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Politician-Turned-Doctoral Student’s Narrative Identity at anAustralian University: A Case Study

Singhanat Nomnian
Mahidol University, Thailand

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Abstract
This study aims to explore the narrative identity of a politician-turned-doctoral student at anAustralian university with a particular focus on his academic and social encounters based on
his English resources and experiences of learning and living in Australia. This case study is
unique in the way that very few Thai politicians would end their political career and join in an
academic community because of different philosophies underpinning these political andeducational agendas. Drawing upon a narrative inquiry, the 60-year-old former Thai politician
who decided to undertake a PhD in Engineering (Water Resources Management) found hisacademic experience positively challenging as he had to familiarize himself with Australianacademic discourse such as conducting research, writing his thesis, and taking part in classdiscussion. Being a competent user of English, he enjoyed living in a multicultural andmultilingual society in Australia. This study offers an optimistic outlook at career change
through a lens of a politician who became a doctoral student and serves as an example for adults
who are transiting their midlife career path and considering stepping out of their comfort zones
to venture into something new and exciting. This study hopes to shed new light and hopes onadult education in an era of aging society.
Keywords: narrative identity; politician; doctoral student; Australian university; adulteducation.

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Introduction
Narratives about a person’s experiences are socially and historically constructed in meanings
that influence his/her choices and decisions to tell his/her stories (Hunter, 2010). Narrative
studies regarding career paths and changes have been much researched for many decades(Bujold, 2004; Cochran, 1990; Cohen et al., 2004; LaPointe, 2010). LaPointe (2010), forinstance, conceptualizes career identity as a practice of identity construction and negotiation in
an individual’s career experiences situated within specific historical, cultural and interactional
contexts through his/her narratives. Adults’ narratives of life transitions in careers canpotentially reflect their personal growth and satisfaction (Bauer & McAdams, 2004). Ibarra(2002) states that socioeconomic and political challenges and uncertainties cause many people
to rethink and possibly decide to change their current careers to meet their personal goals andeconomic needs. In this case study, the career transition undertaken by a Thai participant, aformer politician who decided to undertake a PhD degree at an Australian university, is uniqueand rather under-explored. There are few studies regarding how pursuing a higher degree informal education can provide a transitional platform for adult learners to take up, invest, andgrow within the ‘new’ identities that arise to replace their previous political professions.
Huang (2009) defines a politician as:
Someone who practices politics as his or her professional career. Politicians may
be legislators, party leaders, senior government officials, or members of an elite
cadre in some countries (p. 163).
Key politicians’ personality traits include openness, emotional stability conscientiousness,
agreeableness, and extraversion (Gerber et al., 2011; Weinschenk & Panagopoulos, 2014).
Although political leaders have uniquely different personal characteristics underpinned byindividual leadership, ideology, decision making skills, and intelligence, they are normallychallenged and contested by their political counterparts (Simonton, 2014). As public figures,
politicians therefore have to take their professional risks to overcome their political rivalries
depending on their popularity, dominant parties, and supportive powerful political groups.
According to Kanchoochat and Hewison (2016), Thailand’s political contexts are influencedby:Multiple military interventions, political mudslinging, spates of violence, a‘tradition’ of street protests, and repeated civilian uprisings, usually followed byefforts to lay the foundations of electoral democracy. The political landscape,strewn with discarded constitutions, often seems the preserve of elites doing
political deals in back rooms. In this context, the political institutions that havegreatest longevity are also the sources of conflict. In these bouts of intense politicalcontestation, the key elements of Thailand’s political struggle have been the
military, monarchy, bureaucracy, a powerful capitalist class, a politically active
middle class and repressed subaltern classes. As relatively stable elements in thepolitical landscape, these groups have constantly tussled over conceptions of law,
representation and political space, often in a context of wide-ranging debates about
democracy, constitutions, elections and redistribution (p. 371).
Thailand’s politics has experienced a number of difficult times and hardship throughout its
history. Being a politician in Thailand can be daunting and a career in politics is uncertain and163

