Research at the School of Politics, International Relations and Economics (SPIRE)
The School’s dedicated team conducts impactful research in geopolitics, global governance, diplomacy, public policy, and diverse areas of economics—including behavioural, energy, development, and international economics. Through global partnerships and active knowledge exchange, students gain access to collaborative research networks and real-world insights that enrich their academic experience.
Our primary research clusters include:
Foreign Relations of Southeast Asia
Politics and International Relations primarily analyses Southeast Asia’s foreign relations and geopolitics. The focus areas include studying Southeast Asia’s position within the strategic dynamics of the Indo-Pacific, evaluating ASEAN’s role as a key player in regional geopolitics, and examining the foreign politics of individual Southeast Asian states with a focus on Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Myanmar.
Cluster Members
Dr Abdillah Noh
Dr Abdillah Noh’s interest lies in the area of institutions and institutional change which has led him to explore issues on public policy, political economy, politics and international relations. He has published in Electoral Studies, Contemporary Politics, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Journal of Policy History, among others. He has written two books, the first on state formation and another on issues in public policy and administration. He is currently working on another book manuscript on political change in Southeast Asia.
Subfields: Institutions, public policy, political economy, regional politics
Dr Ho Ying Chan
Dr Ho Ying Chan’s research focuses on Malaysian national identity and Malaysia's bilateral relations with Indonesia and Singapore. Dr Ho’s research on Malaysia’s bilateral relations with Indonesia and Singapore falls within the Foreign Relations of Southeast Asia research cluster as relations between the three countries are being viewed as the security core of Southeast Asia, and bilateral relations among ASEAN member states form the foundation of ASEAN as a multilateral institution.
Subfields: Regional security, regional integration, ASEAN politics
Dr Karma Tashi Choedron
Dr Karma Tashi Choedron’s research adopts an intersectional lens to examine how international development policies impact marginalized and indigenous communities in Southeast Asia. Dr Karma focuses on modern-day slavery, gender disparities, and environmental ethics, exploring how socio-political structures and cultural histories shape lived experiences and justice outcomes across the region. This work contributes to broader debates on decolonial development and the reimagining of justice in postcolonial Southeast Asian contexts.
Subfields: International development, sustainability, human rights, gender equality
Dr Nur Rafeeda Daut
Dr. Nur Daut explores the complexities of national, regional, religious, and ethnic identity struggles. Dr Nur’s research focuses on how contestations shape foreign and security policies. She specializes in Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and Myanmar. These countries offer a range of compelling cases for analysis – such as Islamisation in Malaysia as well the persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar – all of which have broader implications for foreign and security policy at the international level, particularly in areas like refugees and human rights.
Subfields: Domestic security, ethnic politics, human rights
The History, Politics and Cultures of Southeast Asian Societies
The School also has expertise in studying the history and domestic politics/cultures of Southeast Asia, whether as a region or through the lens of the individual states comprising it. This research cluster explores, amongst others, how ASEAN tackles region-specific matters and assesses the political dynamics within individual member states through various lenses including history, comparative politics, political economy, environmental politics, migration, human rights and sociology.
Cluster Members
Dr Akiko Sugiyama
Dr. Akiko Sugiyama’s research explores statecraft, empires and nationalism in Southeast Asia through historical and comparative lenses. Her current projects examine the role of family in Indonesian nationalism and the cultural politics of empire-building, with a particular focus on the transregional circulation of European opera as a case study.
Subfields: Statecraft, colonialism, nationalism
Dr Ho Ying Chan
Dr Ho Ying Chan’s research on Malaysian national identity falls within the History, Politics and Culture of Southeast Asian Societies research cluster as Malaysian national identity constitutes a key political force in Malaysia, which has direct impacts on the dynamics of ASEAN owing to the fact that Malaysia is a key member of the regional organization.
Subfields: Identity politics
Dr Nur Rafeeda Daut
Dr. Nur Daut’s research explores the intersections of history, politics, and culture in Malaysia and Myanmar. She is particularly interested in the complex struggles surrounding ethnic, national, and religious identities. Both Malaysia and Myanmar offer rich case studies for this analysis—for example, the processes of Islamisation and ethnic nationalism in Malaysia, as well as Buddhist nationalism and the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar.
