Clarissa AL Lee's Lateral Worlds

 For the first time in my academic career of 6.5 years since PhD graduation, I am expected to teach both an undergraduate and postgraduate course, within about a month since commencing my duties as a senior lecturer at my present institution. This is both exciting yet a little anxiety-provoking, not because I do not believe in my capabilities, but because there are so many new things to grapple with, and also because I am given the free hand of figuring out my course content (as long as the institutionally-approved learning outcomes are intact) while figuring out how to deliver them to students whom I have not met, and who are very different from the students I had been surrounded by prior. The exciting about the courses is that I get to learn along side the students (I mean, I have never taught classes specific to drama/performance arts!) and at the same time, use this time to question what I understand about art (because this is the first time in my entire academic career that I am a

I  am now accepting post graduate candidates intent on pursuing an MA by research/PhD on a topic that speaks to #artscience in any way imaginable (even in ways that I do not myself pursue at this time). I am working on starting up various artscience related initiatives, so am looking for students who will not only be a student, but someone who could be a collaborator, in ways that would be advantageous to their work. Therefore, I am most interested in highly motivated individuals. Interested candidates should get in touch with me about their topics and on applying to the University of Malaya. Scholarships and assistantships are available too https://aasc.um.edu.my/scholarships-postgraduate

Earlier in the week, I found myself given the choice of accepting an appointment with Malaysia's Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation as probably one of the few humanists to be represented on their R&D grant programme. Although the my role has been listed out on the appointment letter, I wonder if there is much I could do to persuade my fellow colleagues there on the importance of always bringing in humanistic interventions to whatever scientific/technological programmes envisioned, to encourage cross-disciplinary conversations between scientists and humanists, with the social scientist sitting somewhere in the uncomfortable middle, as these are sorely lacking in the Malaysian context. A few days before that happened, I found myself inducted into the Clubhouse scene and had since been exploring many of the technology/science/policy oriented rooms, with some occasional diversion into other areas of interest (such as rooms dedicated to issues that are hot in Malaysia)

By visiting my portfolio, with the links found at the top left grid, you probably would have noticed that I have left my previous position at Sunway University and am now a senior lecturer at the University of Malaya, beginning February 2021. This is the year of many exciting things and I promise that this blog will be more updated than previously. Not least, this is the year when I will be getting a proper domain and turning this blog into a full-on professional website, with the aid of some professionals. As a taster for some things to come, I have some works brewing and which are forthcoming that will be announced in due course, sometime between this and the next month. At the same time, once I settle into the rhythm of teaching, research, and project development, I will also be engaged with consultancy opportunities through my university's consultancy unit. If you want to get in touch with me for any professional reasons, you can find me at my university email, listed at one of