(Ph.D. in Social Sciences and Medicine from Mahidol University) Dr. Malee Sitthikriengkrai is a researcher at the Center for Ethnic Studies and Development and a member of the Department of Social Sciences and Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University. Over decades she has devoted her time to empowering ethnic communities through her research including refugees along Thai-Myanmar borders, livelihoods of ethnic communities in the Mekong River Basin, ethnic wisdom and (forest) fire management, and ethnic rights to land and natural resources.