Dr Helena Varkkey is an Associate Professor of Political Ecology at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya. Her areas of expertise include the politics and governance of transboundary haze in Southeast Asia, palm oil sustainability, and climate change.

Her monograph on “The Haze Problem in Southeast Asia: Palm Oil and Politics” was published by Routledge in 2016. Her latest book is an edited collection on “Governing the Palm Oil Industry: Perspectives from Southeast Asia and Latin America”, also published by Routledge in 2025. She has published in top journals in her field, including Global Environmental Politics, Global Change Biology, Political Geography, and Environmental Policy and Governance.

She currently holds the Prince Claus Chair in Equity and Development 2025-2027 at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Other notable achievements include a Fellowship with the Indo-Pacific Leadership Lab 2024-2025 at the East-West Centre in Hawai’i, and winner of the ACUM (Anugerah Cemerlang Universiti Malaya) 2023 Excellent Young Researcher Award for Humanities and Social Sciences.

Dr Helena has edited and produced reports for the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, UNICEF, and the ASEAN Secretariat, among others. She has almost two decades of experience in qualitative research, including conducting fieldwork, interviews, and focus groups among various government and non-government stakeholders, and has built up extensive research networks across Southeast Asia. She was also part of the team that created Bite-Size Climate Action, a series of fun, flexible, and immersive short modules on climate action designed to inspire Malaysian youth to act for the climate.

Dr Helena served as Deputy Dean of Research an Innovation at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences UM from 2022 to 2026. She was co-chair of the Universiti Malaya Climate Change Committee 2023-2025 and co-led the first UM delegation to COP28 in UAE. She also served as Deputy Director at the Asia Europe Institute UM from 2015-2016.