Having a clear picture of the status of ionosphere monitoring and related studies in the region, a research plan has been prepared. On top of the proposed scientific activities, the plan has been designed to answer some of the needs which local experts highlighted as the most relevant and urgent, such as the availability of equipment, data sharing, educational/training actions, and awareness initiatives to point out the importance of studies to better understand the ionospheric features in the South East Asian region, which is characterized by an anomalous distribution of the electron density.