Vannessa Hearman was a joint winner of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) 2014 thesis prize for the best PhD thesis in Australia in the field of Asian Studies. Her thesis in history at the University of Melbourne was entitled ‘Dismantling the “Fortress”: East Java and the Long Transition to Suharto’s New Order Regime (1965-1968)’. Vanessa is now is the Department of Indonesian Studies at The University of Sydney.