Sophal Ear Keynote Speaker

Sophal Ear is a Khmer Rouge survivor that speaks extensively about geopolitics around the world, especially within Cambodia. He is an expert on China’s influence in Cambodia and an outspoken critic of the authoritarian government of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

American-Cambodian Sophal, moved to the United States from France as a Cambodian refugee at the age of 10. He arrived with his 4 siblings and mother having lived through the effect of forced labour camps on his father. A graduate from Princeton and Berkeley, where he got his Ph.D. in Political Science – Ear is currently senior associate dean and tenured professor in the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. There Sophal lectures on global political economy, international organizations, and regional management in Asia.

Contributing beyond the university level, Sophal Ear was elected to the Crescenta Valley Town Council for two consecutive three-year terms, encompassing more than 20,000 residents in unincorporated La Crescenta and Montrose, California.

Named as one of 40 Changemakers by the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) programme in 2021, they say that alumni Ear’s “understanding of the systemic challenges within least developed countries carries both depth and compassion” and the message he shares “is one of empowerment and human potential.”

Based on his ability to engage students, remain involved on campus and in his community and for the passion of his subject, Sophal Ear was also chosen in 2015 as one of NerdScholar’s “40 under 40: Professors Who Inspire”. He was also honoured for his professional integrity, concern for social justice, and humanitarianism in 2019 with the Tobis Medal by the Ethics Center at the UC Irvine. Previous winners have included former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Author of the book “Aid Dependence in Cambodia” (2012), Sophal also co-wrote “The Hungry Dragon: How Chinas Resources Quest is Reshaping the World” (2013) with Sigfrido Burgos Cáceres, an international consultant and author. As a TED Fellow, Ear wrote and narrated the award-winning documentary film “The End/Beginning: Cambodia” based on his 2009 TED Talk and has appeared in four other documentaries.

Sophal Ear has consulted for the World Bank and was Assistant Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme in East Timor. A former term-member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Fulbright Specialist, Young Global Leader alumni of the World Economic Forum, Ear also serves on numerous boards and councils, in multiple organisations, and on behalf of a variety of programs.

Some of the boards, Sophal currently sits on include Omnibus Trading Corporation, Refugees International (Washington, DC), Partners for Development (Silver Spring, MD) Center for Khmer Studies (Siem Reap, Cambodia) and International Public Management Network (Washington, DC).