Dr Rory Padfield

Can you tell us about your research, work and expertise in Southeast Asia?

My experience and love for Southeast Asia first began in 2003 as a wide-eyed backpacking Masters student. As part of an MSc dissertation in Environmental Engineering (Newcastle University) I was lucky enough to do a 3-month placement at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Under the co-supervision of Prof. Zaini Ujang I studied traditional rainwater harvesting schemes used by the Orang Asli communities in Johor.

Following completion of a PhD and a few years working in the environmental consultancy sector, I returned to Malaysia in 2010 to take up a lectureship at the Malaysia Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) at UTM. During a six-year post, I participated in a variety of interdisciplinary sustainability-related research projects. A few of the projects are listed below:

• Practices and impacts of palm oil production on tropical peatlands
• Stakeholder research priorities for sustainable palm oil
• Environmental practices of Malaysian food and beverage industry
• Malaysian water reforms: A political ecology analysis
• Sustainability policy discourse and Malaysian media analysis

I am currently working on a project examining the multi-dimensional impacts of peat fires in Central Kalimantan (KALI), investigating the use of digital geospatial technologies in the palm oil industry (with Leeds colleagues Adam Tyson and Chee Wong) and supervising a PhD student investigating Sabah’s state wide sustainable palm oil policy.

Any anecdote you would like to share?

In 2014 I was working on a research project in an oil palm plantation close to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The project required regular access to the plantation to undertake interviews and collect environmental data. Fieldwork involved long days spent in a 4x4 vehicle to navigate the uneven and sometimes precarious terrain of an industrial-scale plantation. On one such occasion, I misjudged the angle of a narrow turn and ended up sliding the vehicle into a shallow peatland ditch. No harm done and thankfully a passing digger pulled us out safely. Not my finest day behind the wheel!