Zhai Gen in a PhD student in Political Science at UCSB, with research interest in climate and ethnic politics in the Global South and Southeast Asia, including in the political economy of energy transition policies. His other research interests include the socio-political and economic impact of technologgy and the digital economy in Malaysia, and food security in Southeast Asia. He is also a Fulbright Foreign Student Program scholar from Malaysia. He was previously the founding Assistant Director of Research for the Asia School of Business, and public policy researcher advising the government of Malaysia.