Prof. VOON Phin Keong
Academic Director

B.A. (Hons) (Malaya), M.A. (Malaya), Ph D. (Hull)

     Former chairman and professor of Geography and subsequently of East Asian Studies, University of Malaya; Director, Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies, Kuala Lumpur (2002-2010) and Director, Institute of Malaysian and Regional Studies, New Era College (2010-2014). Vice Principal cum Head, Department Academic, New Era College (2015-2017). Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & Research), New Era University College (2017-2022); Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, New Era University College (2012-2020) and Academic Director, New Era University College (2023-)

     Served as Visiting Lecturer, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Hull University England, and Visiting Fellow, Institute of Developing Economies, Tokyo, the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. Held short-term fellowships at Edinburgh University, Griffith University, and Kyungnam University (Seoul), and taught as a Visiting Professor in Brunei University and Soka University, Tokyo. He was formerly Chief Editor of Malaysian Journal of Tropical Geography, Journal of Malaysian Chinese Studies and is currently managing the Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies.

     His research interests include the human geography of Malaysia and China, the Chinese of Malaysia, Southeast Asian Studies, and Malaysian development and demographic issues. He has published numerous papers and edited several books in English and Chinese. Among his major publications are Western Rubber Planting Enterprise in Southeast Asia, 1876-1921 (1976), Indebtedness and Land Use in Pre-War Malaya, with special reference to the Indigenous Society (1987), China-Japan Relations in Transition: Towards Constructive Partnership in the 21^st Century (1998), Calling Malaysian Home: Studies on Malaysian Chinese (2018) and has edited The View From Within: Geographical Essays on Malaysia and Southeast Asia (1992), Chinese Population in Malaysia: Trends and Issues (2004), China: Emerging Relations and Development (2007), Malaysian Chinese and Nation-building: Before Merdeka and Fifty Years After, Volumes 1 and 2 (2007 and 2008), and Prospering the Nation through Hard Work and Thrift (2009, in Chinese).