| born 1985 | |
| 2003-2007 | Studied Geography at the Hue University of Education, Vietnam (B.A.) |
| 2008-2010 | Geography at the Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam (M.A.) |
| 2013-2016 | PhD studies at Heidelberg University on the topic of "Community Based Tourism" in the Vietnamese mountain region Kon Tum (magna cum laude) |
| 2017-2021 | working at the Institute of Education (IRED), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam |
| since 2020 | Lecturer for Social Sciences at the Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Vietnam |
Thái Huỳnh Anh Chi, known as Anh Chi, is a social scientist and human geographer. As a KAAD alumna (doctorate in human geography at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), she now works as a lecturer in social sciences at the Open University in Ho Chi Minh City and is responsible for supervising Vietnamese scholarship applicants for the KAAD. Anh Chi not only presents an impressive educational biography that would have been inconceivable without the KAAD, but also combines the search for personal authenticity and social commitment with the work and goals of the KAAD in an exemplary manner.
The lively and likeable woman in her mid-thirties with a small family comes from a village in Kon Tum, a mountainous region in Vietnam, which is known primarily for coffee and rubber cultivation and is one of the poorest regions in Vietnam with the most marvellous nature. Anh Chi, who comes from a Catholic family, studied in the neighbouring coastal province of Hue after finishing school. There she received an education that was geared towards teaching geography at a secondary school later on. She then continued her geography studies with a master's degree at the Hanoi National University of Education.
Anh Chi's high-altitude, cool home is a wonderful retreat for stressed city dwellers in the hot summer months, but international tourists also love the secluded mountain region. The question of how tourism can be developed responsibly here has been on the alumna's mind since her Master's degree. She pursued the concept of tourism developed by the local community ('community-based tourism') and undertook field research on site, in which she investigated, for example, whether thatched, high-rise Rong houses could be used in the hotel industry instead of uniform concrete constructions. She wants to use her research to make a difference in her home country and help shape the future
- her application for a KAAD scholarship was therefore supported by physics professor and KAAD alumnus Thầy Vũ Quang Tuyên.
From 2013-2016, Anh Chi was able to complete his doctorate in human geography under Prof Dr Hans Gebhardt in Heidelberg with the help of KAAD and take part in international conferences in Istanbul, Vienna and Kyoto. The free, open culture of discussion in Heidelberg led her to new horizons. Her doctoral supervisor visited her field research project and she organised a study trip to Vietnam for the Institute following her doctorate.
Back home, Anh Chi was very disillusioned: she was no longer used to the confines of university life in Vietnam. She wanted to get involved in society and sustainable tourism that would develop the culture of the local community into a distinctive product, but she increasingly realised that the implementation of her research was very dependent on political and socio-economic factors as well as the general management of natural resources.
She turned down several offers of prestigious lecturing positions and joined an NGO. This enabled her to fully utilise everything she had learnt methodically during her training as an Educational Manager at IRED (Institute of Education) for three years.
Anh Chi finally returned to university in 2020. She teaches at the well-known Open University as a lecturer in social sciences and gives courses in the field of cultural geography, such as "Sustainable Tourism" or "Eco Tourism". In her research, she takes on the challenge of dealing with large amounts of data, or 'big data', as an additional methodological qualification. On the one hand, the associated research offers her more freedom, as she is not dependent on authorisations as she is for field research. On the other hand, she is convinced that in this context, she will be able to develop connections that will provide concrete insights for improving social life.
Anh Chi is grateful for how the KAAD has shaped her life: "The scholarship was a great gift for me. Through the KAAD, I have come into contact with people whose strong commitment to serving the community impresses me." Today, as a member of the partner committee, she takes great responsibility for the applicants and scholarship holders of the KAAD. The goal of being true to herself goes hand in hand with a lasting commitment to society and also to the KAAD community: "I thought about how I could make a contribution and give something back. And it works well: I can get in touch with the church here in Saigon and Pastor John Le Quang Viet, who is responsible for the youth. I am also young myself and can communicate well with young people who are interested in a scholarship. I know their difficulties.