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unsecure. As an adult learner, the participant in this study decided to take a new path byentering into an academic field in order to reconstruct his ‘new’ identity. Osborne et al. (2004)
use the term ‘personal growers’ for mature learners who pursue higher education for their own
satisfaction and desires (p. 291). Ibarra (2002) suggests possible strategies for reinventing one’s
career through acting, reflecting, living the contradictions, experimenting with new roles,
finding people who are what you want to be, stepping back occasionally, and keeping a windowof opportunity open. Addressing an issue of aging population, Yankelovich (2005) notes thathigher education should respond to an increasing number of people from ages 55 to 75 as theyseek to build bridges to new life in order to fulfill personal aspirations and opportunities to givesomething back to society while they are still physically and mentally healthy. Education canthus potentially empower adult learners’ life-long learning and human resource developmentthat can reshape their ways of lives and career paths (Knowles et al., 2015).
This study explores the narratives of a Thai adult doctoral student who decided to shift fromhis political career to the academic field by pursuing a PhD through constructing andnegotiating his identities underpinned by his English resources and prior experiences in various
academic and sociocultural contexts throughout the course of his personal, academic andprofessional trajectories.
Literature Review
The conceptual framework of this study is based on narrative identity. Narrative identity has
long been studied in the field of social sciences and humanities in order to unfold individual’slife stories (Ricoeur, 1991). According to McAdams (2011), narrative identity is a person’sinternalized and evolving life story that integrates the (re)construction of past, present andimagined future of the self to provide life with a certain degree of unity and purpose. Hunter(2010) claims that there is a potential transformation of the participant’s experiences throughthe process of telling one’s narrative as she states that:
This (narrative inquiry) approach placed the focus on ways in which participants
constructed their own narratives about their experiences in relation to others
involved at the time, and in relation to available social and cultural narratives.
Inevitably they had absorbed the socially constructed meanings placed on theirexperiences by others, which influenced the narratives that they chose to tell me (p.
45).
Based on a social constructionist perspective, identity narratives can be viewed as an effective
tool to lessen the tensions and bridge between someone’s past, present, and future beings andbelongings, which offer a way to view identities not only located within particular discourses
and ideologies, but also within narratives (Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004). A social
constructionist approach of second language identity is dialectical between ‘inner’ and ‘outer’
aspects of the self, involving our own sense of who we are, the ways in which we represent
ourselves, and how we are represented and positioned by others; and that illustrates a complex,
multidimensional construct and that what we see of a person’s identities varies according to
the context (Benson et al., 2013, p. 2).
Identity is significant for this study as the Thai doctoral student constructs and negotiates his
identities in linguistically and culturally diverse academic and social contexts where linguistic
ideologies and unequal power relations are embedded within institutional, local, and sociopolitical contexts. Identities in this study are the results of the Thai doctoral student’s dynamic

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Volume 5 – Issue 2 – Summer 2017reconstruction of self through time and contexts. Since the participant in this study has shifted
his political identity in Thailand to that of an academic identity as a doctoral student in an
Australian university, his identities can be shifted, decentered, fragmented, and imagined by
new socio-historical tensions on his sense of self.
Identity is viewed as a ‘person’s understanding of who they are’ (reflexive identity), how they
represent their understanding to other people (projected identity), other people’s interpretationsof their representations (recognized identity), who they think they may become in the future(imagined identity), or how these different facets of identity are shaped by culturally embedded
categories and resources (Benson et al., 2013, p. 23). In this study, the Thai doctoral student
not only experiences new academic and social contexts in Australian higher education, but alsointeracts with other people, which are influenced by various variables, i.e. age, gender,
education, occupation, linguistic resources, culture, ethnicity, and social status; and thus
effective communication in multilingual and multicultural Australia requires an awareness andrecognition of the student’s interlocutors, topics of communication, and communicative
settings.
Benson et al. (2013) state that international students will aim to project and achieve recognition
for identities that correspond to their reflexive sense of self, but at the same time we recognizethat they may also want to take the opportunity to be seen as a different person when they use
their second language. For this reason, the term ‘reflexive/imagined identity’ often refers to the‘inner’ aspect of identity that underlies and is potentially modified by the ‘outer’ aspect ofidentity negotiation in second language interaction (Benson et al., 2013). Imagined identity is,in this study, closely linked to the reflexive identity of the Thai doctoral student who aspired
to become an academic instead of returning to be a politician. It can be understood as aconception of who he might become that is overlaid across the conception of who he is now.
Based on Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004, p. 17), imagination plays a crucial role in the processof imaginative production of identity. According to Kanno and Norton (2003):
In imagining ourselves bonded with our fellow compatriots across space and time,
we can feel a sense of community with people we have not yet met, but perhaps
hope to meet one day (p. 241).
In study abroad in particular, imagined identities are linked to goals and expectations, which
can be understood as representations of who the student expects or would like to become in the
study abroad setting. The idea of imagined identities, therefore, adds a layer to ourunderstanding of what he brings to the experience of study abroad.
According to Hoyer and Steyaert (2015), an affective conceptualization of identity dynamics
during times of career change integrates the notion of unconscious desires of workers intransition who may try to balance coherence and ambiguity when constructing a sense of self
through narrative. Pennycook and Otsuji (2015) state that how people get along with theirmultiple linguistic resources in their daily lives, perceive, and talk about their language use not
only describes the ways in which people of different and mixed backgrounds use, play withand negotiate identities through language, but also captures the relations between language use,
objects, and accompanying activities in their interactive spaces.
Drawing upon the theoretical framework of learning and identity within Lave and Wenger’s(1991) communities of practice, learning is social participation where individuals construct

