Profile
Prof. Toh Swee-Hin
BSc(Hons)(Phys Sc), DipEd
Distinguished Professor and Consultant, UPEACE
Course of study:
BSc(Hons)(Phys Sc)
DipEd
Professor Toh Swee-Hin is a recipient of the 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Professor Toh Swee-Hin is Distinguished Professor and long-term Consultant, Office of the Vice-Rector of the United Nations-mandated University for Peace, with headquarters in Costa Rica. He came to La Trobe University as a Colombo Plan scholar from Malaysia in 1967 as one of La Trobe University’s first students where he completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Chemistry and Diploma of Education.
Prior to his UPEACE appointment, Professor Toh was the founding Director of the Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University, in Australia, which seeks to promote inter-faith dialogue towards a culture of peace. Born in Malaysia, he has taught in universities in Canada and Australia and served as visiting professor in the interrelated fields of education for a culture of peace, human rights, justice, multiculturalism, sustainability and interfaith dialogue in North and South contexts. He has contributed to several international networks and organizations including UNESCO, the International Institute on Peace Education, World Council for Curriculum & Instruction, Asia- Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding, and the Parliament of the World’s Religions and Religions for Peace.
In 2000, he was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education. Since June 2003, he has served as Professor and inaugural Director of the Multi-Faith Centre of Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Established in May 2002, the Multi-Faith Centre seeks to promote understanding, dialogue and cooperation among diverse faiths and cultures towards the building of a culture of peace in local, national and international contexts.
Prior to his appointment at Griffith University, Swee-Hin has been a high school science and maths teacher in Malaysia, and a Professor in International/Intercultural Education at the University of Alberta, Canada (1992-2003) and the University of New England in Australia. Born and raised in Malaysia of Chinese ancestry, Swee-Hin’s work in teaching, research and social action has focused especially on education for peace, non-violence, conflict resolution, local/global justice, human rights, multiculturalism, sustainability and spiritual growth.
While in Alberta, Swee-Hin was closely involved in the Alberta Global Education Project, serving on the Advisory Committee and contributing as a speaker and resource person in numerous teacher’s workshops and conferences. He has also been active in peace education programs for youth and community members organized by the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace based in Edmonton. As a professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, he developed and taught new courses and programs in international/intercultural education and global education for both student teachers and graduate students including many teachers from Canadian schools and abroad. In his role as Director of the Centre for International Education and Development, Swee-Hin coordinated several CIDA partnership projects for universities and teacher educators from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. He has also participated in many Alberta and Canadian civil society movements and NGOs for local/global peace, justice, human rights and multiculturalism.
Swee-Hin has been very active in various networks and agencies in promoting international education and peace education, including UNESCO’s Culture of Peace Program, the International Peace Research Association, the International Institute on Peace Education, the World Congress on Comparative & International Education, and the World Council for Curriculum and Instruction.
Since 1998, he has served as an UNESCO consultant and resource person in helping to establish the UNESCO-affiliated Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding in Seoul, Republic of Korea, including co-designing and facilitating peace education workshops for Asian and Pacific teachers, educational administrators, and NGO leaders. He has collaborated in the writing of textbooks, curriculum modules and resource manuals for teachers in both South and North contexts. His participation in educational development projects and institutes, and more recently in inter-faith dialogue toward a culture of peace have also taken him to various North and South countries including Jamaica, Uganda, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, El Salvador, USA, South Korea, India, Egypt, the Vatican, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
In July, 2004, he was a delegate to the 4th Parliament of the World’s religions where over 8000 representatives of diverse faiths and spirituality traditions gathered in Barcelona to share ideas, experiences and their hopes and challenges of fostering dialogue and establishing a common ground for personal and social transformation for peace, justice, human rights, intercultural and inter-civilizational understanding and sustainability.
For his contributions to peace education across formal and non-formal sectors, and in North and South contexts, notably in a region of long-standing conflicts, Mindanao in the southern Philippines, Swee-Hin was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education 2000. He is an Honorary Member (Life) of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and recipient of the Edmonton Salvos Prelontzos Peace Award (2001), an University of Alberta Distinguished Alumni Award(2001), the Canadian Peace Award for Peace Education (2000), Special Recognition Award for Peace Education (2000) of the Canadian Mahatma Gandhi Foundation for World Peace, and the World Council for Curriculum and Instruction Yoneji Ebitani Award (1999) for outstanding research in curriculum and instruction (jointly with his wife Virginia Floresca Cawagas).
