Cai Wilkinson

Cai Wilkinson (she/her) is an Associate Professor in International Relations at Deakin University, Australia, where she teaches into a range of undergraduate and postgraduate taught programs as well as supervising Honours, Masters and PhD research projects. Her research focuses on community and individual experiences of insecurity in countries of the former Soviet Union, with a particular focus on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. She has undertaken ethnographic fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan several times, including researching the development of LGBT activism in the republic, and her work has been published in a range of journals and edited volumes. Cai was the recipient of the International Studies Association LGBTQA Caucus Eminent Scholar Award in 2019, the Cora Maas Award for best evaluated courses at an ECPR Methods School in 2020, and the 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award from the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Cai holds a PhD in Eurasian Studies, a Masters in Russian and East European Studies, a BA (Hons) in Russian, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, all from the University of Birmingham in the UK. She is an academic coordinator of the Methods Excellence Network (MethodsNET).

​