A/Prof. Pichamon Yeophantong

Dr Pichamon Yeophantong is Head of Research and Associate Professor at the Centre for Future Defence and National Security, Deakin University at the Australian War College. 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 currently 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.