Professor Victor T. King

Biodata

During his early career in the 1980s and then through the 1990s Victor King was very much involved in British Academy-based activities, in the Association of South-East Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK) and the European Science Foundation (ESF). He served as Honorary Secretary of the British Academy’s Institute in South-East Asia (Singapore and Bangkok) from 1982 to 1986, and a member of the Academy’s Management Committee from 1984 to 1986.  He then served as Secretary of the British Academy’s London-based Committee for South-East Asian Studies from 1986 to 1998 working with Professors William Watson, William Beasley and C.D. (Jeremy) Cowan. He was appointed as Chair of the British Academy Committee from 1998 to 2002 as Professor Cowan’s successor.  He sat (ex officio) on the successor committee from 2005 to 2010 which was incorporated into the Association of South-East Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK) as its Research Committee; ASEASUK is one of the 15 recognised Learned Societies of The British Academy.

He also represented the Academy on the Advanced Asia Committee of the European Science Foundation (ESF) (1993-1996) and served a further term as a member of the ESF’s Committee for Asian Studies (1999-2002), and on its Executive Group. At this time he was also a member of the ESRC’s Research Grants Board (1995-98) and the Commissioning Panel/Steering Committee/Advisory Board for the Council’s Pacific Asia Programme (1993-1999), and in this capacity served as an ESRC representative on the ESF Committee (1995-97). He was instrumental in bringing ASEASUK and the White Rose East Asia Centre into the European Consortium for Asian Field Study (ECAF), with British representation under the auspices of The British Academy. He attended the launch of ECAF in Paris in September 2007, and, as Chair of the ASEASUK was involved in discussions about the allocation of the ASEASUK-British Academy ECAF Visiting Fellowship programme which ASEASUK administered on behalf of the Academy. As Chair of ASEASUK and member of the Research Committee he was also responsible for administering the British Academy’s funding to ASEASUK under its Learned Societies Programme (LSP) from 2007.

Victor King served as Chair of the Asian Studies sub-panel in the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 and with sub-panel members compiled a paper on Asian Studies in the UK, based on the submissions to the sub-panel. He was also a member of the Area Studies Panel. He had been a member of the Asian Studies panel in the earlier RAEs of 1992 and 1996. He was appointed as Chair of the Association of South-East Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK) in January 2007 until December 2010, an organisation which he joined in 1973 and for which he served as Honorary Secretary from 1976 to 1983, Treasurer from 1988 to 1992, Committee Member from 1979 to 1992 and from 2005 to 2010, and member of the Association’s Research Committee (2005-2011). He took over as Chair of the Research Committee for South-East Asian Studies from late 2013, which subsequently became the Research Grants Sub-Committee of the Association of Southeast Asian Studies, United Kingdom (ASEAS[UK]). He served as co-editor of the Association’s national newsletter (which appeared twice-yearly) from 1987 to 2017; the hard-copy version was then discontinued to be replaced in 2018 by a blog platform and an online news presence.As Secretary and then Chair of the British Academy’s Committee for South-East Asian Studies (1986-2002) which worked closely with ASEASUK, he compiled Research on South-East Asian Studies in the United Kingdom:  a Survey (ASEASUK, 1989) in order to keep the Academy informed of national needs in South-East Asian Studies. This was followed by a Register of Current United Kingdom Research on Maritime South-East Asia:  Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam (ASEASUK/British Academy, 1992) and then a Register of South-East Asianists in the United Kingdom (compiled with Pauline Kh’ng; with an introduction, pp. i-xxiii) under the auspices of the Association and The British Academy in preparation for the Academy’s review of its sponsored Institutes and Societies in 2001.  He therefore served in various capacities as the main academic link between the Academy and The British constituency of Southeast Asianists for almost 30 years from 1982 to 2010.

