Dr Pichamon Yeophantong [พิชามญชุ์ เอี่ยวพานทอง; 皮查蒙·约范童] is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). She also leads the Responsible Business Lab and the Environmental Justice and Human Rights Project, and convenes the HASS Asia-Pacific Development and Security Research Group.
A political scientist and China specialist, her research focuses on Chinese foreign policy and the political economy of sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific. In addition to her multi-year project on how to better regulate Chinese investment overseas, Pichamon is a Chief Investigator working with civil society and other partners on a series of initiatives that seek to support the adaptive capacity of women leaders, environmental defenders, and the rule of law in Southeast Asia. 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.
Previously, Pichamon was a Global Leaders Fellow at University College, University of Oxford and the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance, Princeton University. She was also an ASEAN-Canada Senior Fellow at the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, Nanyang Technological University. Pichamon has held (fully-funded) visiting fellowships at a number of universities, including Peking University, China University of Political Science and Law, and National Taiwan University as an inaugural Taiwan Fellow. She has also taught at the Australian National University (ANU) and Thammasat University, among other institutions.
Currently, Pichamon is also a Senior Research Fellow (non-resident) at the Wong MNC Center; sits on the Board and Research Committee of Jubilee Australia Research Centre, and the Advisory Committee of the Australian Water Partnership; serves on Asian Perspective's and Australian Naval Review's Editorial Committees; and has been elected to the International Studies Association's Environmental Studies Section Nominations Committee.
Pichamon has conducted extensive field-based research in China and Southeast Asia. She has also served as a consultant on human rights, development and security issues to, inter alia, the Africa Progress Panel, Overseas Development Institute, and International Rivers. Since 2010, she has delivered over 100 invited talks, public lectures, and keynote presentations in more than 10 countries, including at an ASEAN Regional Forum workshop (2020), the Australian Institute of International Affairs' National Conference (2019), and the Lower Mekong Policy Forum on Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources (2017).
Her work has appeared as commissioned reports and in such publications as Asian Survey, Chinese Journal of International Politics, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Pacific Affairs, and Water International. Aside from being profiled in and providing expert commentary to various media outlets, she also contributes feature articles and op-eds to newspapers and magazines such as Australian Outlook, East Asia Forum Quarterly, The Diplomat, and Yale Global.
Pichamon completed her PhD and MA (with First-Class Honours) in Politics and International Relations at the ANU as an inaugural China Institute Scholar and Hedley Bull Scholar. In addition to native fluency in Thai, she has working proficiency and/or holds advanced language certificates in French (DALF), Japanese, Lao, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish, among a few other languages.
For her Engagement story, please click here.
Higher Degree Research (HDR) Supervision
- Ngoc Nguyen (joint PhD supervisor; completed 2021)
- Feifei Cai (primary/joint PhD supervisor)
- Eugene Simonov (primary/joint PhD supervisor)
- Ratchada Apornsilp (associate PhD supervisor, ANU)
- Xiaowei Liu (associate PhD supervisor, Jilin U)
- Marie-Alice McLean Dreyfus (primary/joint MPhil supervisor)
**Scholarships of $35,000 (AUD) are available to PhD students at UNSW Canberra who achieved a H1/High Distinction average in their UG program and/or have completed a Masters by Research. If you are interested, please contact Dr Yeophantong at p.yeophantong@adfa.edu.au
Honours / MA / CDF (Arts) / Summer Scholar Supervision
Dr Yeophantong is available for Honours and MA (by coursework) supervision, and is also happy to consider CDF (Arts) and Summer Scholarship projects. She has, since 2016, supervised 15 student projects to successful completion.
**Scholarships of $10,000 (AUD) are available to (non-Defence) Honours students at UNSW Canberra. If you are interested, please contact Dr Yeophantong at p.yeophantong@adfa.edu.au