People
Director
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Duncan McCargo, Director Duncan McCargo is Director of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies and a professor of political science at the University of Copenhagen. A specialist in the comparative politics of Southeast Asia, he is best known as for his expertise on Thailand. Duncan previously served as Head of the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds and as President of the European Association for Southeast Asian Studies. |
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Philip Wenzel Kyhl, Assistant Director Philip Wenzel Kyhl is the Assistant Director of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies and runs the day-to-day operations at NIAS. Philip has lived and worked in China for 9 years and holds an MA in China Studies with electives in Communication and Linguistics |
Researchers
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Terese Gagnon, Postdoctoral Researcher Terese is a Postdoctoral Researcher at NIAS and the Department of Political Science in the "The Politics of Climate and Sustainability in Asia." She holds a PhD in anthropology from Syracuse University. Her dissertation is about Karen food, seed, and political sovereignty across landscapes of home and exile. She is co-editor of the book Movable Gardens: Itineraries and Sanctuaries of Memory. |
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Myunghee Lee, Postdoctoral Researcher Myunghee is the KF-NIAS Korea Fellow. Her research focuses on protest, social movement, authoritarianism, and democratization. Her postdoctoral project is a comparative study on the persistence of authoritarian legacies in South Korea and Poland. Her work appears in journals such as International Security, International Studies Review, and Politics & Gender. |
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Mai Van Tran, Postdoctoral Researcher Van is a Postdoctoral Researcher at NIAS and the Department of Political Science. She studies social movements and digital cultures under authoritarianism in Myanmar and beyond. Her Ph.D. dissertation examines the resilience of public activism under repressive regimes. Her recent analysis and commentaries on Burmese politics appeared on The Washington Post, Brookings Institution, etc. |
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Cécile Medail, Postdoctoral Researcher Cécile is a postdoctoral researcher at NIAS and the Department of Political Science. She holds a PhD in International Political Studies from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Her main research interests include democratisation, state-building and ethnic identity in Southeast Asia and Myanmar in particular. She is also an affiliate of the Myanmar Research Centre at the Australian National University. |
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Timothy Sinclair Mann, Postdoctoral Researcher Tim is a postdoctoral researcher at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. He has a longstanding interest in Indonesia, and recently completed a PhD at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, focusing on the role of activist lawyers in Indonesia after 1998. Before joining NIAS, he was Associate Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society (CILIS) at Melbourne Law School, and was the founding editor of the Indonesia at Melbourne blog. Tim also has several years of experience in the development sector, and previously worked for the Indonesia office of The Asia Foundation. His research interests are in legal mobilisation, human rights, civil society, and democratisation. |
Library & Information Centre
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Inga-Lill Blomkvist, Librarian and Web-coordinator Inga-Lill maintains the collection of electronic resources for studies and research on Asia to be found on the AsiaPortal.info and co-ordinates the NNC library cooperation around these resources. She also coordinates NIAS' websites. |
Administration
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Fakhrul Islam, IT Fakhrul maintains and develops our Asiaportal website and the NIAS library IT infrastructure, so we can all do our work. |
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Tyra Winther Orton, Student Assistant Tyra helps make everything happen at NIAS, including our events, our visiting residency programme, and our e-resources. |
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Julia Heinle, Student Assistant Julia helps make everything happen at NIAS, including our events, the visiting residency programme, and our e-resources. Julia is also currently supporting the work of NIAS Press. |
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Anders Nørland, Student Assistant Anders helps make everything happen at NIAS, including our events, the visiting residency programme, and our e-resources. |
NIAS Press
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Gerald Jackson, Editor-in-Chief Gerald creates wonderful books about Asia. His formal title does not do justice to his many talents and responsibilities. |
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Fanny Töpper, Publishing Assistant (currently on leave) Fanny helps NIAS Press create wonderful books about Asia, working on marketing, editorial and other matters. |
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Julia Heinle, Student Assistant Julia helps make everything happen at NIAS, including our events, the visiting residency programme, and our e-resources. Julia is also currently supporting the work of NIAS Press. |
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David Stuligross, Desk Editor David polishes up our books to make them even better. |
Researchers
Guest researchers
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Andreas Bøje Forsby, Guest Researcher Andreas is an international relations specialist who works on China's foreign and security policy, China’s identity and emotional assertiveness, US-China strategic rivalry, Nordic-China relations, the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula. |
Affiliated PhD students
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Lisa Lindkvist Zhang, Associated PhD Student |
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Tabita Rosendal Ebbesen, Associated PhD Student Tabita is a PhD student at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies at Lund University, Sweden, where she also lectures on China’s modern history as well as contemporary Chinese politics and society. |
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Joanne Kuai, Associated PhD Student Joanne is a PhD Candidate at Karlstad University, Sweden, with a research project on "Artificial Intelligence in Chinese Newsrooms". Her research interests centre around data and AI for media, the social implications of automation and algorithms and contemporary China. |