It is with pleasure that we have a nice announcement to share with
you: during more than one year we have established new
contacts, multiplied the meetings and discussions
with a broad variety of institutions and key research actors in Cambodia. The
result finally paid a huge does of involvement and motivation: our Human
Sciences Happy Hours is about to reborn anew!

As you know the Human Sciences Happy Hours in Phnom Penh came to
life in Octobre 2008. Since then the network never stopped to grow. It now blends together an
interesting mix of fields, backgrounds and levels (anthropology, history,
sociology, archaeology, psychology, geography, linguistics, urbanism,
criminology, political sciences… from Masters to ongoing PhDs, from confirmed
academics to experimental voices…). In a continuous attempt to share
research outside its walls and to bring it to the society,
the door is always open to non-researchers, coming to seek for knowledge.
Today almost 500 researchers and other actors
(mainly from the development world) are part of our network.
Each monthly event gathers 30 to 50 individuals coming to
open a new window on the country, but also to build
knowledge otherwise often isolated in Cambodia.

So what’s next? What changes are we talking about?

1.  The network will be soon take venue at the Royal
University of Fine Arts (RUFA) linking
history of humanities in Cambodia to present, welcoming a fresh start and
innovative collaboration.

2.  The HSHH are now integrated in a new project of master of human and social sciences at
RUFA (a project lead by IRD, CNRS, INALCO, UNESCO and RUFA.

3.  The HSHH activities are now going to be associated with IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le
Développement) and will receive some funding from this
collaboration.

4.  In
order to open the floor to our non-english speaking colleagues, we now invite all researchers willing to present their work in any other language
they feel comfortable with.

5.  We get
a brand new name to celebrate those changes! The HSHH now become the:

And in case you didn’t know it before (but we are quite sure you
did already!) you are all welcome to continue to join us! We are always looking for
new sharers of thoughts: presentations, research papers, impulsions and new
ideas are what we feed on! (That and fresh water and love of course!).

This is a first step for us to ensure that the network can survive
and keep its activities and bubbling encounters alive. Soon to come, the
expansion of those activities! And now and forever (yes, we do apply a long
term perspective!), YOU are to shape this network by your participation!

We welcome (no, we call on to!) all new energies and good
spirits willing to join us!

Cheers to all,