Internships at the RSO

Meg Fitzgerald interned with the RSO Transnational Crime and Technology Programme from July 2023 to April 2024 supported by her 2022 New Colombo Plan Scholarship, an Australian Government initiative that supports scholars for 19 months to study, intern, and learn a language in the Indo-Pacific.

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Sopheakneat joined the RSO as an intern under the Communications and Engagement team in February 2024. Sopheakneat supports the organization of meetings, roundtables, and other events led by the RSO. He also assists the RSO team in tracking the latest developments and trends regarding the issues of trafficking in persons, people smuggling, and related transnational crimes.

Currently, Sopheakneat is a 4th year scholarship student majoring in Social Policy and Development at Thammasat University, Thailand. His fields of interest include welfare development, migration, digital governance, and human rights.

Recommended book: Governing Asia; Reflection on a Research Journey. The core theme of this book is governance in Asia and what its governments and peoples are doing for the public good. As Asia rises, its policymakers and citizens, and indeed the rest of the world, are increasingly asking how this dynamic region is making public policy, what we can learn from, and how Asia can do better.

Sophie is in her fourth year of a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Government & International Relations at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. She is currently living in Bangkok under the New Colombo Plan Scholarship—an Australian Government initiative which supports undergraduate students to live, study and intern in the Indo-Pacific region.

Sophie joined the RSO as an intern under the Transnational Crime and Technology team in August 2024, supporting the planning and completion of the team’s events, research, and other activities. Her fields of interests include international human and child rights law, modern slavery, trafficking in persons, and international politics. She hopes to work as an international lawyer to advocate for the rights of people who are silenced and oppressed.

Recommended Book: No Friend But the Mountains, Behrouz Boochani

Kurdish-Iranian journalist and refugee, Behrouz Boochani, wrote this poignant book on a mobile phone while being held in detention on Manus Island, smuggling the story out of his detention via WhatsApp. It tells the story of Boochani’s asylum journey—from persecution in Iran, to years of detention on Manus Island.

This life-changing book reminds us that when we talk about refugees, asylum seekers, and challenges faced by countries in regulating migration and people smuggling, we are talking about people. Humans. In the face of these challenges, it is easy to get caught up in politics, logistics and practicalities. This book strips all of that away and exposes the raw emotions and experiences of detainees. The vivid poetry and prose makes the reader experience these emotions as if it were their own—a stark reminder of our common humanity in an age of heightened division.

 Email: Sophie.nakamura@rso.baliprocess.net 

Currently, Sarawut is a 4th year student majoring in International Relations and Global Affairs at Mahidol University International College, Thailand. Sarawut joined the RSO as an intern under the Communications and Engagement team in late April 2024. Sarawut supports the RSO Communications & Engagement team in making summaries of RSO activities, sending invitations, and updating news and trends around trafficking in persons, people smuggling, and related transnational crimes. His fields of interest include human rights, migration, politics, and International Relations.   

Recommended book: Human Trafficking in Thailand: Current Issues, Trends, and the Role of the Thai Government.

This book addresses the reality of human trafficking in Thailand, dissecting studies, presenting facts, and dismissing stereotypes. It focuses on the areas of fishing, agriculture, domestic work, sex work, and the trafficking of children, weaving individual narratives and official studies into the wider history of Thailand’s changing economy and labor situation. It also details how the Thai government has addressed the issue, reflects on the roots of human exploitation, and suggests a way forward. 

Email: sarawut.pongsuwan@rso.baliprocess.net 

 

Aurellus is finishing his studies at Mahidol University International College in International Relations and Global Affairs and is currently interning at the RSO under the Communications and Engagement team.  Aurellus has acquired a multitude of work experience from education and private sectors, he now hopes to apply the knowledge he has gained into the non-profit and the governmental sphere. Aurellus took interest in human rights and humanitarianism over the course of his studies and is very excited to have joined aboard the RSO.

Recommended books: Neil Gaiman’s Anansi’s Boys and Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k.

Anansi’s Boys stimulates the imagination of the mind. While Mark Manson’s book allows the reader to understand the world through a realistic lens.

