Xiaobo Su

Xiaobo is thrilled at the opportunity to join the SUMERNET Steering Comittee (SSC) for two purposes. First, he wants to expand my research networks to scholars and policy makers from different background, but with a focus on the Greater Mekong Subregion. Second, he plans to work with other SSC members to promote sustainable development in the GMS in general and northern Myanmar and Laos in particular. In the past five years, Xiaobo conducted in-depth fieldwork in northern Laos and Myanmar to explore two key agendas: transnational agribusiness between these two countries and Chinese province Yunnan, and cross-border migrant workers from these two countries to Yunnan. Xiaobo has a good understanding of the drug industry in northern Laos and Myanmar and builds up extensive social network with local community leaders and political elites in the border region between Yunnan and these two countries. He publishes several academic articles on development intervention in northern Laos and Myanmar. He is also concerned with China’s rapid expansion into northern Laos and Myanmar along the Mekong River. The synergy between security, water management, and livelihood improvement in the cross-border region between Yunnan and the highland has remained a key interest in his current academic exploration. His primary contribution is to bring his expertise of community development and market-driven development to rethink sustainability and water source management in the highland.