Subfields: Ethnic and identity politics, nationalism, Islamisation
Dr Tricia Yeoh
Dr Tricia Yeoh’s research focuses on three broad areas covering federalism, federal-state relations and subnational politics; political parties and party institutionalisation; and institutional reform and public policy. She is interested in the political economy and domestic politics of Malaysia at both the federal and state government levels, examining the relationship and dynamics between political parties, institutions, and society. Her research aims to bridge the gaps between the academic fields of federalism, comparative politics and public administration, arguing that findings from each provide valuable contributions that deeply inform the other. She believes that the study of politics in post-authoritarian Malaysia is especially meaningful, with important lessons for Southeast Asian countries and beyond currently grappling with variations of democratisation and authoritarianism.
Subfields: Federalism, domestic politics, comparative politics, political institutions and institutionalism
Infrastructure Politics
This research cluster focuses on the growing field of infrastructure financing, which has become a global strategic priority since the advent of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). With the emergence of competing initiatives like the G7’s ‘Build Back Better’ initiative and the European Union’s ‘Global Gateway’, our research assesses the economic statecraft and geopolitical considerations of these diverse infrastructure endeavours.
Cluster Members
Dr Benjamin Barton
Dr Benjamin Barton’s research investigates the relationship between Chinese infrastructure financing and the other associate goals of Chinese foreign policy, such as its diplomacy towards the Global South and the formulation of its security policies as tailored to specific regions of the world. Dr Barton has mostly published, in this regard, on China’s dealings with actors on the African continent and Indian Ocean Region.
Subfields: Political economy, economic statecraft, diplomacy, international Security.
Dr Karma Tashi Choedron
Dr Karma Tashi Choedron’s research examines how infrastructure development intersects with social justice, environmental ethics, and the rights of marginalized communities in Southeast Asia. Dr Karma explores the implications of large-scale development projects – such as plantations, industrial zones, and resource extraction – on indigenous land rights, labour exploitation, and ecological sustainability. Through an intersectional lens, Dr Karma’s work highlights how infrastructure initiatives can reinforce or challenge systems of modern-day slavery, gender inequality, and environmental degradation.
Subfields: International development, sustainability, human rights, gender equality
Macro and International Economics
This research cluster explores fiscal and monetary policy design, the impact of historical and institutional factors on growth, international trade dynamics—including firm-level activities and trade policy—and tourism economics, with a focus on sustainable development and bilateral tourism flows.
Cluster Members
Dr Wing Leong Teo
Most of Wing Leong’s research involves the use of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models to evaluate the nature of business cycles, inflation dynamics, asset price dynamics, as well as the optimal design of monetary and fiscal policies in both closed economy and open economy settings. Wing Leong also evaluates how international trade affects economic growth and development.
Subfields: Monetary Economics and International Finance
Dr Luke Okafor
Dr Luke Okafor’s research focuses on the intersection of international trade, digital transformation, tourism economics, development process, energy economics, education economics, and industrial organisation with a specific focus on how firms and industries respond to globalisation and shocks. He also investigates the links between energy poverty and socio-economic outcomes, climate change and growth, renewable energy, and socio-economic outcomes as well as COVID-19 effects on firms, industries, and economies.
Subfields: International Economics, Tourism Economics, Energy Economics, Industrial Economics, Applied Economics, and Education Economics
Dr Mahmood Ur-Rahman
Mahmood is interested in a wide range of topics such as macroeconomics, international economics, development economics, monetary economics, energy economics, and financial economics. So far, he has focused particularly on issues that relate to macroeconomic policy effectiveness, macroeconomic response to positive and negative shocks, influence of financial development on economic growth and development, and how financial literacy contributes to this process. Recently, considering the significance of energy transition, he is concentrating more on energy economics-related topics like government intervention and policies to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption, the role of technological innovation, and economic incentives in energy transition, etc.
Subfields: Financial Economics, Development Economics, Monetary Economics, International Economics, Energy Economics
Energy and Sustainability
The Energy and Sustainability research cluster advances sustainable development through cutting-edge research and collaborative partnerships with academic institutions, policymakers, NGOs, and industry. Key focus areas include energy and emissions modelling, natural resource economics, environmental policy, cleaner production, energy efficiency, and the socio-economic impacts of energy poverty.
