Alynna Carlos is the Chief of the Communications Branch at the Presidential Office for Maritime Concerns of the Philippines. She also works with the country’s National Maritime Council. Alynna holds a degree in European Languages (majoring in French and Political Science) from the University of the Philippines. In 2025, she completed her master’s degree in International Studies where wrote a thesis on minilateralism in the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas.

Created by: Quan Tran

Dana Lee is a master’s student in Peace and Conflict Studies at the Australian National University and a Young Leader at the Pacific Forum. With a sharp focus on Southeast Asian security dynamics, war studies—particularly in Mainland Southeast Asia—and the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, Dana brings both academic rigor and lived experience into global policy spaces. Dana has led projects advocating for SDG 5 and 16, focusing on peace and security in Southeast Asia, and women in foreign policy and defense. She was selected as Cambodia’s representative for Women in Foreign Policy: Southeast Asia Edition by FPCI and served as a GDI fellow at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. In 2022, she coordinated the Mekong-Asia Pacific Peace Forum, bringing together stakeholders to discuss peace and security issues and offer policy recommendations for stability in the Mekong and Asia-Pacific regions. Her paper “Reflecting on History: Building a Resilient Society Through Maintaining Peace in the Mekong Region” was selected to the International Graduate Student Conference in Hawaii, and presented at the UNGA Science Summit 79. Dana has also received “Honorable Mention Delegate” awards from international conferences and was honored by the Cambodian Ministry of Education as the nation’s top outstanding student.

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Jeff Otto is the Director of Fellowships and Next-Gen Programs at Pacific Forum, where he manages the Young Leaders Program (YLP). Jeff is an alumnus of the Master’s in Asian International Affairs program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM), where he was also awarded the degree of Master of Arts in Second Language Studies. Jeff has participated in study abroad programs in both Japan and Taiwan, as well as being a participant on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Prior to joining Pacific Forum, he was a Research Fellow at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI-APCSS).

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Philip Alegre is currently a Non-Resident Vasey Fellow at the Pacific Forum. He was part of the 2022 cohort of the US-Philippines Next Generation Leaders in Security Initiative. In 2022, he completed the Security Sector Governance and Reform Program of the Folke Bernadotte Academy of Sweden and more recently graduated from the Yeosu Academy on the Law of the Sea in South Korea. His research interests include maritime security, Philippine-US alliance, and Philippine foreign policy.

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Huynh Tam Sang is Young Leaders Program member of the Pacific Forum, research fellow at the Taiwan NextGen Foundation, and founder and editor-in-chief of the Vietnam Strategic Forum. His main fields of interest are East Asian international relations, Vietnam’s foreign policy, and middle-power diplomacy, with special reference to Vietnam, Australia, and Taiwan. His recent focus has been on the South China Sea security, cross-Strait relations, and Taiwan’s foreign relations. Previously, he served as a lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City-University of Social Sciences and Humanities, a visiting scholar at National Taiwan University as part of the 2024 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Taiwan Fellowship, and a non-resident WSD-Handa Fellow at Pacific Forum. Sang has written for The Pacific Review, Strategic Analysis, East Asian Policy, The Diplomat, ISEAS Perspective, East Asia Forum, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, Taiwan Insight, The Interpreter, among others.

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Olivia is a senior analyst in Onyx’s Asia Practice and leads the firm’s work on China, in addition to other regional and industry-level analysis. Prior to joining Onyx, Olivia was an Asia analyst in the corporate intelligence sector. She is a Pacific Forum Young Leader and formerly an Ong Chit Chung scholar at the National University of Singapore. She is currently pursuing a master’s in international political economy from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

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Luigi Joble is a Program Manager (APAC) at Ernst & Young, contributing to strategic corporate advisory engagements with C-suite executives, and a Consultant at White Rook Advisory, focusing on the Health, Nutrition, and Sustainability sectors.

Prior to his current roles, he worked in the Philippine government on political communications and international military affairs, and in the academe and international research institutions on geopolitics and international relations.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies Major in American Studies from the De La Salle University and a Master of Science degree in Strategic Studies from Nanyang Technological University.

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Marina Ika Sari is the Coordinator and Researcher for the ASEAN Studies Program at The Habibie Center. She holds a Master’s degree in Defense Diplomacy from the Republic of Indonesia Defense University. Her research interests include defense, maritime security, foreign policy, ASEAN, the Indo-Pacific and Cross-Strait relations.

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Brin Isaac is the Executive Secretary of the Philippine International Law of the Sea Academy (PHILSEA). She leads a team in performing secretariat functions and liaising with natural and juridical persons in relevant organizational matters across domestic and international platforms to foster partnerships, enhance visibility, and further engage in industry discussions. She implements and maintains a robust compliance framework to ensure that the organization adheres to its standards and regulations.

Aside from her PHILSEA role, she is a dedicated scholar, currently pursuing a Master of Arts (MA) in Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, specializing in Foreign Relations. Her academic pursuit is complemented by practice experience, including her role as a Project Associate for the Gas Policy Development Project and previous work at the Embassy of India Manila.

Brin’s passion for maritime affairs is evident in her contributions to PHILSEA and her recognition as “Best Delegate” at the 2022 ASEAN-China Young Leaders Summit. She proactively engages in global policy discussions as a Young Leader of the Pacific Forum’s Young Leaders Program. She was also competitively selected by the United States Embassy in the Philippines as a Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Academic Fellow on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Empowerment at the University of Connecticut (UConn) for Fall 2025.

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Siu Tzyy Wei is a Senior Research Associate at the Global Awareness and Impact Alliance (GAIA), a non-profit headquartered in Brunei Darussalam with a mission of “Empowering Thought, Generating Change”. As an aspiring foreign policy researcher, Wei’s research interests lie mainly in the politics and maritime security issues of Southeast Asia and the South China Sea. Her work has been featured on Fair Observer, CSIS Indonesia and Pacific Forum. She is presently a GKS Scholar pursuing her Masters in International Relations at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea.

Created by: Quan Tran