Student Profile

Danielle Chubb, BA (Dean's Scholars Program) (Monash), BA (Hons) (ANU)

Danielle began her PhD in 2005 and is pursuing a thesis that is tentatively entitled: 'Contentious Advocacy: North Korea, Human Rights, and South Korean Civil Society'. The topic of this thesis is an amalgamate of personal and academic interests, allowing Danielle to pursue her interests in human rights and development issues, transnational civil society advocacy, international relations, ethics and discourse, with a focus on both South Korea and its less well-known northern neighbour, North Korea.

The thesis takes a critical, discursive approach to the questions of human rights advocacy and transnational civil society, basing its methodology on interview-based research with NGO advocates. It seeks to examine the conversations being had within South Korean civil society with regard to this difficult issue. In so doing, Danielle's thesis aims to better understand the nature of human rights advocacy around such a sensitive and ideologically-charged issue.

In 2006, Danielle spent three months conducting her preliminary fieldwork in primarily Washington DC, Beijing and Seoul. From July 2007 to March 2008 she spent eight further months in Seoul undertaking research thanks to grants from the Korea Foundation and the Australian government’s Endeavour program.

When not thinking about her PhD, Danielle enjoys running, reading, baking, catching up with current affairs, doing crosswords, camping, hiking and travelling. She is also in the midst of an ongoing battle to learn the Korean language.

Email: danielle.chubb@anu.edu.au