Peter Vandergeest (PhD, Cornell, 1990) is conducting research on labour relations and working conditions among migrant workers in industrial fisheries, with a focus on fleets operated out of Taiwan and Thailand. The Work at Sea project is currently expanding from an initial emphasis on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic policies on seafarers in industrial fisheries, to explore the supply chain for workers in fishing; labour governance and regulatory policy for fish workers; and the role of seafarer support organizations globally. This is a collaborative program of research involving Melissa Marschke at the University of Ottawa as well as other faculty and students at York University, and in Sweden, the United States and Thailand.

More generally, his expertise is in political ecology and agrarian studies in Southeast Asia, and my past and ongoing research interests include the history of scientific forestry in Southeast Asia (with Nancy Peluso), and alternative agriculture in Southeast Asia (with Mary Young).