Academic Appointments

1973-74: Temporary Lecturer in South-East Asian Sociology, University of Hull.
1974-88:  Lecturer in South-East Asian Sociology, University of Hull.
1985:  Research Fellow, Brunei Museum, Brunei Darussalam.
1986-8, 1989: Visiting Research Fellow, Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden.
1988: Senior Lecturer in South-East Asian Sociology, University of Hull.
1988-2005: Professor of South-East Asian Studies, University of Hull. 
1988-93, 1997-98, 2002-2005:  Director of the Centre for South-East Asian Studies, University of Hull.
1993-96: Dean of the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Hull.
1994: Visiting Research Fellow, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-,Land-,en Volkenkunde, Leiden.
1998-2000: Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Hull.
2002-2005: Director of the University of Hull Graduate School.
2003-2005: Visiting Professor, University of Leeds.
2005- 2010: Professor of South East Asian Studies, University of Leeds.
2006-2012: Executive Director of the White Rose East Asia Centre, University of Leeds/University of Sheffield
2010-:  Emeritus Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, University of Leeds
2012-2017: Honorary Fellow, White Rose East Asia Centre, University of Leeds
2012-2013: Eminent Visiting Professor, Institute of Asian Studies, Sociology-Anthropology, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
2013: Interim Director, Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
2013-2018 Professorial Research Associate, Centre of South East Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
2014-2015: Visiting Pofessor, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
2014-2016, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti  Brunei Darussalam
2015-2016, Adjunct Professor, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
2016-2021 Senior Editorial Adviser, Research Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University;
2017-2022: Professor of Borneo Studies, Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
2021-2023, Visiting Professor, Korea Institute for ASEAN Studies, Busan University of Foreign Studies.
2022-2023, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

 

 

External Examinerships

1985-1988:  MA in South-East Asian Studies, SOAS, London.
1985-1988:  BA and MA in South-East Asian Studies and the MA in Islamic Studies, University of Kent at Canterbury.
1985-1987: LLM in Islamic and Comparative Law, University of Kent at Canterbury.
1990-1993:  Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Universiti Malaya.
1993-97:  BA Southeast Asian Studies programme, National University of Singapore. 
1994-98:  MA Southeast Asian Studies programme, National University of Singapore.
1999-2000: Anthropology and Sociology programme, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
2000-2003:  General Studies programme, Universiti Teknologi Petronas.
2009-2010: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

External  Appointments

1976-1983: Honorary Secretary of the Association of South-East Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK).
1979-1992, 2005-2010: Member of the Committee of ASEASUK.
1988-1992: Treasurer of ASEASUK.
1979-83:  Member of the Coordinating Council of Area Studies Associations.
1982-86: Honorary Secretary of the British Institute in South-East Asia (British Academy).
1983-84: Adviser on the Cultural Research Programme, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.
1984-86: Member of the Committee of Management of the British Institute in South-East Asia.
1985-2008: UK Director of the Borneo Research Council, Virginia/Maine, USA.
1986-98: Secretary and Member of the Committee of South-East Asian Studies (British Academy).
1989-99: Coordinator of British Council-funded link with Universiti Pertanian (Putra) Malaysia.
1990, 1992: Acting Chairman, Committee of South-East Asian Studies (British Academy).
1992- External Asessor of Senior Staff Promotions, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Pertanian (Putra) Malaysia.
1992 and 1995-96: Member Higher Education Funding Council for England, Asian Studies Panel, Research Assessment Exercise; Deputy Chair, 1995-96. 
1992-1995:  Member, Committee of the European Association for South-East Asian Studies.
1992-95: Coordinator of British Council-funded link with Universiti Malaya.
1993-: Member Board of Sponsors, Anthropologists' Fund for Urgent Anthropological Research (Maine).
1993-96: Member, Committee for Advanced Asian Studies, European Science Foundation, Strasbourg (representative of The British Academy; and ESRC representative [1995-97]).
1993-99: Member, Commissioning Panel, Steering Committee, Advisory Committee, Economic and Social Research Council Pacific Asia Programme.
1995-98: Member, Economic and Social Research Council, Research Grants Board.
1998-2002:  Chairman, Committee of South-East Asian Studies (British Academy).
1999-2002: Member, Committee for Asian Studies, and member Executive Group, 1999-2000, European Science Foundation, Strasbourg.
2000-2001, Member, three person International Advisory Panel chaired by Professor Anthony Low for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore.
2003-2005: International Advisor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.
2003-2004:  Member, Commissioning Panel, ERSC, Identities and Social Action, Research Programme.
2002-2005: Member, Advisory Board, South East Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong.
2005-2008: Chair, Higher Education Funding Council for England, Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008), Asian Studies Sub-Panel, and Member, Area Studies Panel.
2005-2010: Member, Executive Committee, Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK).
2007-2010: Chair, Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK)
2007-2010: Member, United Kingdom Council for Areas Studies Associations (UKCASA)
2007-2011: Member, Research Committee/Sub-Committee/, Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the United Kingdom.
2006-:  Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
2007-2010: representative of ASEASUK on the European Consortium for Asian Field Study (ECAF).
2014 continuing, Chair: ASEASUK Research Sub-Committee.
2017-2020: External Assessor, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya.

