Dr. Baird is a Professor of Geography and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also the coordinator of the Hmong Studies Consortium at UW-Madison, and the PI for the Lao American Archive Project at UW-Madison. Dr Baird was previously the Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UW-Madison, and remains on the Center's Steering Committee. He is also affiliated with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW-Madison.
Dr. Baird has been living, working and conducting research in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia since the late 1980s. He’s lived in Laos for 15 years, and in Thailand for 10 years. He remains active in conducting research in all three countries. Dr. Baird’s areas of interest include, but are not limited to, environmental issues, Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities, politics, development studies, marginalization, poverty, cross-border issues, insurgency, social services, and immigration.
Addiction/drugs/drug policy, Caste discrimination or persecution, Child soldiers, Climate-related issues, Coercive population control, Deportees/criminal deportees, Disability, Document Authentication, Ethnic discrimination or persecution, Ex-combatant reintegration, Forced conscription, Forced marriage, Gang-related violence/non-state actors, Gender-based violence/domestic violence, Healthcare access/health systems capacity, HIV/AIDS, Journalist persecution, Land tenure disputes, LGBTQ, Likelihood of destitution or homelessness, Mental illness, Military/police service, Political persecution, Prison conditions, Religious discrimination or persecution, Government/state actor persecution, Risk of retaliation, Safe internal relocation, Sexual abuse/assault, Specialized medical services, Sufficiency of protection, Torture, Trafficking, Tribal discrimination or persecution, Violence against children/child abuse
I have worked on a wide range of cases, mainly related to immigration in the USA and UK, and related to other issues in the US. All my cases have related to Laos, Thailand or Cambodia.
I have almost 200 published peer-review journal articles or edited book chapters, plus 7 books.