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Dr Anna Christi Suwardi is a political scientist, peace and gender researcher, educator, and organisational leader whose work spans Indonesia and wider Southeast Asia. In 2015, she joined the Global DEEP Network as a platform for cross-border learning, dialogue, and collaboration. Building on this foundation, she initiated and founded DEEP EnGender in 2023 as an Indonesia-based circle within the wider network, with a focus on gender justice, ecological justice, peace, Indigenous rights, and youth leadership.

Her work has developed through sustained engagement with women’s organisations, young people, civil society actors, academic institutions, and communities affected by conflict, inequality, and ecological pressure. Drawing on extensive experience in Indonesia and Thailand, she examines how women and community actors build peace, exercise political agency, navigate institutional constraints, and sustain collective action across culturally diverse settings.

As Founder and Chairperson, Dr Suwardi provides strategic direction for DEEP EnGender’s institutional development, programmes, and partnerships. She promotes an approach that connects community knowledge with engaged research, transformative learning, public dialogue, and cross-sector collaboration. Her leadership has contributed to initiatives on women’s participation, interfaith and intergenerational peacebuilding, youth engagement, Indigenous ecological knowledge, digital democracy, and inclusive citizenship.

Dr Suwardi holds a PhD in ASEAN Studies from Naresuan University, Thailand; an MA in International Relations from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia; and a BA in Political Science from Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She also completed a Professional Certificate in Peace and Development Studies at the Otto and Fran Walter Rotary Peace Center, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Türkiye. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy under the United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework for Higher Education.

Her academic and professional experience includes almost a decade as a lecturer at Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai, Thailand, where she taught multiculturalism in Southeast Asia and Indonesian culture. She previously worked with the Center for the Study of Religion and Democracy at Paramadina University in Jakarta, Indonesia, focusing on interfaith advocacy, peacebuilding, and democracy. She also taught international relations, political ideas, international organisations, and conflict resolution at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Her research focuses on gender politics, women’s movements, peacebuilding, civil society, multiculturalism, human rights, minority communities, political representation, and digital communication. Her publications examine women’s civil society organisations in Thailand’s Deep South, women’s participation in peace processes, multicultural citizenship, transformative education, and gendered experiences of conflict and political transition.

Dr Suwardi has led and contributed to initiatives supported by the Rotary Peace Fellowship programme, the Association for Asian Studies, the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, Finn Church Aid, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the American Political Science Association, the Toyota Foundation, and universities in Indonesia and Thailand. These initiatives have addressed women’s empowerment, interfaith peacebuilding, intergenerational dialogue, multicultural education, and community-based social change.

She also contributes to public dialogue through international media, including Mongabay and 360info. Through these platforms, she connects academic analysis and community concerns with wider discussions of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, carbon governance, and women’s participation in peace processes.

Education

• 2023 — PhD in ASEAN Studies, Naresuan University, Thailand
• 2015 — MA in International Relations, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
• 2008 — BA in Political Science, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia
• 2025 — Professional Certificate in Peace and Development Studies, Bahçeşehir University, Türkiye

Selected Awards and Fellowships

• Rotary Peace Fellow, Professional Development Certificate Programme, Otto and Fran Walter Rotary Peace Center, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Türkiye, 2024–2025
• Asia Peace Innovators Fellow, Salzburg Global Seminar, with support from The Nippon Foundation, Salzburg, Austria, 2023
• APSA Asia Workshop Fellow, American Political Science Association and Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, 2019
• International Postgraduate Scholarship Recipient, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand, 2017
• Think Tank US–Asia Pacific Professional Fellow, United States Department of State, United States, 2016
• Ewha Global Empowerment Programme Fellow, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 2016
• Mahathir Global Peace School Fellow, Perdana Global Peace Foundation and Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2015

Selected Grant-Supported Initiatives

• Project Lead, Social Change Initiative, Rotary Peace Fellowship programme, Indonesia and Thailand, 2025–2026
• Grant Recipient and Project Lead, Revisiting Women’s Roles in Peacebuilding in Thailand’s Deep South, Association for Asian Studies, Thailand, 2022–2023
• Project Lead, Building Interfaith and Intergenerational Consolidation among Buddhist and Muslim Women towards Peacebuilding in Thailand’s Deep South, supported by the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, Finn Church Aid, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Thailand, 2021–2022
• Project Lead, Multiculturalism Practices among Thai Youth, Mae Fah Luang University Research Grant, Thailand, 2020–2021
• Grant Recipient and Project Lead, Measuring Women’s Empowerment in Thailand’s Deep South, American Political Science Association Small Grant, Thailand, 2019–2020
• Project Team Member, Intergenerational Peacebuilding in Aceh and Thailand’s Deep South, Toyota Foundation, Indonesia and Thailand, 2017–2019
• Project Team Member, Transformative Citizenship through a Massive Open Online Course, Universitas Gadjah Mada Internationalisation Project, Indonesia, 2015–2016

Selected International Engagements

• Best Presenter, 15th International Conference on Public Organization, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 2026
• Participant and Presenter, Writing Workshop on Social Welfare for Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia, convened by the University of York, United Kingdom, and Huachiew Chalermprakiet University, Thailand, with support from the British Academy, 2025
• Presenter, Behind Peace Tables: Women as Peace Facilitators in Indonesia’s Papua and Thailand’s Deep South, International Conference on Peacebuilding and Development in Southeast Asia, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand, 2024
• Online Presenter, Indigenous Suku Anak Dalam Sharing Knowledge: Challenges and Successes in Ethnobiological Research, 18th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2024
• Presenter and Panel Organiser, Association for Asian Studies Symposium and Conference, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024
• Presenter, Association for Asian Studies Symposium, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, and AAS-in-Asia Conference, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea, 2023
• Presenter, American Political Science Association Publishing Workshop for Southeast Asian Politics, Singapore Management University, Singapore, 2023
• Presenter, Asia Political Science Conference, organised by the American Political Science Association and Southeast Asia Research Group at Mahidol University and Thammasat University, Thailand, 2022
• Online Presenter, 44th Southeast Asia Seminar, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, 2020
• Presenter, 4th Student Southeast Asia Conference, University of Passau, Passau, Germany, 2019

Selected Publications

Suwardi, A. C. (2023). “Women’s Movement Towards Building Sustainable Peace in Cross-Cultural Society: The Case of the Peace Agenda of Women in the Deep South of Thailand.” In Integrated Approaches to Peace and Sustainability (pp. 167–180). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7295-9_10

Suwardi, A., and Chambers, P. (2022). “The Evolution of Women’s Civil Society Organizations in the Deep South of Thailand.” Asian Affairs: An American Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/00927678.2022.2132084

Suwardi, A. C. (2018). “Resilience and the Localisation of Trauma in Aceh, Indonesia.” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde/Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, 174(4), 545–548.

Suwardi, A. C., and Rosydiana, A. (2017). “The Role of Media and Social Movement in Human Rights Issues: The Case of ‘Comfort Women’ under Japanese Colonisation.” Indonesian Perspective, 2(1), 19–27.

Suwardi, A. (2023). “Between Identity and Peacebuilding: A Case of Women’s Participation in Thailand’s Deep South Peace Process.” Proceedings of the 17th Annual Congress of the Asian Political and International Studies Association. https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-9374.2023.11

Suwardi, A. C. (2021). “Promoting Transformative Citizenship in Diverse Society: An Appraisal of Massive Open Online Course as a Teaching Platform.” Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Computers in Education, 494–501.

Selected Public Commentary

Kurniawan, F. E., Ginting, S., and Suwardi, A. C. (2026). “World Bank Carbon Program Risks Further Infringing upon Rights of Indonesian Indigenous Community.” Mongabay, 28 January 2026.

Suwardi, A. C. (2023). “Is There a Chance for Peace in Thailand’s Deep South? Yes, if Women Are Involved.” 360info.