Dr Kien Nguyen-Trung

Kien Nguyen-Trung holds a Bachelor in Sociology from Vietnam National University, a Master of Arts from Flinders University and a PhD from Monash University. Kien has held research and teaching positions at Western Sydney University, Monash University, Institute of Development Studies and Assistance (IDSA), Flinders University. Kien has taught and provided guest lectures at institutions including Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Ton Duc Thang University, Vietnam National University, and designed and delivered training in qualitative research methods in development contexts for several consulting firms. His passion for research methods led him to the foundation of the Vietnam Social Research Methodology network that promotes the learning and application of social research methods among Vietnamese scholars.

His consulting projects with different donors, such as UN Women, the World Bank, or IFC, CARE International,Oxfam, AusAID, the Government of Vietnam’s agencies, the Scanlon Foundation, and Australia’s Disability Royal Commission, have allowed him to work across various topics, including disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, behaviour change communication, environmental sustainability, vulnerability, sustainable livelihood, and gender inequality, and accumulate rich experience in doing literature review, stakeholder engagement, participatory and qualitative methods. He is passionate about using these lenses and approaches to explore behaviour changes and create positive real-life impacts via his position at BehaviourWorks Australia. His recent publications focus on understanding the role of social capital in disaster recovery, the social construction of vulnerability, and the environmental justice movement inVietnam and Australia.

Kien is a member of the Australian Sociological Association (TASA) and a regular reviewer for various journals such as Sociological Research Online, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Journal of Rural and Community Development, Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science.