1995

Research Title: Anthropological research on the Kelabit Genealogy in the Kelabit Highlands and Emergence of Political Boundary the island of Borneo and Population Movement along the Border Region of Kalimantan/Sarawak. 
Name of researchers: Poline Bala 
Funding Agency: Toyota Foundation, Tokyo 
Duration: March - July 1995 
Brief Description of Project: This project examines the emergence of political boundaries on the island of Borneo and population movements along the border region of Kalimantan/Sarawak. The main focus is the impact of political boundaries on communities along international borders. That is, creation of national identities and their effects of on kinship relations and informal economies

1999-2003

Research Title: Internet Access by Rural Communities in Sarawak. 
Names of Researchers: Professor Dr Khairuddin Abdul Hamid (Head of Project), Dr Poline Bala (Team Leader), Professor Dr Peter Songan, 
Fund Agency: Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Demonstrator Application Grant Scheme, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia. 
Amount: RM800, 000. 
Duration: 1999 - 2003 
Brief description of Project: This project explores existing potentials for remote/rural communities in Sarawak to develop socially, culturally and economically from information and communication technologies usage & applications. It also experiment with methodologies to connect rural communities to new technologies.

2003-2004

Research Title: eBedian: Application of ICT in Tourism to Improve Livelihood of Rural Community 
Members: Alvin Yeo Wee (Project Leader), Poline Bala (Key Researcher) 
Funding Agency: UNIMAS 
Duration: August 2003 – August 2004 
Description of Project: There are two foci in this proposal, one focus is on the community, and the other is on the technology. 
One objective of the project is to find out how ICT (information and communication technologies) can be employed to improve the lives of a rural community, in this case, Long Bedian.  In particular, we intend to investigate how electronic-commerce (e-commerce) can be employed in tourism, to promote Long Bedian not only nationally but internationally as well.  By attracting tourists to Long Bedian, the livelihood of the villagers should be improved given that tourists (via their spending) will contribute to the economy of Long Bedian.We also intend to explore the extent to which Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), a new XML-based language for Web graphics from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), can be employed in the e-commerce web-site to make the web-site more interactive and usable, when compared to a web-site employing only conventional raster images, such as images in jpeg or bitmap format.    

2003-2004

Research Title: Electronic Records of Indigenous Knowledge: Recording and Classifying of Kelabit Oral Traditions 
Members: Poline Bala (Project Leader), Alvin Yeo Wee (Member) 
Funding Agency: UNIMAS 
Duration: July 2003 – November 2004 
Grant Amount: RM25,336 
Description of Project: To explore the cultural benefits of ICTs in stimulating the production, the protection and popularization of Sarawak rural communities’ oral traditions which constitute part of indigenous knowledge systems. This project, in line with the objectives of the e Bario project, aims to record and transcribe some of these traditional songs, particularly the lakuh songs, which are songs, composed by singers, usually women, in the Kelabit Highlands. These songs are recorded and/or transcribed and maintained on CD ROM and on a computer that is accessible via the Internet. Whilst the main aim of the project is to explore opportunities and new strategies offered by ICTs to protect and popularize Kelabit oral traditions, the project is concerned about the effect of technology upon the Kelabit culture. Whilst simultaneously exploring the benefits, the project is anxious to filter out how the community regards technology, how culture affects the use of technology and vice versa. 

2008-2010

Research Title: eBario model for DAGS National roll-out 
Funding Body: Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation 
Role: Team member and Project leader for eBa Kelalan 
Amount: RM4, 000, 000.00 
Duration: 1 January 2008 – 1 December 2010 
Description of Project: The eBario DAGs Rollout Plan is to replicate the eBario model for Rural ICT to another five (5) sites throughout the Malaysia. 
Pulications/Reports: eBario DAGS National Roll-Out Report – submitted to Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia, 31 December 2010

2008-2010

Research Title: GIS for Cultural Heritage Management in the Kelabit Highlands 
Funding Body: Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, (and also US Embassy, Kuala Lumpur and Oxbridge Society, Malaysia via Rurum Kelabit Sarawak) 
Roles:  Project leader 
Amount: RM60, 000 
Duration: 1 August 2008 – 31 December 2010 
Description of Project: This project explores practical examples and ways that computer technology can be designed and applied to meet local needs.  It combines the old with the new technology to document and preserve indigenous knowledge

2011-2012

Research Title: Needs Analysis for Telecentre Development for Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia 
Funding Body: Economic Planning Unit 
Role: Project Leader 
Amount: RM 1, 300,000.00
Duration: February 2011 – February 2012 
Description of Project: The main activity of the project is to conduct preliminary assessment of actual ICT needs and uses in the communities to be served by ICT facilities at a telecentre. Second is to provide training to all stakeholders who are involved in the telecentre development. This training will centre on means and ways to conduct community engagement, and on how to mobilise community to develop goals towards which a telecentre is heading. 

