Our Team

John is the Executive Director of YCAPS. He is also a Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Partnership Fellow and an adjunct senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

His research focuses on Asian security with special attention given to maritime issues and cooperative affairs.

John retired from the U.S. Navy with the rank of Commander and holds a PhD in War Studies from King's College London.

Scott is Senior Lecturer at Universiti Malaya’s Department of International and Strategic Studies and a senior research fellow at YCAPS.

Scott's research interests center on the regional politics of Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on collective efforts combatting novel security issues. He is proactive in policy engagement, and is continually exploring how his work can inform policy debates.

Scott holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Birmingham.

Annette is Education and Policy Advisor at YCAPS.

Annette’s research interests focus on internationalization policy and the language and cultural elements of international cooperation. She recently completed a fellowship with the Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Partnership Program examining maritime training capacity-building activities.

Annette previously taught at Meiji University in Tokyo. She holds an EdD in Educational Administration and Policy Studies from the George Washington University.

Charlie is the Director of Southeast Asia Regional Programs at YCAPS. He also serves as Senior Advisor at United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI), where he tracks illicit shipping, and consults on the Allen Institute for AI's SkyLight program.

His research focuses on maritime security, maritime domain awareness, and illicit shipping networks, with special attention given to Southeast Asia and sanctions evasion.

Charlie is a former U.S. Navy officer who served in Singapore, specializing in maritime domain awareness. He holds a degree in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell University.

Chiew-Ping is a senior research fellow at YCAPS and a senior fellow at the East Asian International Relations Caucus.

Her research focuses on the economic-security linkages between Northeast and Southeast Asia, covering the Korean Peninsula, the South China Sea, and the nuclear-maritime nexus. She is dedicated to policy engagement and industry consultation, drawing on her experience with Malaysia’s Defence White Paper and capacity-building programme for the Malaysian Coast Guard.

Chiew-Ping previously taught at the National University of Malaysia and the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College. She holds a PhD in Politics and International Relations from La Trobe University, Australia.

Ivy is Director of Maritime Programs at YCAPS, a non-resident fellow at the Indo-Pacific Studies Center, and a foreign policy analyst for FACTS Asia.

Her research focuses on maritime security, ocean governance, Philippines–China relations, and East Asian security dynamics.

Ivy is a Ph.D. candidate in International Relations at Ewha Womans University in Seoul and previously served as a defense analyst for the Philippine Navy and as a lecturer at several Philippine universities.

Hanh is a Ph.D. scholar at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University. She is also a YCAPS fellow and administrator of the Maritime Security Network, MarSecNet.

Hanh's research interests include the economic-security nexus, Southeast Asia’s relations with great powers, and Vietnam’s foreign policy.

Nelson is a British maritime security and geopolitical advisor based in Singapore, working across defense, diplomacy, government, and industry in the Indo-Pacific. A Royal Navy officer, he represents the United Kingdom in regional maritime security forums, supporting international cooperation, information-sharing, and maritime resilience.

His expertise spans maritime domain awareness, strategic competition, critical undersea infrastructure, cyber, sanctions and emerging technologies such as uncrewed systems. He brings extensive operational, strategic and leadership experience across the public and private sectors.

Nelson holds an MA in International Relations from King’s College London and is a Harvard Business School alumnus.

Kevin is CEO of the global security consultancy Maritime Imperative. In this role, he has worked with the UN and NATO on designing maritime security policies, strategies, and training programs. He was the co-creator of NATO’s Comprehensive Maritime Security Operations course. Prior to Maritime Imperative, he served for over twenty years as a deployable specialized forces officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, with extensive operational and policy experience in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Kevin has been published more than seventy times, addressing a wide array of maritime security challenges. He holds master’s degrees from Norwich University, the U.S. Naval War College, and Harvard.

Yoichiro is a senior research fellow at YCAPS and a non-resident senior researcher of the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy (KIMS).

He is a keen observer of maritime security (broadly defined) of some 30 years. From territorial disputes, international fishery management, maritime piracy, and seabed mining, to naval competitions—he is interested in sharing knowledge and learning new things.

Yoichiro is an academic researcher with experience of working with policy practitioners for 8+ years in Honolulu and holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Hawaii.

Robert is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi.

His research interests include the geopolitics of climate change, climate change and maritime security, and security in the context of polycrisis. His PhD research was a comparative analysis of the climate policies of China and India.

Robert is a recipient of the Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Partnership research fellowship (2023-25) under which he studied the challenges of climate change on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific. He has also held research positions at institutions in Japan and Australia.

Will is a research fellow at YCAPS. He also serves as a surface warfare officer (SWO) in the U.S. Navy and as a detailee to the National Commission on the Future of the Navy. He served in the Pentagon at Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC), and for six years in Japan aboard a forward-deployed amphibious ship, destroyer, and cruiser in Sasebo and Yokosuka.

Will earned an MA in International Economics and Strategic Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a Certificate in Chinese and American Studies from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC).