Deasy Simandjuntak

Dr. Deasy Simandjuntak is an Assistant Professor at the International College of Innovation, National Chengchi University (Taiwan), and an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore. Her academic career includes roles such as Visiting Research Fellow at BRIN (Indonesia), Guest Professor at Thammasat University (Thailand), and Adjunct Associate Professor at NCCU. She holds a PhD in Political Anthropology from the University of Amsterdam (2010) and has extensive post-doctoral experience in Germany and the Netherlands.

Her research focuses on Southeast Asian politics, democracy, ethnoreligious identity, and decentralization. Key projects include studies on Indonesia’s democratic challenges, religious nationalism, and the impact of the pandemic on socio-economic relations. She has edited volumes on Indonesia’s foreign policy and the nexus of technology and human rights in Southeast Asia.

In 2021, she received the Taiwan Fellowship. Her work bridges political science and anthropology, with publications in journals like Asian Journal of Law and Society and East Asian Studies. She teaches courses on populism, authoritarianism, and comparative politics, emphasizing global south perspectives.

Grants and collaborations include projects on Southeast Asian democracy (CAPAS, Academia Sinica) and religious freedom in ASEAN. She is affiliated with research networks across Asia and Europe, contributing to interdisciplinary dialogues on state-society dynamics and development policy.

Her current research explores Indonesia’s pandemic response, Southeast Asian democratic trajectories, and religious-secular state relations. She remains active in policy discussions through media commentary and international conferences.