The Lisa Maskell Fellowships aim to strengthen universities in the partner countries, to counter the outflow of qualified young scholars and to ensure the doctoral students enjoy excellent academic training.
Since 2018, L.I.S.A. has been publishing interviews with the Lisa Maskell Fellows from Subsaharan Africa and from Southeast Asia, in which they talk about their research projects as well as their experiences during their academic career and the Lisa Maskell fellowship.
This week, we welcome Panitda Saiyarod from Thailand. After completing a Bachelor's degree in Sociology at Fudan University, China as well as a Master's degree in Development Anthropology at Durham University, Great Britain, she started her PhD in Anthropology with the thesis The Clash of Connectedness: Local Responses to China’s Transnational Infrastructure Projects in a Border Town, Thailand at Cologne University.