Chanapang Pongpiboonkiat is a PhD researcher who has just submitted her thesis examining the mediated construction of military identities and online self-representation of Thai military women. Prior to pursuing her PhD research, she worked as a writer for Thai media companies before joining the Royal Thai Air Force in 2014. Her military role involved dealing with military media and public relations (PR) operations, which inspired her to research into the complex relationship between the military, media, and gender in Thailand.

Her talk focuses on her PhD work, where Cynthia Enloe's feminist curiosity is employed as a central theme. She will explain a mixed-methods research design which integrates approaches to understand key aspects of the mediated construction of military identities as military women, and empirical findings. The discussion also encompasses her own reflections on examining something personal, yet predominantly experienced by military women in Thailand and other countries, and how she dealt with the challenges that came along with it.