Christopher is a policymaker and researcher who has dedicated more than 10 years to the field of development economics, with a specific focus on Malaysia and a more general coverage of Asia. He currently serves as the Deputy Director of Research at Khazanah Research Institute (KRI), looking at gender, care, and social reproduction as well as broader issues of poverty, inequality, and exclusion.
In recognition of his academic and professional achievements, Christopher was also appointed as Adjunct Associate Professor with the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development, Sunway University. Prior to joining KRI, he served as the Economist/Programme Manager for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Office of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam, responsible for the inclusive growth portfolio of the country programme.
Christopher's regional, eight-nation research project, “Inequality and Exclusion in Southeast Asia: Old Fractures, New Frontiers”, was published in 2021. He was also the lead author of the report “Time to Care: Gender Inequality, Unpaid Care Work and Time Use Survey”, the first contemporary research in Malaysia to use a time-use survey, which was presented to the International Association for Time Use Research. He plays an active role in peer-reviewing papers and reports in Malaysia and the Asia-Pacific region, and contributes to public discourse through media engagements, speaking events and guest lectures.
Christopher completed his PhD at the University of Warwick, where he was a recipient of the Chancellor’s International Scholarship. His thesis was titled 'The Everyday Political Economy of Raced Capitalism in Malaysia: Reinscribing Malay Women's Lives, Labour, and Households'. His research interests include the political economy of Malaysia/Southeast Asia, feminist international political economy, social reproduction theories, and racial capitalism.
Christopher also holds an MSc in Inequalities and Social Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he was awarded the Atkinson Prize; an MSc in Development Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies; and a BSc in Economics from the University of Malaya.
I don’t believe there is such thing as ‘lasting’ change. Change requires a perpetual process of commitment, resistance and questioning of the status quo by people who believe in a just and equal society for all. Challenging inequality is something that we have to keep doing, not a utopic state to attain. There’s a quote from Tony Benn that I really like: ‘There is no final victory, as there is no final defeat. There is just the same battle. To be fought, over and over again. So toughen up, bloody toughen up.Christopher Choong Weng Wai