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their shared membership identity through engaging in and contributing to the practices of theirtarget communities. Williams (2010), for instance, suggests career change students need toreconstruct their new professional identity in the context of teacher education by learning andacquiring relevant knowledge and teaching skills to become qualified teachers. According toculture of learning, Cortazzi and Jin (2013), on the other hand, view learning as cultural because
members of different communities have different preferences, expectations, interpretations,values, and beliefs with regard to teaching and learning, particularly in international andmulticultural educational contexts. Bacha and Bahous (2013), for example, suggest that
Lebanese students entering ‘Western’ higher educational cultures in Lebanon encounteredchallenges and difficulties in terms of their use of English, critical thinking, classroom
interaction, and student centeredness, which are different from the Lebanese educational
culture that focuses on memorization, teacher-centeredness, and lecture methods. The conceptsof community of practice and culture of learning are interrelated in this study because the Thai
doctoral student who was a former politician had to develop, acquire necessary academic andEnglish skills, and adjust himself to the culture of Australian academia for his PhD study inorder to gain legitimate membership in the academic and social communities.
Professional identity refers to an individual’s professional self-attributes beliefs, values,
motives, and experiences, which can be underpinned by their sociocultural identity (Slay &Smith, 2010). Professional identity, in higher education in particular, is socially constructed
via the relationship between identity, professional socialization, and the role played by
networks and their impact on identity formation regarding midlife career academics, theemergence of mixed identities, and the development of new professional boundaries within
higher education (Clarke et al., 2013). Abou-El-Kheir (2017), for example, explores theinterconnections between identity, language use and education based on a series of interviews
with a Qatari female professor of English who negotiates her beings and belongings in various
sociocultural factors including religion, family, career, education background, and language
choice between Arabic and English; and thus, the professor has to be aware and balance
between her personal and professional identities that play significant roles in her different
practices.
According to Holstein and Gubrium (2010), narrative identity unfolds the stories of self withregard to one’s everyday practices and experiences leading to the construction of personal andsocial identities. In this study, the Thai doctoral student’s narrative identity regarding his
affiliation with academic and social communities has affected his learning trajectories. Suchcommunities include future relationships that exist in his imagination as well as affiliations
such as nationhood or even transnational communities in which he has daily engagement, andmight even have a stronger impact on his current practices and investment. The transition
process between Thai and Australian academic communities, as well as the mediational role ofsignificant others including supervisors, lecturers, and colleagues in both multilingual andmulticultural settings, has had a significant impact on this particular Thai doctoral student. He
has had to manage linguistically and culturally diverse academic practices in their transitions;and thus, the ways he experiences his learning could potentially affect his practices and identity
construction.
Research Methodology
This paper is based on a larger study on Thai students’ identity in Australian higher education.
The study was approved by the Australian University and Thai University Ethics Committees
on Human Research prior to data collection. Awarded an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship

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Award to conduct the study, the researcher met the participant at an Australian university. The
participant was the main case study of this research due to his unique and interesting
experiences that shifted from the political to academic field when he decided to pursue his PhD
in Engineering with a particular focus on Water Resources Management. Case study is anempirical enquiry exploring a contemporary situation within someone’s real-life context(Cohen et al., 2000; Yin, 2003). It draws upon a qualitative and interpretive paradigm thatprovides personal and subjective accounts illustrating complex and interconnected individual
experiences (Denscombe, 2003; Holliday, 2002).
To keep his identity highly confidential, this study refers to him as the participant who is a 60year-old male. He obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from America. He hadover 30 years of experiences in Thailand politics from being a member of parliament, ministerof various departments including education, justice, agriculture and cooperatives, natural
resources and environment, communication and information technology, to deputy prime
minister. He is currently a PhD student at an Australian university. The researcher became
interested to learn more about the participant’s viewpoints regarding his academic experience
because he is an example of a life-long learner and career changer, and thereby serves as amodel for others.
Semi-structured interview was the primary research tool for data collection in this study.
According to Edwards and Holland (2013), semi-structured interview includes a set of the
primary questions that can explore the interviewee’s emerging views. An interviewer, however,needs to deviate from the interview schedule and probe more deeply with further questions tofollow-up particular responses to gain deeper insights. In this particular paper, the maininterview questions concern the participant’s personal background including education, careers,and current degree, as well as his reasons for studying at an Australian university, expectations,perceived academic and conversational English proficiency, attitudes toward his use of English
with ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ speakers of English, views on supervisors and supervision,
linguistic and academic support by university, perceptions toward teachers and colleagues, andacademic challenges. The interview was conducted in Thai and lasted for one hour. It wasaudio-recorded, transcribed, and translated by the researcher. The transcripts were thenprovided to the participant for validation.
Drawing upon Pavlenko’s (2004) data analytic approach, analyzing personal narratives is not
only based on the content of the stories, but also the sociohistorical contexts in which thenarratives were created and the ideological underpinnings which frame certain story telling.
The participant’s narratives in this study could be regarded as shifting over time, and influenced
by individual and societal views, which allowed me to explore the ways in which he constructeda sense of self through the interview. Based on the interpretive and qualitative researchparadigm, the participants’ construction of meanings in their complex sociocultural contexts isunderstood via interpretation rather than generalization, prediction and control (Usher, 1996).
This Thai doctoral student’s construction and negotiation of his identities while living andstudying in Australia were subsequently revealed and then qualitatively interpreted without
generalizing the findings to other cases.
Findings and Discussion
The findings of this study focus on academic context, social context, and use of English forcommunication emerging from the participant’s narratives revealing his construction andnegotiation of his identities.

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Academic Context
The participant’s construction of his academic identity as a doctoral student may not be assmooth as he expects as he needs to adjust himself to the Australian academia, which isdifferent from his professional identity as a politician.
Extract 1
My first challenge was that I had not studied for almost 40 years. Secondly,
conducting research allows me to learn new things more. My supervisor told me toattend a number of classes such as research methodology. I can observe newperspectives. I can look back to understand other people’s thoughts, analysis,
evaluation, and research results compared with my personal experiences. I can see
similarities and differences.
The participant encountered research challenges since he had not been involved in academic
study for quite some time. He had to rely mostly on his previous experience in politics todiscuss issues regarding his project on water policy. Educated in the American academic
system, attending classes enabled him to acculturate himself to learning in an Australian higher
education environment.
Extract 2
Contributing our ideas in seminars or workshops is good for the learning process
and knowledge sharing. The best perspective is holistic by listening to people whohave had different experiences in order to better understand the topic of discussion.
Communication is the best learning tool; otherwise, we will become narrow-mindedwithout knowing what’s going on in the world. It will be beneficial for our futurework.
His imagined identity was also realized for future collaborations. He enjoyed class discussion
as an important part of widening his views and learning process. His openness and extraversion
in class reflect desirable qualities in a good politician (Gerber et al., 2011; Weinschenk &Panagopoulos, 2014). He perceived himself on behalf of Thai doctoral students as a good,collaborative, and friendly student.
Extract 3
They (lecturers and classmates) think that Thai students are good, collaborative,and very friendly.
He also recognized that to become a legitimate doctoral student in the Australian academic
culture, he had to develop his research and academic writing skills. He thus sought English
support provided by the university in order to acquire and meet the linguistic requirements for
his PhD study.
Extract 4
Writing research reports can be problematic. My academic writing needs to be
improved. I need to learn how to write academically. Literature review helps me to168

