Pongphisoot (Paul) Busbarat is Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor in International Relations at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. He is also the Director of the Institute of Scurity and International Studies (ISIS Thailand). His research interests include great power competition in Southeast Asia, (especially the Mekong subregion), Thailand's foreign policy, and norms and identity in IR. Currently, Paul is working on several research projects including the study of a normative construct influencing Thailand's foreign policy choices between the United States and China, and a study of China's influence in the Mekong subregion.
Pongphisoot's publications appear in various academic and policy paper outlets, for example: "SWOT Analysis of the Position of the US and China in Thailand", ASAN Institute Report (2023); "China and Mekong regionalism." Asian Politics & Policy (2021); "Thai foreign policy in the regional power competition," The Sage Handbook in Asian Foreign Policy (2020); "Thai-US relations in the post-Cold War era," Asian Security (2017), 'Bamboo swirling in the wind," Contemporary Southeast Asia (2016).
He holds a PhD in Political Science & IR from Australian National University and postgraduate degrees from Columbia University and Cambridge University. Before embarking on the academic career, Paul also served as a policy analyst at the Office of the National Security Council of Thailand.