Cambodia is rebuilding its educational institutions following years of civil war and unrest. The skill levels and research experience of graduates from Universities in Cambodia is still low. In addition, graduates find few opportunities to use the knowledge and skills which they have managed to learn, and even fewer possibilities to continue their studies, thus expanding their capabilities as scholars and researchers.

Within this climate, Reyum is committed to offering research opportunities and ongoing training to recent University graduates. As each research project moves from an initial period of fieldwork and investigation towards its final public presentation in the form of an exhibition and a publication, our researchers learn a wide variety of practical and intellectual skills. In addition to gaining much needed experience in field and archival research, they learn to process the information which they have gathered into coherent and accessible texts which serve as the base for our books and exhibitions. The acquisition of practical skills such as interviewing, information organization, computer use, and publication and exhibition design, is complimented by a broader intellectual training in which researchers increase their capacities to think creatively.

Ongoing research projects at Reyum consider topics such as:

1-

Traditional tools and the changes which modernization brings to habits and ways of using things.
 

2-

Kbach, the unique ornamental language used in many forms of visual arts in Cambodia.
 

3-

Traditional painting and the representational canon through which characters and stories are presented.
 

4-

Local histories, individual recollections and the relation of such informal memories to official histories.