Ruji Auethavornpipat is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of International Relations at the Australian National University. His research examines the contestation of migrant worker rights norms in Southeast Asia. In particular, it investigates the divergence of normative meaning and application in migrant worker protection. In doing so, his work contributes to the emerging critical norm scholarship in IR. His research interests also include human trafficking and migration governance.

Ruji is committed to delivering education of highest quality. In 2019, he won the Excellence in Tutoring Award and his teaching excellence has been further recognized in several teaching award nominations (Excellence in Teaching, Excellence in Supervision and Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning Awards). His teaching covers both postgraduate and undergraduate courses such as World Politics and Introduction to International Relations. Ruji was also involved in delivering courses on International Relations in the Asia-Pacific and Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolutions.

At the height of migrant trafficking politicisation in Southeast Asia, Ruji took up the Asia Studies Fellowship at the East-West Center in Washington, DC in 2017 where he conducted research on ASEAN-US cooperation on human trafficking. This research was also supported by the Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the UK’s (ASEASUK) Research and Impact Award.

Ruji previously held visiting fellowships at the Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences, Germany; ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore; and Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Indonesia.

Ruji holds both MA and BA (Honours) degrees from the University of Victoria, Canada.

Ruji can also be found on twitter at https://twitter.com/ruji_aue.

• Migrant worker rights 
• Norm contetation
• ASEAN
• Human trafficking
• Labour migration

Migrant Worker Rights and Norm Contestation in Southeast Asia: Establishing Meaning-in-Use through Social Interaction

ASEAN Cooperation on Migrant Worker Protection

ILO Governance of Migration

Global and Regional Anti-Trafficking Regimes

Decolonizing Humanitarian Protection