2011-2012

Research of the ASEAN project ‘Promotion of Rural Women’s Livelihood with ICT Use.’ 
This project was hosted by Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea (MOFAT) and Implemented by: Asia Pacific Women’s Information Network Center (APWINC), Sookmyung Women’s University, Korea. 
Duration: Mar. 1, 2011 ~ Feb. 28, 2012  

2014-2016

Research Title: Documenting Traditional Knowledge: Rural Folks stories in the Kelabit Highlands 
Funding Body: UNIMAS – Dana Principal Investigator (DPI) -03 (DPI16) 895/2012 (08) 
Role: Project Leader 
Amount: RM 30, 000.00   
Duration:November 2014 - Disember 2016 
Description of Project: The focus of this project is Long Peluan, a hundred year old Kelabit longhouse located in the Kelapang river, which is in the headwaters of the Baram River. The main goals were:
- to create digital database of narratives, songs, epic poems, musical genre, myths, life stories and historical narratives and dialogues in the Kelabit language        
- to locate, document and map previous settlements, cultural sites and megaliths mentioned in Long Peluan Narratives indicating overlap in territory with other ethnic groups.
- to facilitate transmission of knowledge across generations. 

2013-2018

Research Title: Telecentre Programme for Orang Asli West Malaysia. 
Funding Body: Economic Planning Unit 
Role: Project Leader 
Amount: RM 4.9 million
Duration: February 2013 – November 2018. 
Description of Project: The main activity of the project is to conduct preliminary assessment of actual ICT needs and uses in the communities to be served by ICT facilities at a telecentre. Second is to provide training to all stakeholders who are involved in the telecentre development. This training will centre on means and ways to conduct community engagement, and on how to mobilise community to develop goals towards which a telecentre is heading.   

2016-2018

Research Title: Towards a model of concerted and participative food heritage touristic valorization process: Kelabit indigenous community, Sarawak 
Funding Body: Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (Project Code: FRGS/1/2015/SS06/TAYLOR/0311)  
Role: Member 
Amount: RM 75,000 (based in Taylor) 
Duration: 16-08-2016 – 15-08-2018 
Description of Project: The project has a number of objectives: 
1.To Assess Tangible & Intangible Food Heritage of the Community 
2. To Identify Current and Potential Drivers of Tourism Valorization 
3. To Suggest a Model for a Concerted and Participative Food Heritage Valorization towards a Sustainable Local Food Heritage 
4. To carry out participatory food heritage inventory.   

2016-2018

Research Title: Exploring the Potential of Visual Art Approach in Anthropological Research onto the Megalithic Structure of the Kelabit Highlands via Practice-led Investigation. 
Funding Body: Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) F03/FRGS/1500/2016 
Role: Member
Amount: RM 98,200.00 
Duration: 16-08-2016 – 15-08-2018 

2016-2019

Research Title: Capacity to Organise Massive Public Educational Opportunities in Universities of Southeast Asia (COMPETEN-SEA)  
Funding Body: EACEA - Belgium (GL/I03/COMPETEN-SEA/2017)
Role: Key Researcher as domain specialist
Amount: RM 480,287.00 
Duration: 11-10-2016 – 14-10-2019 

2018-2019

Research Title: Social Innovation for Sarawak’s Hinterland 
Funding Body: UNIMAS PostDoc Fund  (UNIMAS I03/TDG/1762/2018) 
Role: Key Researcher 
Amount: RM 50, 000
Duration: 18-12-2018 – 17-12-2019 

2019-2021

Research Title: Forts and Its people: Social History and Collective Memory of Local Communities in Sarawak 
Funding Body: Sarawak Tourism Federation (GL/F06/FORT/2019)
Role: Key Researcher 
Amount: RM 120,000
Duration: 1-9-2019 – 30-9-2021 

2020-2022

Research Title: Climate Change, Biodiversity And Borneo’s Indigenous Peoples 
Funding Body: SDG Research at Borneo (GL/105/MCUN/06/2020) 
Role: Leader
Amount: RM 15,000
Duration: 1-9-2020 – 1-9-2022 

2020-2022

Research Title: Negotiating Precarity of Undocumented Indigenous Populations in Borneo: A Human Security Approach
Funding Body: SDG Research at Borneo  (GL/F06/MCUN/07/2020)
Role: Member 
Amount: RM 15,000
Duration: 2-11-2020 – 1-11-2022 

2020-2022

Research Title: Towards enhancing Malaysia My Second Home programme in Sabah and Sarawak 
Funding Body: SDG Research at Borneo (GL/F10/MCUN/16/2020) 
Role: Member 
Amount: RM 15,000
Duration: 1-9-2020 – 28-2-2022