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understand academic writing styles. However, it’s difficult to produce a perfectpiece of writing. It’s quite common to have someone to review and edit my papers.
No matter how good my English is, academic English seems to have a different
style.
Extract 5
In terms of English support, I think the university offers full support already.
Although international students are required to have a certain level of English
proficiency to be admitted, they can attend extra English courses and workshops
provided by the university to improve their English.
The participant’s academic identity construction required the engagement of lecturers, peers,and support staff, which played significant roles in developing research and academic English
skills valued in higher learning. His academic engagement is underpinned by Lave andWenger’s (1991) communities of practice that involve relevant stakeholders to scaffold hisacademic self. In addition, his determination was to succeed in his study as he imagined that
his academic contribution could potentially alleviate Thailand’s crises.
Extract 6
After I graduate, I will do academic research to solve our country’s problems.
According to Bacha and Bahous (2013), ‘Western’ higher education values students’ active
engagement and critical thinking. This mature-age Thai student was required to adjust andaccommodate to a ‘Western’ culture of learning. Investment in education can be considered asa way to promote empowerment for mature-age learners whose increased intellectual capitalcan promote personal values and realize self-actualization. Academic aspiration was not,however, the only variable in the construction of his academic identity; the social context inwhich he undertook his study in Australia was also significant.
Social Context
Well-known for his political background in Thailand and Australia, the participant was not
only involved in Thai cultural events, but also recognized by a number of Australianorganizations. His previous ‘professional identity’ (Clarke et al., 2013) as a politician offered
him special exposure to international contexts, which promoted his well-being while learningand living in Australia.
Extract 7
I joined a Thai people club and attended religious activities. I’m also an honorable
member of Taronga Zoo. I was a member of Thai-Australian Parliamentary
Friendship under Inter-parliamentary Union.
Extract 8
I’m happy and living a simple lifestyle. I don’t need to adjust myself much because
I have lived in an international environment for quite some time. I have travelled
all around the world.

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Extract 9
I don’t need to adjust myself because I used to live abroad. It’s just that I have a
student lifestyle which is best because I don’t have a lot of responsibilities. No one
forces me. Success depends on me. I have freedom.
As a mature-age learner, he enjoyed having freedom to do things without many responsibilities.
When comparing his previous experience as a politician who was under frequent pressure, he
had become satisfied with his academic identity as he developed himself as a ‘personal grower’(Osborne et al., 2004). Being a doctoral student in Australia, he learned to be independent anddetermined to pursue academic success. He nevertheless retained the character traits of apolitician as suggested by Gerber et al. (2011) and Weinschenk and Panagopoulos (2014)
regarding conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, emotional stability and extraversion,
which underpinned his appeal to the locals.
Extract 10
I love to interact with local people because I can learn about their way of life,
perspectives toward socio-economic and political changes, and experiences.
Interaction with the locals is essential.
Extract 11
It’s normal because Sydney is an international city. It’s a melting pot like in theUSA. There are Aborigines, refugees and immigrants. Linguistic and cultural
diversity is good because it allows local people to become aware of differences. It
also helps us to understand the locals.
Living in a multicultural city, he was optimistic and open to cultural differences. There were,
however, some local people who might generalize about Thai people and stereotype them as
Asian. Effective intercultural communication was bolstered by his cultural and linguistic
awareness and recognition of communicative contexts.
Extract 12
I think they (Australians) find Thai people good. However, there are some ignorantpeople who don’t care about foreigners because they never go anywhere – even thecity. When they see us, they may feel a bit strange.
Extract 13
First of all, I have learned about people’s lives including the locals, foreigners, andThais. Secondly, I have gained more academic knowledge and learned new waysof thinking.
Extract 14
Thai students need to adapt to living here. They need to learn to be independent.

