
Xuan W Tay
Higher Degree by Research Candidate
Adelaide Law School
Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics
Xuan is a doctoral candidate who has won multiple international prizes. He is the recipient of the European Society of International Law’s Early-Career Scholar Prize 2025; the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal 2020 and Chief Justice Prize 2020 awarded by the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Law; and the American Society of Comparative Law’s Phanor J. Eder Prize (Honorable Mention) 2018. He graduated as Valedictorian and best graduating student from the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law (L.L.B., 2020), and as a Fulbright Scholar on the Dean’s List from Georgetown University Law Center (L.L.M., 2022).
Xuan's academic interest lies in the intersection between international law and international politics. Specifically, he is interested in how human lives are implicated in matters relating to hybrid warfare, armed conflict, geopolitical disputes, sovereignty, migration and nationality, law of the sea, space law, global inequality, race, feminism, and sexuality. He is currently finishing up a doctoral thesis at Adelaide Law School which examines the role national narratives play in shaping international legal behavior, using China as empirical subject. His works have been published in top international law journals including University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law and the Berkeley Journal of International Law. He has previously clerked at the International Court of Justice as a Judicial Fellow to the President, H.E. Judge Joan E. Donoghue. He is an avid fan of poetry, pretentious movie flicks, and all things by the beach.
Xuan is currently a visiting scholar at New York University School of Law.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2025 - ongoing Visting Scholar New York University 2024 - 2025 Visiting Doctoral Researcher New York University 2023 - 2024 Tutor in International Law Adelaide Law School 2023 - 2024 PhD Representative Adelaide Law School 2022 - ongoing Research Associate Adelaide Law School 2022 - ongoing ALLY Network Member University of Adelaide -
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
Year Citation 2022 Tay, X. W. (2022). Reconstructing the Principle of Non-Intervention and Non-Interference – Electoral Disinformation, Nicaragua, and the Quilt-work Approach. Berkeley Journal of International Law, 40(1), 39-93.
- Tay, X. W. (2025). How National Narratives Shape the Sovereignty of Nation-States at International Law. SSRN Electronic Journal.
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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.
Connect With Me
External Profiles