Phuong Mai Anh Tran

Visiting Researcher

Phuong Mai Anh Tran is a PhD candidate at the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa, Canada. She is a visiting researcher at Sanford for spring 2026, working with Professor Edmund Malesky. 

Phuong’s research focuses on how the United States and China leverage scholarship programs for international students to enhance soft power and achieve development aims, particularly within the context of scholarship programs being integrated into the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. Her primary research interests include international education and development, aid to education, and decolonial studies, with a regional focus on East Asia and Southeast Asia.