Mr. Christopher Chen is an Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

He obtained a Master of International Relations and a Bachelor of Arts (Media & Communication and Politics & International Studies) from the University of Melbourne (UniMelb), Australia. He currently specialises in the area of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. His research interests include HADR in the Asia-Pacific; institutional memory; human rights in Asia; forced migration; politics and conflicts in the Asia-Pacific.

Prior to joining the Centre, he served an internship with the International Detention Coalition (IDC) in Melbourne where he was tasked to produce advocacy communications materials and periodic insights. He also produced a briefing paper to assist the IDC in developing its strategy for engagement with ASEAN on the issue of child immigration detention and on promoting alternatives to detention.

• HADR Landscape in the Asia-Pacific; Institutional Memory
• Human Rights in Asia
• Forced Migration
• Politics & Conflicts in the Asia-Pacific
• Humanitarian Technology

• Member of External Advisory Panel for Strategic Evaluation of WFP’s Use of Technologies in Constrained Environments (2020 – 2022)

Policy Reports

• Converging Humanitarian Risks in the Indo-Pacific

  18 May, 2022

• Disaster Governance in the Asia-Pacific: Future Pathways for South and Southeast Asia

  16 August, 2021

• Disaster Governance in the Southwest Pacific: Perspectives, Challenges, and Future Pathways for ASEAN

  29 November, 2019

Commentaries

• Global Health Security - COVID-19: Private Sector’s Role in Times of Crisis

  26 March, 2020

• Humanitarian Action: Southeast Asia’s Local Turn

  06 December, 2019

• Humanitarian Technology: Taking the ‘Human’ out of Humanitarianism?

  05 August, 2019

• CO18163 | New Trends in Humanitarian Assistance - The Private Turn in Humanitarian Aid

  05 October, 2018

• CO18162 | New Trends in Humanitarian Assistance - Blockchain for Humanitarian Aid: Problem or Panacea?

  04 October, 2018

• CO17234 | Humanitarian Action - Power of the Crowd: Collective Voices in HADR

  13 December, 2017

• CO17192 | Improving Disaster Response: Role of Knowledge Sharing

  13 October, 2017

Commemorative / Event Reports

• ASEAN Strategic Policy Dialogue On Disaster Management (SPDDM) 2021

  15 November, 2021

• World Humanitarian Day: Voices from the Field

  21 November, 2017

NTS Insight

• Humanitarian Assistance in the Asia-Pacific during COVID-19

  31 August, 2020

• Water Security in Southeast Asia: Regional, National, and Sub-national Challenges

  05 May, 2020

• Simultaneous Disasters in Southeast Asia: Is Risk Outpacing Resilience?

  10 October, 2018

IDSS Paper

• IP22018 | Humanitarian Technology: No Excuse for Complacency

  23 March, 2022

• IP21023 | Future-ready Humanitarian Action: Strategic Resilience in a Post-Covid World

  16 December, 2021

• IP21009 | Greening Security: The Military as a Climate Game Changer

  27 October, 2021

Journal Articles

• “Re-imagining the global humanitarian system: Emerging dynamics in the Asia-Pacific” (with Mely Caballero-Anthony, and Alistair D. B. Cook) in International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol. 56, 2021
• “Knowledge management and humanitarian organisations in the Asia-Pacific: Practices, challenges, and future pathways” (with Mely Caballero-Anthony, and Alistair D. B. Cook) in International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol. 53, 2020
• “Disaster governance and prospects of inter-regional partnership in the Asia-Pacific” (with Alistair D. B. Cook) in The Pacific Review, DOI: 10.1080/09512748.2020.1841823, 2020

Edited Books / Special Issues

• ASEAN Disaster Resilience Outlook – Preparing for a Future Beyond 2025 (with Alistair D. B. Cook, Lina Gong, and S. Nanthini), Eds. Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat, 2021

Chapters in Edited Books

• “Military Humanitarianism in the Asia-Pacific” in Alistair D. B. Cook and Lina Gong (eds.), Humanitarianism in the Asia-Pacific: Engaging the Debate in Policy and Practice. Singapore: Springer, 2021, pp 59-65
• “Humanitarian Technology: What’s in a Name?” in Alistair D B Cook and Tamara Nair (Eds.), Non-Traditional Security in the Asia-Pacific: A Decade of Perspectives. Singapore: World Scientific, 2021, pp. 205-210
• “Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response” (with Margareth Sembiring, and Foo Yen Ne) in Mely Caballero-Anthony and Lina Gong (Eds.), Non-Traditional Security Issues in ASEAN: Agendas for Action. Singapore: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, 2020,

Op-Eds

• “Partnerships a Pathway for Mekong’s Water Security”, 360info, 28 February 2022
• “Is ASEAN Ready for the Disasters of Tomorrow?” (with Alistair D. B. Cook), THE DIPLOMAT, 8 October 2021
• “The Future is Now: Artificial Intelligence and Anticipatory Humanitarian Action”, The Humanitarian Law & Policy Blog , 19 August 2021
• “State Responses to the Refugee Situation during COVID-19: Rohingyas in Myanmar and Bangladesh” (with S. Nanthini), COVID-19 Impacts on Immigration Detention: Global Responses, 26 October 2020
• “Establishing humanitarian lanes during COVID-19” (with Alistair D. B. Cook), East Asia Forum, 30 June 2020