Shakthi De Silva serves as a Lecturer for the University of London International Relations programmes at the Royal Institute of Colombo. He also teaches International Relations courses at the Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute (BIDTI), the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC), and the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS). His recent publications include a 2025 book chapter titled “Unpacking Australia’s ‘China Threat’ Discourse: A Constructivist Approach” in The Role of Threat Perceptions in International Relations (Taylor and Francis), and an Op-Ed in the St. Anthony’s International Review (published by the University of Oxford) on American soft power. He previously served as a Vasey Fellow (Non-Resident) at Pacific Forum International in Hawai’i (2023–2024), and as a Lecturer in the Department of International Relations at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. His research focuses on Indian Ocean geopolitics, great power politics, and Sri Lanka’s foreign policy.
Eric Henry was born in 1943. He obtained a PhD in Chinese Literature at Yale University in 1979, and subsequently taught at Dartmouth from 1980 to 1982, and at the University of North Carolina from 1982 to 2011. He was employed as a freelance keyboard musician from 1961 to 1980 and was in the United States Army from 1968 to 1971. His army service included a one-year intensive course in Vietnamese at the Defense Language Institute at Fort Bliss, Texas, and a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam (1970–71). His publications include: Chinese Amusement: The Lively Plays of Li Yu (Archon Books, 1980), In Whose Eyes, a translation of the memoirs of the film director Trần Văn Thủy, and The Garden of Eloquence (Shuoyuan 說苑), a bilingual version of a Chinese Han dynasty compendium of historical anecdotes. He has prepared for publication a bilingual edition of another ancient Chinese work, Tales from the Principalities (Guoyu 國語). He has published various articles on early Chinese history and culture in the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies and other journals, and articles on Vietnamese literature and historical legend in Vietnam Forum, Crossroads, and the Michigan Quarterly. He has been retired since 2011.
Por Heong Hong graduated from the School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2014. Her doctoral dissertation is about the politics of healthcare services in postwar and post-independence Malaysia. Even though she is a political scientist by training, she considers herself an interdisciplinary scholar. She is now affiliated with the School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia. She teaches Methods and Theories of Political Science, Fundamentals of Public Policy, Introduction to Political Science, and Culture and Society of Southeast Asia. Por’s research interests lie at the convergence of postcolonial inquiries and cultural politics of issues pertaining to medicine, health and diseases, bodies, modernity, and nationalism. Her geographical focus is mainly Southeast Asia and East Asia. Lately, she has also developed an interest in doing history through archival research as well as oral history. She is a member of Editorial Board of Rising Asia Journal.
Salikyu Sangtam is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Tetso College in Chumoukedima, India. He teaches political theory and research methods. His research focuses on Chinese thought, and non-western political thought. He is a regular contributor for the Rising Asia Journal. In 2023, he was invited to an international conference held in Beijing, China organized by the School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China on the theme “Chinese-Style Modernization: Philosophical Perspectives in a Global Context.” And in the early parts of 2024, he was also invited to an international conference organized by the Wuyi Research Institute of Chinese Civilization, Wuyi University, Nanping, China on the theme “Wuyi Forum on the Two Integrations of Five Millennia of Chinese Civilization and Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.” In addition, he has served on numerous invited occasions as a resource person in academic workshops as well as delivering lectures.
