About the Speakers

Dr Pichamon Yeophantong

Dr Pichamon Yeophantong is an Australian Research Council Fellow and Senior Lecturer (Associate Prof) in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Previously, she was a Global Leaders Fellow at University College, Oxford University and the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance, Princeton University, as well as an ASEAN-Canada Senior Fellow at the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, Nanyang Technological University. Pichamon has conducted extensive fieldwork in China and Southeast Asia, having also served as a consultant to the Africa Progress Panel and Overseas Development Institute, among others. Her work on Chinese foreign policy and geoeconomic strategy has appeared in such publications as Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, Chinese Journal of International Politics, and Water International. She is also a recipient of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences’ Australia ‘Future Leader’ Prize. Pichamon completed her PhD in Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University as an inaugural China Institute Scholar.

Dr. Jikon Lai

Dr. Jikon Lai is Assistant Professor in the International Political Economy Programme of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University. Jikon’s research interests lie at the intersection of international and comparative political economies, and international relations. His work examines how state, business and societal actors create, reproduce and sustain finance and the financial sector. Dr. Lai’s research output has been published in Review of International Political Economy, New Political Economy, Journal of the Asia-Pacific Economy, Asia Europe Journal and the Australian Journal of Public Administration. He is also author of a book – Financial Crisis and Institutional Change in East Asia – published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012. He also contributes to wider popular debate through various commentary pieces. Dr. Lai received his doctoral degree from the Department of International Relations in the College of Asia & the Pacific at The Australian National University. He had previously studied at the University of Oxford where he obtained an M.Phil. in International Relations; and the London School of Economics and Political Science, finishing with a B.Sc. in Economics (First Class).

Dr Daniel Biró

Dr Daniel Biró is a Lecturer (Asst Prof) in Global Politics in the Justice and Society Unit at the University of South Australia. Trained as a political scientist, he has a PhD in Politics and International Relations from the Australian National University, an MA in International Relations and European Studies from the Central European University, and an MScEcon in Strategic Studies from University of Wales, Aberywtsyth. His research interests include the theory and practice of “state-building” in world politics, in particular the role of non-state armed groups; the issue of marginalisation in global politics, with a focus on the agency of the so-called “rogue states”; and grand strategy and middle powers.

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