Izyan Hay

Izyan Hay

Izyan Hay was a final year student of International Relations at King’s College London when she undertook a summer research attachment at the EAIR Caucus in 2017. Izyan’s regional focus is Southeast Asia, with a particular interest in the foreign policy responses of Southeast Asian states with regards to China, vis-a-vis strategic issues such as the South China Sea and the Belt and Road Initiative. Further areas of interest include non-traditional security issues such as migration, human rights, and terrorism in Southeast Asia. Over the course of Summer 2017, Izyan conducted research with Dr. Kuik Cheng-Chwee at the National University of Malaysia (UKM), focusing on areas that include small-state hedging behaviour and the geopolitics of China’s infrastructure investment in Southeast Asia. She also contributed to the content development of the EAIR Caucus website. Izyan graduated from King’s College London with a First Class Honours, and after a year of working in both government and private-sector political organisations, Izyan pursued a Masters degree in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, sponsored by the Yayasan Khazanah scholarship program.

Currently, Izyan is supporting Dr Kuik Cheng-Chwee with research assistance on a South China Sea research project led by University Malaysia Sabah, on top of conducting an internship with the United Nations Population Fund, and volunteer work at NGOHub Asia.