Transnational Challenges
Invisible victims: How counter-trafficking efforts leave people with disability behind
Dao (not her real name) came to Thailand from Laos when she was 17. With her hearing impairment, she had struggled to find work in Laos. Dao’s aunt told her that she could find…
Chinese social media and the 2025 Australian federal election
In any electoral or voting cycle, misinformation and disinformation has the ability to alter the outcome of the democratic process. From January to December 2023, we conducted a…
Pacific Islands: Spillover threats from transnational organised crime
Is the Pacific prepared for a potential spillover of transnational organised crime from Southeast Asia? This question has become more pressing in recent days following two massive…
Learning to live in a world without progress
It’s hard not to like Steven Pinker. I’ve never met the celebrated cognitive psychologist and public intellectual, but he’s managed to cheer me up on occasion. Even though that’s…
Human trafficking: Harnessing technology to help those most vulnerable
If you are a person who has been trafficked, a lot of bad things will have happened to you by the time you are rescued or escape. However, for hundreds of thousands of trafficked…
Gaza and re-imagining international order
The conflict in Gaza has become the latest theatre of nightmares in an increasingly fragmented and chaotic world. The sheer horror of Hamas’ terrorist assault on southern Israel,…
Managing risk: Pandemics and plagues in the age of AI
Once a recurring scourge that blinded, scarred and killed millions, smallpox was eradicated by a painstaking public health effort that saw the last “natural” infection occur in…
Online scams in Southeast Asia create double victims: those targeted and those forced to carry them out
The job ads always sound too good to be true. Open and well-paid positions at a popular casino. Lodgings, benefits and other perks provided.
But it all ends up quite the…
The surprising link between piracy and Covid-19
The Singapore Strait is experiencing a spike in maritime piracy attacks, with the incidence increasing from 12 attacks in 2019 to 38 in 2022, and an upwards trend continuing into…
Regulating artificial intelligence: How the EU just got us closer
Last month, a draft European Union Artificial Intelligence Act was agreed in the European Parliament. Arguably, the draft Act represents the most comprehensive and radical step…