Vern Weitzel - short Curriculum Vitae: Vern
Weitzel, BSc BA MA MEMD [.doc] (June 2007)
This is a report of my work as of 1997. Goodness! Ten years ago. After that I went to Viet Nam to work with the United Nations. I was web manager at UNDP for nearly eight years, then a UV Volunteer associate for a year with the UBV office in Ha Noi and I am now doing some work on interevention mapping as a consultant for UNAIDS, also in Viet Nam. [August, 2007]
Vern Weitzel - short Curriculum Vitae: Vern
Weitzel, BSc BA MA MEMD [.doc] (June 2007)
Internet
Accessibility in Viet Nam, Presented at Equalization of Opportunities
for People with Disabilities to Integrate into the Community (Ha Noi, September
10-11, 2002) [.doc]
Development
Issues for Binh Chau - Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve [in
PDF format] [in Word format]
My
Field Guide to Rural Community Environmental Awareness
The
Journal of Syms Covington, Assistant to Charles Darwin
Updated: 15 Aug. 1997
Welcome to our home page. My wife, Mrs Khuat Thi Thanh Son and I - I'm
Vern Weitzel - welcome you. We have set aside a few family photos. Please have a
look.
Collaborative Science in Vietnam, by Mr Vern Weitzel and Mrs Khuat Thi Thanh Son
The
WWW Vietnam Virtual Library Established in 1996 - since archived
... a resume of activities
Australia Vietnam Science-Technology Link (AVSL) GPO Box 161; Belconnen, ACT
2616 Australia
Australia Vietnam Science-Technology Link (AVSL) began as a committee of Australia-Vietnam Society (AVS) to encourage scientific cooperation with Vietnam during a western aid embargo. Its main task has been to help Vietnamese professionals work more effectively with international colleagues. AVS has been in Vietnam for 20 years. I became AVSL chair in 1989 and, with Rob Hurle of the Australian National University (ANU), directed its policies since 1993.
Material help for this program was through the Australia-Vietnam Society and its Hon. President, Mr Tom Uren (former Labor Minister of the Australian Federal Parliament). The AVS, its academic, government and NGO and community support developed close personal friendships among institutes and government officials of Vietnam during its operational period of 20 years. These friendships have clearly advanced Australian respectability in Vietnam.
Since 1993 I worked a private consultancy with my wife, Mrs Khuat Thi Thanh Son, a Vietnamese national with 24 years' public service including 5 years as an officer in the People's Army. Both Mrs Son and I are Vietnam War Veterans.
Both within AVSL and as a consultancy, our emphasis on supporting Vietnamese science allowed a high-level interaction as a matter of course. In this we were guided in by AVS policy. We organised several meetings in Canberra during 1990-92 and were supported by International Seminar Support Scheme (AusAid) in 1992 to bring parliamentarians Professor Chu Pham Ngoc Son and Nguyen Van Hieu to Australia. Professor Son, a biochemist, is also Vice-President of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA). Professor Hieu, a physicist, is also President of the National Centre for Natural Science and Technology. We also brought to Australia Professor Nguyen Van Thuong, President of the Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam, one of three members of the influential Directorate of Science, Technology and Environment.
In December 1996, we presented a conference in conjunction with the National Centre for Development Studies and our colleagues in the ANU holding the annual Vietnam Update. With assistance from AusAID we held a seminar on Environment and Development in Vietnam. We brought to Australia Dr Tran Thi Thanh Phuong of Vietnam National Environment Agency and Mr Vu Ngoc Thanh of the National University of Vietnam - Hanoi. Papers and workshops were presented by Vietnamese and other speakers, including a delegation from AID/Watch. The conference papers are available on the Internet.
During my second post-war visit in 1992-3, I met members of the Council of Ministers and Central Committee of the Communist Party as well as the heads of relevant institutes. Vital funding came from the Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam, the Institute for Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR), the Centre for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES) and the National University of Hanoi (HNU) who supported tours of important faculties (including biomedical research, forestry and wildlife, veterinary and animal husbandry research centres). In exchange, we were asked to assist in promoting collaboration of these organisations with their international counterparts. We have tried our best to do this with the limited means available to us.
In addition to this, AVSL participated in the Prime Minister of Vietnam's National Information Technology Program from its inception, in particular Internet connectivity. The Internet program is sponsored by Vietnam's Institute for Information Technology and Rob Hurle of Coombs Computing Unit, Australian National University (and several other agencies). In November 1992, we provided the first modem to the Faculty of Biology of the National University of Hanoi. Institutional and commercial services now has become Vietnam's main national academic, institutional and NGO network VARENET/NetNam. Thus, Prime Minister's office, many Ministries, academic, NGO and government institutes are on email. Most environment-related organisations in Vietnam are now accessible through email Electronic bulletin boards within Vietnam promote discussion in development sectors; intranet and an internet service have started.
