Dr. Chayanis Krittasudthacheewa is a Programme Director of SUMERNET and also a Deputy Director for SEI Asia in Bangkok. She has been working in the Mekong Region for almost 20 years and has extensive experience in leading multicountry projects across several research disciplines combined with policy engagement. Chayanis joined SEI in 2006.
Chayanis is strong in research project management and coordination and engagement with multi-stakeholders across sectors and levels, monitoring and evaluation, and specializes in the fields of hydrology, integrated water resources management, climate change adaptation, and water resources modeling.
Since 2011, she has been leading the Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET), a research network of 50 member institutions in the Mekong Region. SUMERNET has been delivering credible research especially for policymakers to influence sustainable development in the Mekong Region. She also serves as the Steering Committee member of the Mekong Program on Environment Water and Resilience (M-POWER).
In Myanmar, she has been leading the Ayeyarwady Futures (2013-2014) and Chindwin Futures (2015-present), the programs that collaborated with state and non-state agencies to support evidence based multi-stakeholder engagement in water resources management and development in the Chindwin River Basin and Ayeyarwady River Basin.
Prior to joining SEI, Chayanis worked as a Programme Officer and Operational Hydrologist at the Mekong River Commission, Vientiane where she focused on managing the hydro-meteorological database, formulating and managing several projects relevant to water resources monitoring and data collection activities and undertaking various hydro-meteorological analyses as required by the MRC programmes.
Chayanis used to work as a water resources engineer in a number of consulting firms (Dhara Consultants, PAL Consultants and ASPAC Consultants) and as a research assistant in Asian Institute of Technology, an international academic institute in Bangkok, Thailand.
Chayanis holds a Ph.D. in Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering from the University of Tokyo and is the winner of two distinguished scholar prizes in Japan.
At Myanmar's celebration of World Water Day 2015, SEI's Asia Centre presented highlights from the Ayeyarwady Futures Partnership (AFP) including achievements from the first year of implementation of the program.
SEI is collaborating with Thailand’s Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR), Environmental Research Institute Chulalongkorn University (ERIC) on the Lancang Mekong Cooperation Program 2022 funded by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.
How a town in northeast Thailand developed a flood risk management plan with the close participation of the local community.