Tody Sasmitha Jiwa Utama (Tody) is a PhD student at the Van Vollenhoven Institute. The title of his PhD research is: The Dynamic of State Deployment of Adat (Customary) Law in Indonesia. His research focuses on the state deployment of adat (customary) law in Indonesia.

Using several cases from the customary village and customary land registration in Bali, bride kidnapping in Sumba, the use of customary law in the state court, to the incorporation of living law in the Bill of Indonesia Criminal Code, Tody's research investigates why and how the state utilizes hukum adat (customary law) within its legal system. It also examines the implication of such deployment into Indonesia's rule of law.

Tody is a lecturer at the Department of Adat (Customary) Law and a researcher at Adat Law Research Center "Djojodigoeno" in Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia. He completed his Bachelor of Law from UGM in 2009 and obtained his master's degree (LL.M) from the same university in 2009.