One task has been to develop and promote an email discussion group (currently with 265 direct recipients). This group provides information on Vietnamese institutions or research programs. Back postings of this group (currently over 2000 documents) is on a searchable WAIS database. In addition we have a database on Vietnam environment law (about 60 documents, some provided by WWF-Hanoi). We have compiled an internet accessible collection of satellite photos and administrative historical and topographic maps. We have made available to internet about 3000 addresses and contact numbers of Vietnamese scientists (including Dr David Marr's social scientist files) on a searchable WAIS database. The AVSL Internet World Wide Web Page includes a reviews of Vietnamese scientific projects, links to other Vietnam-related services and a preliminary mirror of Vietnamese Web material (effectively allowing Vietnamese science to communicate directly with their international counterparts).
As of January 1996, we were given responsibility to produce the World Wide Web Virtual Library for Vietnam, a central point for internet-related material on Vietnam. This site now contains links to nearly 1100 Vietnam-related documents worldwide. This site has been awarded recognition as a top 5% of web sites accessed. Our intention is to assure that this task is turned over to our Vietnamese counterparts as Vietnam becomes progressively integrated into the Web.
With help from the Australian Vietnam Research Project (ANU), we provided a computer to HNU to expand the database of Vietnamese scientists and also to computerise the accession list of the Zoological Museum of the National University of Hanoi. We provided books to Vietnam through the Australian International Development Program (ACPAD). A reprint library of environmental research (provided with help from WWF-Hanoi) is to be sited at the National Centre for Development Studies at the ANU. We have published both in scientific journals and in newspapers, and assisted our Vietnamese colleagues to publish internationally.
We have a panel of advisers including: Professor Judith Ladinsky (University of Wisconsin and Chair, US Committee for Scientific Cooperation with Vietnam), Dr Helen Jarvis (University of New South Wales), Prof John Webb (Murdoch University), Dr David Marr (ANU), Professor Carl Thayer (Australian Defence Force Academy), Dr David Newham (Australian Government Survey Office), Dr Shane McEvey (University of Sydney), Prof Bill Perriman and Dr Jonathan Majer (Curtin University), Mr Kenneth Bailey (Institution of Engineers of Australia), Mr Manfred Claasz (ANU). Our adviser in Hanoi is Dr Peter Stewart [Centre for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture (CAMBIA), ANU and Agricultural Genetics Institute, Hanoi]. Dr. Richard Jefferson, Director of CAMBIA is also an adviser.
We specialise in assisting colleagues develop independent programs in Vietnam. We have also advised Beyond 2000 television productions Japanese Television Workshop and Yorkshire Television, Primate Conservation Inc, Earthwatch and assisted the eco- and aid-tourism program of Community Aid Abroad (One World Travel).
We regularly field requests for assistance, for example: Dr John Hibberd (Wollongong University) and Dr John Harris and colleagues in Environmental Science and also the TESOL Centre of Canberra University, Dr Sigfried Lichti (ACIAR), Drs Ian Spence and Michael Shortland (Programme in Communicating Science, Medicine and Technology, University of Sydney), K. Fletcher (University of British Columbia). Dr Fumiaki Cho (Tsukuba Primate Centre for Medical Science), Dr Kathryn Gow, Queensland University of Technology (and the NGO AVVRG) and Mr William McBride (Southwest Research Institute). In response we have received valuable advice.
We gave initial support to Dr Lois Lippold (San Diego State University) in fieldwork on primates. The work of Lippold and Vu Ngoc Thanh is the most extensive primate field study in Vietnam, responding to the urgent need for accurate distribution data for Vietnamese primates. These data are both difficult and expensive to obtain. Hence, we augment data collection through facilitating collaboration of our Vietnamese colleagues with foreign visitors. One result is that we can collect data on primate distribution on these field trips. During the last year, participants included the field programs of Humane Society International and National Geographic Society (with Dr Ha Dinh Duc) and K. Fletcher (University of British Columbia). We are currently working in the same way with Japanese Television Workshop (Asahi Television) and Dr Helmut Loofs-Wissowa (ANU) in a study of the Highlands forests of Vietnam and Laos. Vietnamese collaborators for this project include: Prof Nguyen Dinh Khoa, Prof Vo Quy, Dr Ha Dinh Duc, Dr Tran Dinh Nghia and Mr Vu Ngoc Thanh (HNU), Prof Tran Hong Viet (Pedagogic University of Hanoi), Prof Hoang Xuan Chinh and Dr Vu The Long (Archaeology Institute, Hanoi), Do Tuoc and associates (FIPI).
IMy
intention is to continue helping my Vietnamese collages in their environmental
development. My education includes, BSc Biology (Seattle University), BA
Physical Anthropology (University of Washington), MA Physical Anthropology
(Australian National University) and a Master of Environment Management and
Development with a focus on Participatory Development (Australian National
University).
| Australia Vietnam Science Technology Link
| |
|---|---|
| Vern Weitzel GPO Box 161 Belconnen, ACT 2616 Australia |  |