Prof. Kuik Cheng-Chwee is a professor of International Relations at the National University of Malaysia (UKM). He is concurrently a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at The Asan Institute for Policy Studies and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University. Prof. Kuik’s research focuses on the external policies of small and secondary states, Asian security, and international relations. His publications have appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as International Affairs, The Pacific Review, Chinese Journal of International Politics, Journal of Contemporary China, and Contemporary Southeast Asia. He is also the author of Theorizing Hedging: Explaining Shifts and Variations in Alignment Choices (Cambridge, 2026). He serves on the editorial boards of Contemporary Southeast Asia, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Asian Politics and Policy, and several other international journals. He has been listed in Stanford University’s Top 2% Scientists, in the subfield of International Relations, for 2023, 2024, and 2025. Prof. Kuik holds an M.Litt. from the University of St. Andrews and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.