Aunty Susan Barry, Ngunnawal Elder

Professor Gareth Evans AC, QC, Chancellor, The Australian National University (ANU)

Keynote address

H.E. U Khin Aung Myint, Speaker, Amyotha Hluttaw, Myanmar

Chair: Professor Michael Wesley, Director, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, ANU

ANU Myanmar Research Centre launch

Professor Veronica Taylor, Dean, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Associate Professor Helen James, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Dr Charlotte Galloway, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Daw Khin Thidar Aye, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, ANU

Chair: Dr Nicholas Farrelly, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, ANU

Political update

Associate Professor Mary Callahan, University of Washington, A perfect storm? Politics, elections and the peace process in 2015

Discussant: Dr Morten Pedersen, University of New South Wales (UNSW)

Economic update

Professor Mike Woods, University of Technology, Sydney, Ms Nu Nu Win, Australian Treasury, Mr Sam Hurley, Centre for Policy Development, Key findings from the Myanmar Trade and Investment Strategy Consultation Paper, by the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU

Chair: Dr Nicholas Farrelly, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs

Lunch break (meals provided by the Australia Mon Association)

1.30–2.15pm Book launch (Coombs Ext. 1.04)

Opposing the rule of law: How Myanmar’s courts make law and order (Cambridge University Press, 2015), by Dr Nick Cheesman, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU

Associate Professor Mary Callahan, University of Washington, Adjunct Associate Professor Andrew Selth, Griffith University, Dr Melissa Crouch, UNSW

Chair: Professor Edward Aspinall, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU

Borderland conflicts and peace negotiations (1)

1. Dr Min Zaw Oo, Myanmar Peace Center, The peace process and challenges to ceasefire implementation in Myanmar

2. Ma Su Mon Thazin Aung, University of Hong Kong, The politics of policymaking in transitional government: A case study of the ethnic peace process in Myanmar

3. U Hkyet Hting Nan, Member of Parliament, Amyotha Hluttaw, Myanmar, Kachin politics, the Hluttaw and the peace process

4. Dr Nicholas Farrelly, ANU, Myanmar’s politics of military force in the wake of new conflict

Chair: Associate Professor Allen Hicken, University of Michigan

Burmese-language roundtable (sponosored by ANUMSA)

U Hyket Hting Nan, Amyotha Hluttaw MP, Dr Min Zaw Oo, Myanmar Peace Center, U Kyaw Min, Democracy and Human Rights Party, Ma Su Mon Thazin Aung, University of Hong Kong, U Khin Maung Yin, UNSW, Naing Ko Ko, ANU, Ma Khin Khin Mra, ANU

Chair: U Chit Win, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU Side event: Friendly Myanmar language session by the ANU Myanmar Students' Association (Coombs Ext. 1.04)

Music by Yuri Takahashi, Comments by Professor Veronica Taylor, Dean, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific

Borderland conflicts and peace negotiations (2)

1. Dr Costas Laoutides and Dr Anthony Ware, Deakin University, Making sense of Kachin separatist conflict

2. Mr Gregory Cathcart, DanChurchAid, Landmines as a form of protection between conflict and ceasefire

3. Ms Jenny Hedström, Monash University, ’I want to be a very brilliant fighter’: Gendered responses to the conflict in Kachin State

4. Mr Ricky Yue, City University of Hong Kong, Pacifying the margins: A case study on the political economy of the Pa-O Self-Administrated Zone in the southern Shan State

Chair: Daw Khin Thidar Aye, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacfic Affairs, ANU

Communal violence and the “western gateway” with Bangladesh

1. Mr Matt Schissler, Myanmar Media & Society Research Project, Oxford University, Discourses of a Buddhist-Muslim conflict: Listening in six Myanmar cities

2. U Kyaw Min, Democracy and Human Rights Party, Who will rescue the Rohingya from their man-made tragedy?

3. Mr Tamas Wells, University of Melbourne, Crazy or disingenuous? Making sense of reactions to communal violence in Myanmar

4. Mr Helal Md Khan, International Research Institute, Bangladesh, Making sense of nonsense borders: Conflicts at Myanmar’s western borders and their dimensions

Chair: Dr Cecilia Jacob, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, ANU,

Lunch break (meals provided by the Australia Mon Association)

1.30–2.15pm Journal special issue launch (Coombs Ext. 1.04)

“From Burma to Myanmar: Critical transitions”, Social Research, Vol. 82, No. 2, June 2015 Professor Andrew Walker, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU, Associate Professor Sean Turnell, Macquarie University

Chair: Dr Nick Cheesman, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU

Electoral politics and the legislature

1. Professor Chaw Chaw Sein, Head, Department of International Relations, University of Yangon, Electoral politics in Myanmar in 2015

2. U Chit Win, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU, Parliament's role in conflict resolution

3. Mr Michael Lidauer, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Elections and conflict dynamics in Myanmar, 2015

4. Dr Melissa Crouch, UNSW, Legislating reform? Law and conflict in Myanmar

Chair: Mr Trevor Wilson, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU

The many dimensions of conflict

1. Dr Bridget Welsh, National Taiwan University, Is Myanmar divided? Political cleavages and differences in the 2015 Asia Barometer Survey results

2. Dr Jayde Roberts, University of Tasmania, Power, participation and Yangon

3. Mr Gerard McCarthy, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU, At the limits of ‘big P’ politics: Welfare networks, informal institutions and the religious framing of political identity in provincial Myanmar

Chair: Associate Professor Greg Fealy, Head, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU