
Xuan W Tay
Higher Degree by Research Candidate
Adelaide Law School
Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics
Xuan W. Tay is a PhD candidate with Adelaide Law School. Prior to this, he clerked at the International Court of Justice as a Judicial Fellow to the President, H.E. Judge Joan E. Donoghue. Xuan was a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center (L.L.M. (Dean’s List with Distinction), 2021-2022) and Valedictorian at the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law (L.L.B. (Best Graduating Student, First Class Honors), 2015-2020). He is a recipient of, inter alia, the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal and the Chief Justice Prize.
Xuan W. Tay's thesis is broadly concerned with the relationship between the stories States tell themselves, and their international legal behavior. The social sciences recognize that States are motivated by their national narratives. These narratives are central in shaping how States make sense of their world and their place in it. Contrastingly, the role national narratives play in motivating international legal behavior is not well-studied in the international legal scholarship. This is peculiar, given that the practice of international law typically calls on lawyers to navigate the subjective narratives States perpetuate. Xuan's thesis seeks to fill this gap, while inviting international lawyers to reflexively consider the degree to which our practice is informed by the stories we tell ourselves.
Xuan W. Tay's academic interests lies in the intersection between international law and foreign policy. In particular, he is fascinated with matters of global security, these including hybrid warfare, Law of the Sea issues, space law, armed conflict, and influence operations. Xuan is also concerned with matters of race, feminism, and sexuality in the international law discipline. He is an avid fan of poetry, pretentious movie flicks, and all things by the beach.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2022 - ongoing Research Associate Adelaide Law School -
Awards and Achievements
Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount 2022 Scholarship University of Adelaide Research Scholarship Adelaide Law School Australia - 2021 Scholarship Georgetown Merit Scholarship Georgetown University Law Center United States $25,000 2021 Scholarship Fulbright Scholarship U.S. State Department United States $40,000 2020 Award Chief Justice Prize National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law Singapore - 2020 Honour Valedictorian National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law Singapore - 2020 Award Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law Singapore - 2020 Award Leow Chia Heng Prize National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law Singapore - 2020 Achievement Overall Dean’s List National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law Singapore - 2019 Award Prize in Globalization & International Law National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law Singapore - 2019 Award Michael Hor Prize National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law Singapore - 2018 Award Honorable Mention, Phanor J. Eder Prize American Society of Comparative Law United States - 2018 Award CALI Excellence for the Future Awards Georgetown University Law Center United States - -
Language Competencies
Language Competency Chinese (Mandarin) Can read, write, speak and understand spoken Spanish; Castilian Can read, write, speak and understand spoken -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2021 - 2022 Georgetown University Law Center United States of America L.L.M. (Fulbright Scholar, Dean’s List with Distinction) 2015 - 2020 National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law Singapore L.L.B. (Best Graduating Student, First Class Honors) -
Research Interests
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Journals
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Conference Papers
Year Citation 2018 Tay, X. W. (2018). Fight or Flight? – Contextualizing Judicial Strategic Responses Towards Court Curbing Measures in Indonesia and Singapore. In Unpublished. Washington DC.
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