Ivy Kwek

Ms. Ivy Kwek  is the Research Director for Research for Social Advancement (REFSA), a progressive, not-for-profit think-tank in Malaysia; and concurrently a Visiting Scholar at the Center of Southeast Asian Studies, National Chengchi University of Taiwan. Prior to this, she was the Special Functions Officer to the Deputy Minister of Defence of Malaysia, Sen. Liew Chin Tong (2018-2020), in which she advised the Deputy Minister on policy matters, and was involved in the drafting of the first Malaysian Defence White Paper.

She also has experience working in various policy advisory and governmental affairs roles for international organizations and in diplomatic circle, including the United Nations Development Programme (2012-2013) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (2015-2017), and in the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur (2017-2018).

She holds a MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London and was an alumna of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Professional Fellows Program by the US Department of State. She is also a co-founder of Projek Pertiwi, a blog dedicated to raising awareness on defence and security issues among Malaysian youth, and have commented and published on current affairs on various media outlets including South China Morning Post, AstroAwani, BFM 89.9, Malaysiakini, The Malay Mail, The Interpreter, FES Asia, China Daily, The Diplomat, and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI).