Thailand: visit by the Vice-Governor of Bangkok

On 27 September, a delegation from Thailand led by the Vice-Governor of the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, Dr. Tavida Kamolvej, visited the University of Groningen. Dr. Tavida was one of the key supporters of the UG SEA ASEAN Centre Conference Transformative Futures in Bangkok last March, together with Thammasat University (Bangkok), Gadjah Mada University (Yogyakarta), and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). She and her delegation met with the ALETTA School of Public Health and the UMCG SUNY-SEA Project Team for interventions in Non-Communicable Diseases in Southeast Asia. She spoke with President Prof. Jouke de Vries about PhD research collaboration with Thammasat University and Navamindradhiraj University in Bangkok, the latter being a university especially linked to the Bangkok Metropolitan Area. Pictured below at the meeting of the delegation with Prof. De Vries: Prof. Ron Holzhacker, director of the SEA ASEAN Centre and Dr. Frederic van Kleef of the ALETTA School of Public Health.