- Political Ecology (mainly rural)
- Human-Environment Relations
- Insurgencies and political opposition in mainland Southeast Asia
- Development Studies
- Postcolonial Studies
- Social Movements (in mainland Southeast Asia)
- Social Theory - Social and Spatial (Re)organization
- Hydropower Dams in the Mekong Region and Inland Fisheries
- Large-scale Land Concessions/Acquisitions
- Identities and Identification
- Indigeneity in Asia
- Boundaries and Borders
- Hmong Studies
- Lao Studies
- Thai Studies
- Upland peoples in mainland Southeast Asia, especially the Brao and the Hmong
- 19th and 20th Century History in Mainland Southeast Asia