News

Dr Khemmathin Lueangwattanapong, Director of Communications at the ASEAN Cassava Center, has been selected by Thailand Science Research and Innovation as one of three Thai representatives to the 2026 STS forum Young Leaders Programme in Kyoto.

The ASEAN Cassava Center is delighted to announce that Dr Khemmathin Lueangwattanapong, our Director of Communications, has been selected by Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI) as one of three Thai representatives to the Young Leaders Programme at the Science and Technology in Society forum 2026. The selection was announced by TSRI on 10 August 2026, following a process assessing candidates on their research record, leadership potential and capacity to contribute to Thailand's science, research and innovation system.

About the forum

Established in 2004, the STS forum provides a platform for leaders in policy-making, academia and industry to consider how science and technology can address the challenges facing society. Its 22nd Annual Meeting welcomed approximately 1,500 participants from 80 countries, regions and international organisations, among them 14 Nobel Laureates, 21 ministerial-level officials, 44 university presidents and 50 chief executives. Few gatherings in science and technology combine that scale with a comparable breadth of disciplines and sectors.

The Young Leaders Programme runs alongside the main meeting and comprises the Young Leaders Network and a dialogue between young leaders and Nobel Laureates, held on Saturday 3 October, followed by a networking session the same evening. Dr Khemmathin will then join the 23rd Annual Meeting from 4 to 6 October 2026.

Why this matters for the region

Dr Khemmathin is a Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Kasetsart University, where his research concerns the valorisation of cassava processing residues into energy, materials and higher-value products, including biogas, biopolymers and cellulose-based films. He holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford and an MEng from Imperial College London.

Southeast Asia supplies over 90% of global cassava starch exports, with Thailand, Vietnam, Lao PDR and Indonesia among the leading suppliers. That commercial position carries a corresponding responsibility. The starch extraction process generates substantial residue streams that remain under-utilised across the region, and the environmental footprint of the sector is increasingly a matter of interest to buyers and regulators alike. Forums of this kind matter because the barriers to a more circular cassava industry are rarely technical alone; they sit at the meeting point of research, policy, finance and industrial practice, which is precisely the combination the STS forum convenes.

For the ASEAN Cassava Center, whose remit is to strengthen the regional cassava sector through science and collaboration, representation at a gathering of this standing is a welcome opportunity to place cassava within a wider conversation about sustainability and innovation.

We congratulate Dr Khemmathin on this thoroughly deserved recognition and look forward to reporting on the outcomes of the forum in October.