Li Lin Loh

A development professional with a background in ethnographic methods and design research, I joined Forum for the Future’s Asia Pacific team to explore the role of human-centred inquiry in driving systemic impact.

As a member of the team supporting the desk research that underscored Oxfam Australia’s GROW and Behind the Brands campaigns, I saw the opportunity for human-centred research to bring dimension to global brands’ understanding of the issues in their supply chains. This prompted me to spend time working in-field in regions of Asia - as a research fellow supporting local, community-based organisations to inform their practices and programmes. With Children for Change in Cambodia, which works with the children of garment factory workers residing in informal urban settlements, we explored how the structure of garment work shaped and impacted the families’ management of schooling and family life.

My work in Forum has led me to utilising combinations of futures, systems and design practice to work across the value chains that give life to sectors as varied as apparel, renewable energy, aviation and land-based commodities. I believe that the thrust of our work should always aim to awaken value chain players to the potential of deepened, progressive partnerships within (and external to) their supply chains, to more adequately respond to the changing demands of sustainable value chain transformation in an era of climate emergency.

My dream project?

Any initiative that allows me to work with marginalised voices in the region to envision deep economic transformations, and find ways for us to act on it.

What floats my boat outside work? 

Spending time with animals (mostly cats) and exploring the length and breadth of Southeast Asia - as a tropical paradise, as a source of cultural genius, as a homeland.

Twitter

Contact Li Lin