Nguyen Hung Son is the Acting Director-General of the Institute for the South China Sea (or Bien Dong Institute for Maritime Studies) of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. Before his current designation, Nguyen Hung Son was Deputy Director-General of the Institute for Strategic Studies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. His research focused on major powers relations, regional security governance, particularly in maritime security, and Vietnam’s foreign policy. As a diplomat, Nguyen Hung Son served as Minister Counsellor of the Vietnam Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, and as Second Secretary of the Vietnam Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. He also served at the ASEAN department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during which period he extensively participated in regional summits, and had hands-on experience on many regional processes and issues involving ASEAN. He was a member of the Vietnam High-Level Task Force delegation negotiating the ASEAN Charter in 2006-2007. While he was serving as the head of the ASEAN Standing Committee division at the ASEAN department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam presided over the ASEAN Standing Committee from July 2000 to July 2001. Nguyen Hung Son got his B. A degree from the National Economic University of Vietnam, an M.Sc degree in International Economics from Birmingham University of the United Kingdom, and a PhD degree in International Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.