Dr Iwu Dwisetyani Utomo, a much respected friend and colleague from the School of Demography has passed away after a brief illness.

Dr Utomo had a long affiliation with the ANU. She gained her PhD from the Demography Program at ANU in 1998, and returned as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2000 when she received the Merdeka Fellowship Award. Between 2002 and 2008 she was located at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health where she worked on research projects about gender, sexuality and health, including an ARC project on Harmful Sexual Practices in Southeast Asia.

In 2008 she joined Demography in the Research School of Social Sciences, working on a number of large scale projects in Indonesia funded by ARC, WHO, Ford Foundation and AusAID. These projects included a longitudinal study on the transition to adulthood in Greater Jakarta, and a project on ageing in rural Indonesia. Iwu has provided consultancy research to a large number of organisations, including the Asian Development Bank, CIDA, AusAID, Australian Reproductive Health Alliance, Marie Stopes International, and Care Timor Lester.

Iwu was a strong advocate for gender studies in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, and was the Gender and Population node leader for the ANU Gender Institute. She has been recognised for her incredible contributions including being named an Outstanding ANU Woman (2010), and an ANU Inspiring Woman (2012).

Iwu embraced academia. She was a dedicated researcher, educator, and ally and supervisor of research students. She will be greatly missed by staff, students, alumni, and the ANU Indonesian community.

A new postgraduate/post-doctorate award endowment has been founded in memory Iwu. The Fund will support a researcher working on demographic, reproductive health, aging, or sexuality in Indonesia. These topics were the focus of a career of fieldwork and teaching for Iwu, during which she devoted her energies to the support of students working on Indonesia. We are grateful that alumni and staff who knew Iwu supported this new fund as it will enable students to carry on this research as a wonderful legacy to her life’s work.

For more about Iwu's life and work, Emeritus Professor Terrance H. Hull from the School of Demography has written a beautiful tribute looking back on Dr Utomo's life.