Cluster Members
Dr Luke Okafor
Dr Luke Okafor’s research focuses on the intersection of international trade, digital transformation, tourism economics, development process, energy economics, education economics, and industrial organisation with a specific focus on how firms and industries respond to globalisation and shocks. He also investigates the links between energy poverty and socio-economic outcomes, climate change and growth, renewable energy, and socio-economic outcomes as well as COVID-19 effects on firms, industries, and economies.
Subfields: International Economics, Tourism Economics, Energy Economics, Industrial Economics, Applied Economics, and Education Economics
Dr Mahmood Ur-Rahman
Mahmood is interested in a wide range of topics such as macroeconomics, international economics, development economics, monetary economics, energy economics, and financial economics. So far, he has focused particularly on issues that relate to macroeconomic policy effectiveness, macroeconomic response to positive and negative shocks, influence of financial development on economic growth and development, and how financial literacy contributes to this process. Recently, considering the significance of energy transition, he is concentrating more on energy economics-related topics like government intervention and policies to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption, the role of technological innovation, and economic incentives in energy transition, etc.
Subfields: Financial Economics, Development Economics, Monetary Economics, International Economics, Energy Economics
Development and Behavioural Economics
This research cluster investigates how micro- and macroeconomic factors influence economic and social outcomes in developing countries. Key focus areas include household, firm, and government decision-making, the impact of development policies, labour market dynamics, and the transformation of work due to automation and digital technologies.
Cluster Members
Dr Siew Yee Lau
Siew Yee’s research focuses on both micro and macro development topics, intricately linked with various other economic fields. She examines how social programmes, personal attributes, behaviour, and government policies affect different units within the economy. Her recent work is on topics related to microfinance, healthcare costs, and the behavioural aspects of risk assessment. Looking ahead, she is interested to delve into issues related to smallholder farming, tax compliance, and the elderly population in developing countries.
Subfields: Development Economics, Applied Microeconomics, Behavioural Economics
Dr Rasyad Parinduri
Rasyad does research in labour economics, industrial organisation, and development economics using applied micro-econometrics: He examines how policies and market changes affect development, competition, labour outcomes, and trade. In a working paper, for example, he investigates whether having English as the medium of instruction affects labour outcomes later in life. In another, he examines whether land tenure security improves farmers' productivity.
Subfields: Labour Economics and Industrial Organisation
Dr Saizi Xiao
Saizi’s research pursuits span a diverse range of topics within the field of economics, encompassing development economics (e.g. temporary basic income, industry sustainability), labour market dynamics (e.g. returns to education), and gender studies (e.g. gender inequality) related themes within the context of East Asia and Southeast Asia. Her expertise extends to intricate analyses of micro-level economic patterns, utilizing advanced econometric techniques. Additionally, she explores the transformative impact of the digital economy on various socioeconomic aspects such as individual’s consumption behaviour and financial wellbeing.
Subfields: Development Economics, Labour Economics, Digital Economy
Dr Mahmood Ur-Rahman
Mahmood is interested in a wide range of topics such as macroeconomics, international economics, development economics, monetary economics, energy economics, and financial economics. So far, he has focused particularly on issues that relate to macroeconomic policy effectiveness, macroeconomic response to positive and negative shocks, influence of financial development on economic growth and development, and how financial literacy contributes to this process. Recently, considering the significance of energy transition, he is concentrating more on energy economics-related topics like government intervention and policies to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption, the role of technological innovation, and economic incentives in energy transition, etc.
Subfields: Financial Economics, Development Economics, Monetary Economics, International Economics, Energy Economics
Pek Kim Ng
Pek Kim is interested in understanding the relationship between the mind-body connection and its impact on mental health and overall well-being. She is particularly curious about how psychological and emotional states influence decision-making, productivity, and broader economic outcomes.
As she develops her research skills, she is exploring interdisciplinary approaches that bridge economics, behavioural science, and health studies. She is eager to investigate the role of mindfulness, stress management, and holistic wellness in shaping labour markets, financial choices, and socioeconomic stability.
Subfields: Behavioural Economics, Health Economics, Development Economics