Abstract
2025 marks the 25th year of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda globally. This milestone prompts us towards regional reflections on the progress, gaps, and the future direction of WPS. October 31st is recognised as the official start of UNSC 1325, and these webinars will run in tandem with similar activities happening in the UN and elsewhere around the world commemorating the anniversary. These webinars have two aims: to take stock of all the good work done by states, CSOs, other non-state actors and regional governments in implementing the four pillars of WPS (protection, prevention, participations and role in relief and recovery) in the Indo-Pacific, and to highlight emerging security threats in the region with a focus on its impacts on women and girls, respectively.

About the Speakers

Her Excellency (H.E.) Elvina Sousa Carvalho is currently serving as the Secretary of State for Equality in Timor-Leste. Elvina is the youngest woman elected to Parliament in Timor-Leste. She is a graduate of International Relations from Universidade da Paz and an alumna of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung School for Young Politicians (KASYP). She was first elected to Parliament in 2017 and was re-elected in the early election held in May 2018, serving from 2018 to 2023. During her time as Member of Parliament, she was elected by fellow parliamentarians to hold various positions such as Secretary of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense, Vice-President of the Young Parliamentarian Group and was twice elected in the Parliamentarian Women’s Caucus. As a young political leader in Partido Democratico Nacional, she was elected in the National Congress of Party Women’s Wing Organization as President from 2016 till today.

Formerly Deputy Head and Senior Fellow with the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) at RSIS; Yi-Ling Teo is currently Adjunct Senior Fellow with CENS. She is engaged in researching topics in economic security, data protection and governance regimes, online regulation regimes, cognitive operations, and disinformation with a view to informing policy responses for Singapore’s national security.
A qualified Barrister-at-Law (England & Wales) and an Advocate & Solicitor (Singapore), Yi-Ling has practice experience with international and local law firms in the areas of intellectual property, technology, media and entertainment, and commercial law. In her former roles as Senior Faculty and Principal Legal Counsel for the IP Academy at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), she led the team that developed and launched a postgraduate degree programme in IP management, and a specialist certificate programme in intangible asset management.

Yi-Ling holds an LL.B. (Hons) from the University of Liverpool, and an LL.M. from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago. She is the author of “Media Law in Singapore”, published by Thomson & Reuters; a pioneering work examining the development of media and communication-related laws in Singapore, alongside the practical management of media issues. She has extensive academic experience, having developed and taught courses at several tertiary institutions in Singapore, and in the U.S., Dutch, and Australian university systems.

Dr. Ayesah Uy Abubakar is an Associate Professor at the School of Business and Social Sciences, under the Bachelor of Social Development Programme in Albukhary International University.

Dr. Ayesah is a scholar-practitioner in the field of peace and development, peace and conflict studies, and human rights in Southeast Asia. Her work in peacebuilding in Southeast Asia was recognised, as she became a recipient of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Presidential Award in 2014.
In 2018, she joined the ASEAN Women Peace Registry (AWPR) as a member representing Malaysia. Since then, her work is focused on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda-its development and implementation in Malaysia and ASEAN.

Dr. Ayesah is a member of the Southeast Asian Conflict Studies Network (SEACSN) and the Southeast Asian Human Rights Network (SEAHRN). Also, she is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Gender Focal Point-of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC)-based in Netherlands; and consequently, a member of the Gender Focal Point of GPPAC in Southeast Asia.

Dr Gabriela Fernando is an Assistant Professor of Global Health and part of the foundational academic team at Monash University, Indonesia. Her work focuses on identifying and addressing the complex pathways that shape women’s health and health equity, particularly in relation to poverty and the social and environmental determinants of health, with a regional focus on South and Southeast Asia. Within her work, she employs participatory, qualitative methods to centre the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities, working collaboratively with local communities, research institutions, think tanks, UN agencies, NGOs, and civil society organisations.
Prior to joining Monash University, she served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the United Nations University – International Institute for Global Health. She holds a PhD in Global Health from the University of Queensland, which focused on the intersections of international development, health equity, and gender perspectives.

Nicole George is an Associate Professor in the School of Political Science and International Studies at The University of Queensland. Her research focuses on the gendered politics of conflict and peacebuilding, violence, security and participation. Since the early 2000s, she has undertaken this work in the Pacific Islands region focusing on gender politics, gendered security and post conflict transition in Fiji, New Caledonia, Bougainville and Solomon Islands. She has worked in collaboration with women’s organisations, women decision-makers and women policy-makers in these settings to progress aspects of this work. She has led large, externally funded, comparative research projects examining how women’s rights to security are institutionalised in Pacific Island countries (2013-2016) and where and how women participate in post-conflict transformation (2016-2020). She is the author of a new book published by Oxford University Press (2025) titled Between Rights and Rightfulness: Regulation Gender and Violence in the Pacific Islands. In 2025 she also collaborated with the Pacific Islands Forum, producing a Guidance Note on Women Peace and Security for the Blue Pacific Continent to assist member states’ policy implementation of this United Nations Security Council framework.

About the Chairperson

Dr Moe Thuzar, along with Dr Tamara Nair, was one of the two founding members representing Singapore at the ASEAN Women for Peace Registry (AWPR). Dr Moe joined ISEAS in 2008, as lead researcher in the ASEAN Studies Centre up to August 2019. Prior to joining ISEAS, Moe spent close to ten years at the ASEAN Secretariat, where she headed the Human Development Unit from 2004 to 2007. A former diplomat, she researched Burma’s foreign policy implementation (1948-88), for her PhD at the National University of Singapore. Moe was a Fox International Fellow (2019-2020) at Yale University’s MacMillan Center during her PhD candidacy. Apart from Myanmar’s foreign policy, Moe continues to be interested in ASEAN integration issues (in socio-cultural areas) and ASEAN’s dialogue relations. Moe has co-authored, co-edited, and contributed to several compendia and edited volumes on ASEAN, and on Myanmar.