Khaing Min Thant

Khaing Min Thant is currently a PhD candidate at School of Humanities & Social Sciences, UNSW, Australia. His research focuses on natural resource governance (NRG) and its intersection with legitimacy and state building in Myanmar, investigating how Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) govern natural resources in contested territories and its implications for legitimacy and state building. He is currently the recipient of the Australian Government’s Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship for his PhD research.

Prior to his doctoral research, Khaing Min Thant held senior roles with international organisations including United Nations (UN) and Trócaire, managing complex humanitarian, development and peace building programs. He has extensive field experience on land rights, environmental governance, climate resilience, and civil society strengthening in fragile and conflict-affected settings, working closely with Indigenous and ethnic minority communities in Myanmar ethnic states.

Khaing Min Thant holds an MSc (Agri) in Environmental Resource Management from University College Dublin (UCD, Ireland) and a Post graduate Diploma in Development Studies from Yangon University of Economics.

His publications include peer-reviewed book chapters in Springer’s Global Encyclopaedia of Territorial Rights and policy commentary in The Diplomat among many others. He remains actively engaged in global discussions on inclusive governance, locally led development, natural resources management and state-building.

Politics and International Relations

Supervisors: Dr Morten Pedersen (Primary), Dr Gavin Mount (Secondary)