As of 1 September 2025, Dr Helena Binti Muhamad Varkkey will formally start the Prince Claus Chair in Equity and Development at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus university Rotterdam (ISS) on Transboundary haze governance in Southeast Asia.
She will hold this position for two years, until 1 September 2027. In addition, she will continue to work at Universiti Malaya, Malaysia.
Dr Varkkey will be a part of the project Water, Securitization Anxieties and Border Imaginaries (WASABI). The project aims to compare the lived experiences and imaginaries of those crossing and living in securitized water borders in Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean region, Central America, Eastern Mediterranean, the Southern Caucasus and the Sulu Sea in the Philippines
The Prince Claus Chair in Equity and Development is a chair that is held alternately by Utrecht University and ISS. Exceptionally promising academics from low- and middle-income countries are eligible for this position. Both institutions use the Chair to advance research and education in the field of equity and international development, in line with the ideas and work of the late Prince Claus.
Professor Bert Koenders is the chair of the Curatorium of the Prince Claus Chair. Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands is the patron of the Prince Claus Chair
About Dr Helena Varkkey
Dr Helena Varkkey is an Associate Professor of Environmental Politics at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya. Her areas of expertise include transboundary haze governance in Southeast Asia and global palm oil politics.
Her monograph on 'The Haze Problem in Southeast Asia: Palm Oil and Politics' was published by Routledge in 2016. Her latest book is a collection of essays on the politics of haze and the environment in Southeast Asia called 'The Forests for the Palms' published by ISEAS Singapore in 2021.
Dr Helena Varrkey 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 in countries across ASEAN.
She has edited and produced reports for the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, UNICEF, and the ASEAN Secretariat.
