Welcome! My name is Kyaw Hsan Hlaing—ကျော်ဆန်းလှိုင် and I am a PhD student in Government at Cornell University. 

I study comparative politics and international relations, with a focus on revolution, movement, regime change, violence, political culture, democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and rebel politics. 

Prior to my doctoral studies, I worked as an independent journalist and researcher who documented Myanmar’s dual crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 military coup. My reporting from the frontlines has been featured in leading global outlets, including TIME, The Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, and Al Jazeera. I have also provided expert analysis for institutions such as the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, United States Institute of Peace, and the Stimson Center. 

I am a 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow, a 2025 Civil War Paths Fellow, a 2025 Diversity Fellow with the American Political Science Association (APSA), and a 2025 Reppy Fellow at Cornell's Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies. I hold a BA in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, following a seven-year gap after leaving the University of Distance Education at Sittwe University.

I am proud to be the first in my family, from a rural village in western Myanmar, to graduate from high school.

To contact, kh827@cornell.edu.