Dr Thi Phuoc Lai Nguyen is an environmental sociologist and Associate Professor in Development Governance and Policy, and currently Dean of the Faculty of Public Policy at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). She earned a PhD in Governance and Complex Systems from the University of Sassari and a Master’s in Development, Innovation and Change from the University of Bologna (Italy). Her research spans coupled human–environment systems, social epistemology, environmental intersectional inequalities, institutions and governance of socio-ecological systems, and environmental education for sustainable development. She has led/co-led numerous international projects and authored 70 publications (as of November 2025), many of which in leading journals such as Agricultural Systems, Journal of Rural Studies, Applied Geography, Environmental Science & Policy, and Environmental Research, along with book chapters and policy briefs. She serves on the editorial boards of Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio) and Gender, Technology and Development (Taylor Francis), and as Guest Editor for Discover Environment (Springer Nature).