Vorathep Singh Sachdev
By Asia Samachar | Thailand |
One look at his profile, Vorathep Singh Sachdev comes across as a hardworking and capable young Sikh lad juggling quite a few things on his plate. The big dish before him now is the doctorate programme.
“Maybe I should start with saying, I am a Thai-Sikh person, who grew up in Bangkok, Thailand! I had quite a fun and enjoyable upbringing with the Sikh community there, sangat (congregation) being a large part of it,” he introduces himself in an interview with Asia Samachar.
For undergraduate studies, he studied law at Thailand’s Thammasat University. After a short stint at the law firm Tilleke & Gibbins, he received the Australia Award scholarship to study Master’s in Health Law at the University in Melbourne.
“With the blessings and support of my parents and community in Bangkok, I have just started a PhD Programme in One Health Models of Disease, an interdisciplinary program that combines bioethics, law, social science and science,” he said.
Vardev, as he’s known among the Punjabi circle, also runs an education consultancy business edDEVCoach, where they try to help Southeast Asian students with career and later education decisions and applications. He also work at Effective Thesis, an international non-profit organisation that supports talented students to begin research careers that significantly improve the world, by providing free individual coaching, connecting them with experts, helping them identify important problems where further research could have a big impact, maintaining a directory of promising research directions on their website, and sharing relevant resources.
In his free time, he loves to coach football to young ones In fact, he’s even working on my coaching licenses. He also plays sports, watches lots of film, reads and occasionally dabbles in stand-up comedy.
In one of the questions, Asia Samachar asked him if he had ever felt disadvantaged professionally coming from a minority group. He said that being a Sikh has been more of a professional advantage rather than disadvantage.
“Having such an identity thanks to our Gurus, and growing up being comfortable in who you are, has made me memorable in most professional settings in a good way, and that has been so helpful! It is best to embrace who you are as we have always been taught to,” he said.
Excerpts from the interview.
Tell us more about your family background?
My family is quite international yet have stuck to our Sikh roots quite firmly. My father and his father both were both born in Thailand, while his mother was born in pre-partition in India. My mother, on the other hand hails from Singapore, and her extended family comes from Malaysia and Thailand. Our family used to work in the textile industry in Thailand, however, they supported me incredibly in my desire to study further.
What motivated you to pursue the PhD in the interdisciplinary program of bioethics, law, social science and science?
I first entered the world of bioethics and philosophy during my undergraduate thesis (which was about surrogacy tourism in Thailand), it made me realize how significant and interconnected law was to human health and how much I wanted to create a positive impact in our society. While exploring concepts of health law during and policy, I engaged with how human enhancement technologies (e.g. gene-editing technologies) may impact the world and realized that the “world” did not include low- or middle-income countries such as several countries in Southeast Asia, and wanted to explore how research can combine philosophy and the real world, which required understanding, ethics, law, politics, society and most importantly science!
Does Sikhi have any views on the areas that you are working on? (We know this is a tough question but we are just wondering if you have thought about it.)
This is quite an interesting question, Sikh views on bioethical questions can sometimes be quite complex and tough to navigate. Given that Sikhism as a religion is quite progressive, and while being careful to over-philosophize Sikhi, I have considered whether there are “Sikh” views on questions such as whether it be acceptable in Sikhi to use gene-editing editing technologies on unborn children? I do not feel like I am in the place to give a definitive answer on this, as there those who are much more knowledgeable of our Gurbani to help navigate these kinds of questions, however, this would definitely be interesting and useful for the future.
What are your plans once you’ve completed your PhD?
Continuing my aim of creating a positive impact, I hope to encourage more thinking on bioethics, law and society in the world by teaching. Inspiring younger students to consider interdisciplinary research on issues that impact us all directly is my ideal way of making an impact myself. I would ideally also want to continue helping students navigate career decisions through my work at edDEVCoach and Effective Thesis. In short, education is the way forward!
Are you involved in any Sikh related or other volunteer activities? Please elaborate. – What are you passionate about?
I used to volunteer at Effective Thesis until September 2021, as well as actively participating in local Thai-Sikh activities. However, since moving to Edinburgh in the middle of October, I am settling in. I do hope to volunteer in Sikh and mental health related organizations such as Taraki in the near future.
Anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Might have been too serious with my answers, so I just wanted to say that I am extremely thankful to get the opportunity to share part of my story here, but also, more excited to hear from anyone and learn more about them, as I am sure there is much to learn from everyone. If anyone is interested in reaching out to me, I would really appreciate that!
When the borders open, which is the first country and place you shall pin and visit?
While living in Edinburgh, I am already receiving the opportunity to explore beautiful country sides, hike, and experience Premier League football! Thus, the first place I would like to visit once the borders open is probably Thailand. I miss Thai food, friends, and family! I would probably visit some of my favourite cafes in Bangkok, as a pinned location (let be honest, who doesn’t love a good coffee).
If you’re out for dinner at your favourite joint, what would you order?
Hmmm…this is a tough one! Nothing beats home food for me, but I would probably order a spicy tom yum noodle, which is almost impossible to perfectly execute anywhere else other than Thailand!
At the end of a long day at work, what best helps you to unwind and relax?
Either a fun game of football or a watching relaxing TV series with a tub of cookie dough ice-cream, a ridiculous addiction to desserts right here!
Have you ever felt that you are disadvantaged professionally because you belong to a minority?
During my undergraduate degree, I did receive some feedback that seemed to be directly related to being a Sikh minority in Thailand. Yet, I would say being a Sikh has been more of a professional advantage rather than disadvantage. Having such an identity thanks to our Gurus, and growing up being comfortable in who you are, has made me memorable in most professional settings in a good way, and that has been so helpful! It is best to embrace who you are as we have always been taught to.
What is your message to everyone with regards to their career purse or other ambitions?
Even though I studied law all my life, and haven’t touched biology as a subject since high school, I am currently working in a science lab as part of my PhD. I hope this is an example for everyone to just go out and try to achieve whatever they are interested in, career, education or otherwise. Anything is possible. You just have to go for it. If it doesn’t stick, so what? Do not reject yourself from something just because you do not think you are qualified, it’s someone else’s job to do that, do not do their job for them!
Tell us something about Vardev that most people may not know?
I am a vegetarian who didn’t eat vegetables growing up, lived my life on tofu! You can say, it made me tough-u. Yes, I am an endless fountain of horrible bad puns.
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