Each year, through the generous donations of AoIR conference attendees, we are able to fund several travel scholarships for junior scholars to attend the conference. We want to recognize our scholarship recipients and share with you a little bit about them and their interests.

Fiona Suwana

Who are you?
Fiona Suwana (@fionasuwana)

Where are you from?
I am from Indonesia but now, I am doing postgraduate study in Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.

What is your current area of study?
My current area of study is civic engagement, democracy,digital activism, digital media, digital media literacy, digital methods, Indonesia, political participation, and young people.

Describe the research you will present at AoIR 2016.
My research title is Digital Media and Indonesian Young People: Building Sustainable Democratic Institutions and Practices. I am interested in doing research on digital media and democracy for my PhD, so this research focuses on the motivation, capacities, and barriers to Indonesian youth using digital media to support civic engagement and political participation in Indonesia. While, Indonesian young activists and university students have different preferences for digital platforms and digital content to undertake online civic engagement and political participation, but they have similar barriers to it. Those findings can be useful not only for Indonesia, but also for other countries that still have problems with democratic practices and institutions.

Have you presented at AoIR in the past? If yes, what has been your experience? If #AoIR2016 Berlin is your first AoIR conference, what made you choose this conference?
#AoIR2016 Berlin is my first AoIR Conference. I choose AoIR because this conference is one of the top associations in my research field, so attending and participating in the AoIR 2016 is a precious opportunity for me to share my research and receive useful feedback from the participants. Also, this conference would give me the chance to connect with international researchers from Asia, Europe and the US and to get another perspective on democratic development with the support of the digital media. I believe that if I participate and attend the AoIR 2016, I will be able to engage with other Internet researchers and discuss my experiences of digital activism and digital media used by Indonesian young people to support and maintain democracy in Indonesia. Moreover, I can get inspiration and do some networking to continue my research collaboration at the global level. Therefore, the AoIR 2016 conference will support me in my research journey and networks.