Dr Anh Ngoc Vu is an environmental social scientist bringing expertise in development studies, political science, anthropology and geography. She also has a wide-ranging practitioner background in policy relevant research and community building, with over 15 years of experience working with multilateral/bilateral donors, governments, and inter/national NGOs. She has advised, taught, won bids, led extensive consultancies and commissioned research on social transformation, civil society, and state-society relations in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. She has researched and published on environmentalism, environmental governance, geopolitics of conservation, land conflicts, forest politics, and state-society relations in Southeast Asian contexts.

Before the post in Newcastle University, Dr Anh Vu worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield, where she combined the lenses of environmental politics, political ecology, culture and race, to examine the dynamics and intricacies of varieties of environmentalism as well as the role of culture, religion and customary management institutions in addressing environmental conflicts in Vietnam. 

Dr Anh Vu's academic research track record centres on the connections between environmental change, risks, vulnerabilities, and human wellbeing, mainly in the South and Southeast Asian contexts. 

Currently Dr Anh Vu works in the GCRF Living Deltas Hub, where she researches on climate change response, low-carbon energy transition, agrarian struggles, SDGs and delta sustainability. Her research retains a strong link with the worlds of practice and policy and she has collaborated with various government agencies, international and bilateral organisations and national NGOs for the past 15 years. 

Before the post in Newcastle University, Dr Anh Vu worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield, where she combined the lenses of environmental politics, political ecology, culture and race, to examine the dynamics and intricacies of varieties of environmentalism as well as the role of culture, religion and customary management institutions in addressing environmental conflicts in Vietnam. 

Prior to and since Anh's PhD (completed in 2017 at the University of Bath), she has led a number of commissioned research projects with inter/national NGOs (e.g., the UN, Oxfam in Vietnam, Transparency International, Plan International). These have included extensive research into a range of key areas such as SDGs tracking, civil society activism and nationalism, anti-/corruption, state-business relations, upland transformation, livelihoods and identities of displaced communities, and humanitarianism.

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-reviewed

Vu, Anh Ngoc & Le, Quang Binh. 2022. ‘Understanding the Politics of Urban Planning via Media Narratives: The Case of the Red River Urban Planning in Hanoi’. Climate and Energy. https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/vietnam/19483.pdf  

Other published work

Book Editor

Thi, Q.A., Vu, C.G. & Vu, A.N. 2019. Open Governance, E-government and a modern state governance. (Vietnamese version). Hong Duc Publisher. 246 pages. (I contributed 35% of the work)

Policy papers, briefs and blogs

Long, G., Vu, A.N, O’Connor, J., 2022. Are river deltas being ‘left behind’? a new agenda for SDG localisation in Asian mega-deltas. Policy paper. Living Deltas Research Hub. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6138a20528c5b87a87ab5e3b/t/623dd2668bdbab2b4a4180fb/1648218729961/SDG_Localisation_Briefing Paper_March 2022.pdf

Vu, A. N, O’Connor, J., 2021. UNDESA Asia/Pacific Snapshot: Stakeholder engagement around the SDGs during the COVID-19 pandemic. United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/Asia%20Snapshot%20copy.pdf

Long, G., & Vu, A.N. 2021. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and sustainable socio-ecological systems- fundamental tensions? Link: http://www.livingdeltas.org/blog.html?id=1612782719-the-sustainable-development-goals-sdgs-and-sustainable-socio-ecological-systems-fundamental-tensions  

Vu, A.N., & Nguyen, N.L., 2021. Engaging local stakeholders in the Red River Delta for SDG localisation and gender-sensitive climate change response. Link: http://www.livingdeltas.org/blog.html?id=1612781058-engaging-local-stakeholders-in-the-red-river-delta

Vu, A.N., 2020. Reducing demand for illegal wildlife products – is there any way forward? Link: https://biosec.group.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/9.-AV-Policy-Brief-final.pdf

Videos, Podcasts and Media interviews

Vu, A.N. 2021. Video: Defining Wildlife Crime. Link: https://biosec.group.shef.ac.uk/2020/09/30/biosec-bitesize-defining-wildlife-crime/

Vu, A.N. 2021. Podcast: Understanding & reducing demand in wildlife. Link: https://biosec.group.shef.ac.uk/2020/05/14/podcast-biosec-bubbles-episode-4-understanding-reducing-demand-in-wildlife/

In media interview: What is civic spirit? Theories and empirical lenses from Vietnam. Link: https://tiasang.com.vn/-dien-dan/Thuc-day-tinh-than-cong-dan--13972

Vu, A.N., Pham, Q.P., Le, Q.B. 2021. The Red River urban planning of Hanoi in the context of urbanisation and modernisation. Analysis of media discourse. Commissioned by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)

Vu, A.N., & Le, Q.B. 2020. Narratives for and of civil society in Vietnam. Commissioned by ECUE and Oxfam in Vietnam.

Vu, A.N., & Le, Q.B. 2020. Effects of state-business relations on civil society space in Vietnam, corporate philanthropy and civil society activism. Commissioned by Oxfam in Vietnam.

Vu, A.N. & Levon, C., Nguyen, K.T,V. 2019. Vietnam nation-wide Youth Integrity Survey 2019 (YIS 2019). Transparency International Vietnam. Available at: https://towardstransparency.vn/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/YIS-2019_Full-Report_EN.pdf

Country Lead Expert. 2018. Global Philanthropy Environment Index. Responsible for rating legal, regulatory, and political dimensions for philanthropy of Vietnam https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/handle/1805/15958

Guest Editor

Hejnowicz, A. & Vu, A.N., 2022. Sustainability Journal, Special Issue “Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development: Securing the future of coastal deltas in the Anthropocene”. https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/Environmental_Policy_and_Sustainable_Development

S

2022: Pol1032: Key Concepts in International Politics. Undergraduate level. Newcastle University

2015-2017: University of Bath

• Introduction to International Development (SP10204)
• Quantitative Data Analysis (SP20160)

• Vu A, Long G. Universalism and national ownership in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): perspectives from Vietnam. International Development Planning Review 2022. In Press.
• Vu AN. NGO-led activism under authoritarian rule of Vietnam: Between cooperation and contestation. Community Development 2019, 50(4), 422-439.
• Thi QA, Vu CG, Vu AN, ed. Open Government, E-government and modern state governance. Vietnam: Hong Duc Publisher, 2019.
• Vu AN, Levon C, Nguyen TKV. Vietnam nation-wide Youth Integrity Survey 2019 (YIS 2019). Transparency International Vietnam. Towards Transparency, 2019.
• Vu AN. Global Philanthropy Environment Index. Indiana: Indiana University, 2018.
• Vu AN. Grassroots Environmental Activism in an Authoritarian Context: The Trees Movement in Vietnam. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 2017, 28(3), 1180-1208.