Associate ProfessorCai Wilkinson

Cai is an Associate Professor in International Relations. Cai's research focuses on societal security in the post-Soviet space, with a particular focus on LGBTQ human rights and "traditional values" in Kyrgyzstan and Russia, as well as on interrogating the role of genders and sexualities in international politics. Methodologically, Cai utilises interpretive ethnographic approaches that foreground lived experiences and situated knowledge production. Her work has been published in journals including Security Dialogue, the Journal of Human Rights, Nationalities Papers, and Critical Studies on Security, and she has also contributed chapters to volumes on securitization theory, LGBT activism in Central Asia, fieldwork-based research methods and feminist IR. Cai is currently working on projects about the politics of LGBT rights and "traditional values", and queer knowledges.

At Deakin, Cai has previously served as Course Director of the Bachelor of International Studies (2013-2018), Associate Head of School (International and Partnerships) for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (2014-2019), Director of Work Integrated Learning for the Faculty of Arts and Education (2020), Course Director for the Graduate Certificate of Humanitarian Leadership and Diplôme d'études supérieures en leadership humanitaire (2021-2024), and Associate Director of Teaching and Learning for the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership (2022-2024). She currently serves as Research Integrity Advisor for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Cai currently teaches into International Relations programs and the Bachelor of International Studies, as well as supervising across a range of areas.