External Assessor (on an ad hoc basis)

For Research grants/workshops/conferences/fellowships/travel grants (from 1975)

Economic and Social Science Research Council (and previously Social Science Research Council); Arts and Humanities Research Council;  The British Academy; The Nuffield Foundation; The  Leverhulme Trust; University of Cambridge Fellowships (including the Evans Fund); University of Manchester;  European Science Foundation; International institute of Asian Studies (Leiden/Amsterdam); Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde; Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen; Australian Research Council;  Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; The Canada Council; The Royal Society of Canada; Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore; The Japan Foundation; The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation; The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation; Sino-British Fellowship Trust.

For book and journal manuscripts

Oxford University Press; NIAS Press, University of Hawai’i Press; KITLV Press; ISEAS Press; National University of Singapore; Routledge; Hurst Publishers; International Institute of Asian Studies (Amsterdam Press).

Man; Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute; Bijdragen tot de Taal, Land- en Volkenkunde; American Ethnologist; Social Anthropology; Journal of Southeast Asian Studies; Modern Asian Studies; Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science; South East Asia Research; Indonesia and the Malay World (Indonesia Circle); Pacific Viewpoint; Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography; Journal of Contemporary Asia; TRaNS: Trans-National and –Regional Studies of Southeast Asia; Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities; Southeast Asia: a Multidisciplinary Journal; East Asia: an International Quarterly;International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies;  Journal of the Malaysia Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society; Borneo Research Bulletin; Sarawak Museum Journal, Tourism Geographies, Tourism, Culture and Communication, Sustainability, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research, International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, Suvannabhumi: Multi-disciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Tourism Geographies and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Asian Journal of Tourism Research. Kajian Malaysia.

Curl Essay Prize, Royal Anthropological Institute, member of review panel, 1989.

Staff promotions (from 1990)

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; University of Wales, Swansea; University of Kent at Canterbury; Royal Holloway and Bedford New College; University of Leeds (when at Hull); University of Bath; University of Bristol; University of Edinburgh; National University of Singapore; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Universiti Malaya; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; Universiti Sains Malaysia; Universiti Sarawak Malaysia; Universiti Pertanian (Putra) Malaysia; Universiti Malaysia Sabah; Universit Brunei Darussalam; Chulalongkorn University; City University of Hong Kong; Australian National University;  University of Canberra.

Entries in:  Dictionary of International Biography (International Biographical Centre, Cambridge); Contemporary Authors (Gale, Farmington Hill, MI); Who's Who in the World   (Marquis Who's Who, New Jersey); Who's Who in Education 2000 (Inglewood Books). Encyclopaedia.com.