Email: aurelluswilliam11@gmail.com

Jasmine is in her fourth year of a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of International Relations and Politics at the University of Canberra in Australia. She has recently completed a trimester of study at Mahidol University in Thailand as part of her New Colombo Plan scholarship program, which is an Australian Government initiative that supports undergraduate students to live, study and intern in the Indo-Pacific region. She will be interning under the Transnational Crime and Technology team for 6 months and will support the team with the planning and completion of events, research, and other activities during this time.

Her fields of interest are international human and child rights law as well as international environmental law and she wishes to work in these areas once completing her studies. She is particularly interested in learning about how policy can be developed and used to advocate for women and children from marginalised communities who are some of the most vulnerable demographics for human trafficking. Gaining a better understanding of how international diplomacy, stakeholder negotiations and international law are applied in the context of transnational crime and technology are some of the things she looks forward to whilst interning with the RSO.

Recommended Book: Blood and Earth: Modern Slavery, Ecocide, and the Secret to Saving the World, Kevin Bales

The book explores the link between modern-day slavery and environmental destruction, revealing how the exploitation of people in lawless regions also devastates the planet. Through his research, Bales shows how global supply chains, from cellphones to shrimp, are connected to both human trafficking and environmental harm.

Email: jasmine.glasser@rso.baliprocess.net

Xin Yi is from Taiwan and has recently finished her master's studies in International and Security Politics at the European School of Political and Social Science (ESPOL) in Lille, France. She joined the RSO as an intern under both the Border and Migration Management team and the Transnational Crime and Technology team for six months in the beginning of January 2025. Her field of interest is human rights, refugees and asylum seekers, and global migration issues, particularly the migration dynamics in the Southeast Asia, which led to her interest in interning at the RSO. Before she started her internship here, she interned at a policy-focused think tank in Taiwan and a Japanese humanitarian NGO.

Recommended Book: Legitimising Rejection: International Refugee Law in Southeast Asia, Sara E. Davies

This book discusses the relationship of the international refugee law and the Southeast Asian countries from a different perspective. Given the fact that most of the Southeast Asian countries are not party to the international refugee law, there are a lot of existing literature trying to explain this phenomenon. Sara E. Davies's book points out the importance of looking at how states relate to law and how law shapes behavior by enabling and constraining certain types of action.

Email: xin.yi.huang@rso.baliprocess.net

Ann has extensive experience working with marginalised communities within the fields of disability studies, inclusion, and Indigenous education. Professionally trained as a special needs practitioner, Ann is deeply passionate about social justice research that amplifies the voices and lived experiences of minoritised groups, including individuals with profound disabilities, displaced persons, and ethnic communities.

Currently, through an internship with the RSO, she supports the organisation’s efforts to address Irregular Migration and Regional Priorities, focusing on areas such as irregular migration research and inclusive civil registration systems, among others.

Recommendation book: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl – This timeless book, chronicling Frankl’s  experience in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, explores the human condition through suffering, desperation, and the remarkable capacity for hope and strength. Quoting one of the most famous lines from the book: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Several decades later, Frankl’s reflections continue to inspire on how people can find meaning and purpose even in the most unlikely places and moments.

Email: ann.dela.torre@rso.baliprocess.net

Praethong is currently in her fourth year, majoring in International Relations and Global Affairs at Mahidol University International College, Thailand. Praethong joined the RSO as an intern under the Irregular Migration and Regional Priorities team in mid-September 2024. She supports the team in research, events, and other activities. Her fields of interest include transnational crimes, human rights, climate change, and international politics.

Recommended Book: Transnational Crime and the 21st Century: Criminal Enterprise, Corruption, and Opportunity, Jay Albanese

The book offers a broad overview of the nature of transnational crime, methods of transnational criminal networks operating in various forms such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, counterfeiting, and cybercrime, and how globalization has created new opportunities for criminal organizations. It also discusses the efforts of international
institutions to combat these crimes and the challenges in doing so.

Email: Praethong.napanaruemit@rso.baliprocess.net