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Associate Professor

Pichamon Yeophantong

Associate Professor, Strategic Studies

Faculty of Arts and Education/Centre for Future Defence and National Security

Orcid identifier0000-0002-4685-5421
  • Associate Professor, Strategic Studies
    Faculty of Arts and Education/Centre for Future Defence and National Security
  • Canberra - Centre for Defence

BIO

Head of Research, Centre for Future Defence and National Security

Dr Pichamon Yeophantong is Head of Research and Associate Professor at the
Centre for Future Defence and National Security, Deakin University. She also leads the

Responsible Business Lab and the Environmental Justice and Human Rights Project,

which are funded by an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship. In 2022,

Pichamon was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council as an

Independent Expert, serving as the Member from Asia-Pacific States on the

UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

As a political scientist and China specialist, Pichamon conducts research into
Chinese foreign policy and, specifically, the social and environmental impacts
of Chinese overseas investment in the developing world. She also teaches and
conducts field-based research on business and human rights, and more broadly,
on the political economy of sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific.
Pichamon has previously held academic positions at the University of New South
Wales (UNSW Sydney and Canberra), Princeton University, and the University of
Oxford, among other institutions.

In addition to these roles, Pichamon has served as a consultant on human
rights, development, and security issues to a range of local and international
NGOs, intergovernmental organisations, and government agencies. She sits on
the Board and Research Committee of Jubilee Australia Research Centre; the
Advisory Committee of the Australian Water Partnership; and the Executive
Committee of the Women In International Security Australia. She is also a
Senior Research Fellow (non-resident) at the Wong MNC Center.

Pichamon has delivered over 400 keynotes, invited talks, and public lectures
on human rights, environmental governance, and Indo-Pacific politics since
2010, including at a UN Human Rights Council Session, an ASEAN Regional Forum
Workshop, and the Australian Institute of International Affairs' National
Conference. Pichamon is working with civil society and other local
partners on a series of funded initiatives that seek to support the resilience
of women leaders and environmental human rights defenders in the Asia-Pacific.

In recognition of the social impact of her work, Pichamon was awarded the 2018
Australia 'Future Leader' Prize by the Council for the Humanities, Arts and
Social Sciences, and was named a 'human rights fighter' by the 2020 Advance
Awards.

Pichamon completed her PhD and MA at the Australian National University as an
inaugural China Institute Scholar and Hedley Bull Scholar, and her BA at
Thammasat University as a King Bhumipol Scholar. In addition to native fluency
in Thai, she holds advanced language certificates in French, Japanese, Lao,
Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish, among a few others.

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY CURRENT APPOINTMENT

  • Associate Professor, Strategic Studies
    Deakin University, Centre for Future Defence and National Security

DEGREES

  • Doctor of Philosophy
    Australian National University
  • Master of Arts
    Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
  • Bachelor of Arts
    Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand

LANGUAGES

  • Thai
    Can read, write and speak
  • French
    Can read, write and speak
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
    Can read, write and speak
  • Japanese
    Can read, write and speak
  • Spanish - Latin American
    Can read, write and speak
  • Lao
    Can read and speak
  • German
    Can read
  • Sanskrit
    Can read

FIELDS OF RESEARCH (2020)

  • Political science
  • Development studies

AVAILABILITY FOR SUPERVISION

  • Masters by Research and PhD supervision

AREA/FACULTY

  • Faculty of Arts and Education

DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL/INSTITUTE

  • Centre for Future Defence and National Security

RESEARCH STRENGTHS