Introduction

The Centre for Research in Distance & Adult Learning (CRIDAL) at the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) was established in May 1997 to enhance research and scholarship in open and distance learning.

In order to promote greater academic exchange and collaboration amongst researchers in open distance and adult education in Asia, CRIDAL has compiled this database titled Educators in Open Distance and Adult Education Research: An Asian Inventory (CRIDATA).

The databank contains information on 289 open distance and adult education researchers from 17 countries and regions in Asia. It includes their names, correspondence addresses, education and training, research areas and interests, language proficiency, recent major publications, abstracts of recent research projects and possible future studies. CRIDATA also includes the educators' proposed collaboration with other Asian open distance education institutions.

It is hoped that this database provides suitable information especially for networking purposes, and also gives the international academic community a better understanding of the current state of open distance and adult education research in Asia.