Page 77 - A Life Well-Lived Is a Beautiful Memory

Remembering

Bhanupong and

His Legacy of

The Trilateral

Workshop Series

Euston Quah
16 April 2024 Euston and Bhanupong, enjoying a bottle of wine, 2018

I first came to know Bhanupong through the first organized trilateral workshop among
our three universities, namely, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Chulalongkorn
University (CU), and Thammasat University (TU). I had mooted this idea to Bhanupong as he
was Dean at the time and NTU had been collaborating with CU for some time. I thought we
should expand our network and research collaboration with TU. Dean Bhanupong immediately

and enthusiastically supported this idea and so the Trilateral Workshop Series was launched.
This Series became successful over the years and it is still ongoing. We see more and more
of the younger faculty from all three universities getting involved in recent years and interacting

with each other. I was happy that I had played a part in promoting research cooperation among
faculty and the academic interaction among us. Bhanupong even credited me for bringing TU
and CU closer in terms of the two schools of economics. After Bhanupong had stepped down as
Dean, he continued to show up at these trilateral workshops that followed, contributing to the
lively discussions throughout.

I know Bhanupong was a difficult man to some colleagues at Thammasat, but he was always
after quality work and wanted to raise standards. He gave critical, but constructive comments, to
colleagues. In much of my interaction with him, he discussed with me interesting ideas and our

meetings have always been productive. I enjoyed our academic arguments over dinners, where
he and I never failed to discuss contemporary issues in economics and how economics should
be taught. The wines accompanying the dinners further enhanced our discourse and ideas flowed
freely. Like me, Bhanupong also appreciates his wines. Over the years, we maintained our contact,
ever ready for more academic profiling of our economics schools.

Bhanupong Nidhiprabha 77