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The participant felt that his experiences as a student in Australia had provided him with anopportunity to embark on an academic journey consistent with Ibarra (2002), who suggests thata career changer needs to be open to new possibilities. It is, however, important for him todevelop a sense of independence in order to acculturate into Australian society, which ischaracterized by linguistic ideologies and unequal power relations at local and socio-politicalcontexts. His identities could therefore fluctuate and change depending on his personal,
sociocultural and historical factors.
Use of English for Communication
For the participant, English is a communicative tool bridging academic and social contexts.
Because he used to live and study in America when he was young, his communicative English
was highly competent. He had always used English while being a politician dealing withinternational organizations. In addition, he noted that English should be frequently used inorder to become fluent.
Extract 15
Because I lived in America for 5–6 years, I am very competent in using English.
Even though I have not studied for some time, I used English when I worked withinternational organizations. I was Chair and a committee member at international
conferences. I have used English consistently. Actually, if I don’t use English for awhile, it can get rusty.
He not only recognized the importance of academic English, but he also felt that his
communicative English should be improved while living and learning in Australia.
Extract 16
If Thai students have a good English foundation, that will be a great advantage.
However, if their English is not good, their learning may be a bit slow. They may
get bored and lose motivation. At the very least, they should have goodcommunication skills for daily living. However, they should be prepared before
going to class because participation in class discussions is important. If theirEnglish is not good, it will be okay because there is a big Thai community here.
But, their English will not improve. They need to practice their English
communication while studying here.
His previous international exposure allowed him to recognize varieties of English and speakers’
accents. Academic English and English for daily communication were necessary for any Thai
student in order to engage in academic and social interactions.
Extract 17
I always use English for daily communication. I don’t translate Thai to English andvice versa. I understand that when we first learn a new language, we often translate.
Listening to various accents also causes some problems. However, I have attended
international conferences for the past 30 years. I’m used to listening andrecognizing a variety of English accents.

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Extract 18
I distinguish between the two (native and non-native speakers) by recognizing theiraccents, speech patterns, and language use. I can identify right away who comesfrom rural or urban areas and approximately where in the world one is from because
I have extensive experience working with international people.
Extract 19
My university is international. Some people are not native English speakers. They
are from different countries. So far, there are more non-native English speakers thannative ones. There are a lot of non-native English-speaking professors. Native
speakers are Australians. I can identify whether someone is native or non-native by
where he/she comes from. However, native accents also vary from one place toanother. In Sydney CBD, the accent is blended – similar to that in the USA. There
are local accents.
At university, he encountered more non-native speakers including his lecturers and classmates
whose accents varied. Distinguishing native from non-native speakers of English by where theycame from, he considered himself a speaker of English as a second language. English was his
communicative tool for constructing and negotiating his second language identity representing
his personal and social selves according to the communicative context.
Extract 20
I can communicate in English like a second language. I don’t need to adjust myaccent. However, if we can learn and use the local English accent, we can blend ineasier. There are various local accents. If we know them, our listening
comprehension will be better. If we can sound like them, they will feel more
comfortable talking with us. It’s like we are one of them. Learning a local accent isuseful for our daily living.
Based upon Pennycook and Otsuji’s (2015) language practices in the city, the participant’sEnglish resource allowed him access to the different and mixed backgrounds of various
speakers, to construct and negotiate identities through his language, and recognize therelationship between language use, objects, and accompanying activities in his academic andcommunicative settings in Australia. To sum up, it is evident that the Thai doctoral student’s
narratives revealed that the complex inter-relationships between his experience, profession,educational background, social encounters, and English use was based on his sense of self
influenced by different sociocultural, educational and professional factors. As a mature-age
and career-changing student, he therefore had to be aware and balance between his personal,
academic and professional identities that would impact on his different discursive practices
including academic and sociocultural adaptations while living and studying in Australia.
Conclusion
This case study explores a Thai doctoral student’s narrative identity at an Australian university.
The participant was a former well-known politician in Thailand, who decided to enter anacademic discipline as a career change. His transition from politics to academics requires his
action, reflection, and experimentation through venturing himself into his new role, adapting

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Volume 5 – Issue 2 – Summer 2017himself to the academic and research community, and negotiating his previous professional
political experiences with his imagined academician. The participant’s academic and social
contexts in living and studying in Australia is connected by using academic and communicative
English. As a mature-age learner, he reconstructs his academic self into the Australian higher
education and employs his former political experiences and connections as a strong foundation
to gain his imagined expectations. His narratives of life and career transitions through investingin higher education have illustrated that his personal growth and satisfaction have beenenhanced. It is, however, important to note that this case study may not be generalized to othercases; yet, it serves as a platform to undertake further research regarding a career change of apolitician who aims to become an academic as his personal aspirations and contributions that
potentially benefit the aging society at national and international levels.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Australia Awards – Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships.
I would like to thank Distinguished Professor Alastair Pennycook for his constructive
comments on the project.

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Corresponding author: Singhanat NomnianContact email: snomnian@hotmail.com

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