Associate ProfessorPichamon Yeophantong

As a political scientist and China specialist, Pichamon conducts field-based research into Chinese foreign policy and the socio-ecological impacts of Chinese investment in the developing world. She also teaches and publishes, more broadly, on business and human rights and the political economy of sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific. Her work has appeared in numerous academic and policy publications, including UN thematic reports (e.g., A/80/171 and A/HRC/56/55/Add.1), journals such as Asian Survey and Pacific Affairs, and books such as the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Global Development (Routledge 2022), China and International Theory (Routledge 2019), Perspectives on International Humanitarian Law (CUP 2019), and Rising China's Influence in Developing Asia (OUP 2016).

 

Pichamon sits on the editorial boards and committees of Pluriversal International Relations, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Security Challenges, and Asian Perspective. She has advised a range of international organisations, government agencies, think tanks, and NGOs on human rights, development, and security issues, including the Australian Water Partnership, Oxfam Asia, Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Overseas Development Institute, and the Wong MNC Center. Previously, she held academic positions at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney and Canberra), Princeton University, and the University of Oxford, having also been a visiting professor at the University of Zurich, National Taiwan University, and Peking University, among others. 

Since 2010, Pichamon has delivered over 500 keynotes, invited talks, and public lectures on human rights, environmental governance, and Indo-Pacific politics, including at the UN General Assembly, an ASEAN Regional Forum Workshop, the ASEAN-Australia Summit, and the Australian Institute of International Affairs' National Conference. In recognition of the social impact of her work with environmental human rights defenders, 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.