Sinfah Tunsarawuth teamed up with Thailand’s premier university to launch a science show on Chula Radio this month, with episodes on the country’s potential to produce its own vaccines and on its ability to develop useful strains of medical marijuana.
“As I have told friends, this show is good for any non-Thai listeners, and, of course, local Thais as well, who want to get to know about Thailand, apart from its frequent military coups, street protests, beaches and food, Tunsarawuth said.
The 1988 Alfred Friendly Fellow is the editor and producer of the English-language radio show, Unlock The Science, broadcast on the multi-media platform owned by Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University.
“This project was born out of the idea that if this country’s top university would like the world to know about it, it has to speak in English language to the world,” Tunsarawuth said.
The 30-minute show each Saturday features Thai scientists, researchers and experts and their contribution to the advancement of global science.
“Some Asian followers have said that this kind of program is what is needed in Southeast Asia,” Tunsarawuth said
Unlock the Science is funded by the university and can be accessed through the website curadio.chula.ac.th, the station’s Facebook page, and in podcast form.
Tunsarawuth was working at an English-language daily in Thailand, The Nation, when he entered the fellowship. He worked for five months at The Seattle Times.
“After my fellowship, I became much more confident in my work as a journalist,” Tunsarawuth said.
“I remember that I initiated a large number of good stories and articles in The Nation after I returned from the United States,” he said. In the late 1990s, he returned to school to get a bachelor’s degree in law and now practices as a media lawyer in addition to his work in broadcasting.
“Under this current project, I am applying what I learned in journalism from the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship in my reporting, editing and production of the show,” Tunsarawuth said.
“I have been telling my younger journalist friends that Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship is the best journalist training program in the United States, and have been encouraging them to apply, as I am aware that so far there have been only three fellows from Thailand.”
