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 Environmental Justice and Human Rights Project, and convenes the Asia-Pacific Development and Security Research Group at HASS.
A political scientist and China specialist by training, her research focuses on Chinese foreign policy and the political economy of sustainable development (including resource conflict and energy transitions) in the Asia-Pacific. In addition to her ARC-funded project on how to better regulate Chinese resource and infrastructure investment overseas, Pichamon is a Chief Investigator on three other projects that collectively seek to enhance the resilience of women leaders and environmental defenders, together with the adaptive capacity of social and environmental regulations, in Southeast Asia. In 2018, Pichamon was awarded the CHASS Australia 'Future Leader' Prize by the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and was named a 'human rights fighter' and finalist for the 2020 Advance Awards.
Prior to joining UNSW, Pichamon was a Global Leaders Fellow at University College, Oxford University 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, she is a Senior Research Fellow (non-resident) at the Wong MNC Center; sits on Jubilee Australia's Research Committee as well as Asian Perspective's Editorial Committee; and serves on the International Studies Association's Committee on the Status of Engagement with the Global South.
Pichamon has conducted extensive fieldwork in China and Southeast Asia, having served as a consultant 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
- Feifei Cai (primary/joint PhD supervisor)
- Ngoc Nguyen (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, 'China and Global Governance' (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