Visiting PhD Student
rathmono.mam@biology.ox.ac.uk

Mono Mam

Background

I am always a curious type of person. Ever since I was little, I really loved to read books about famous minds throughout history and what they discovered. This also showed up during my higher education years, where I tried out as many majors as possible - from Auditing to Business Administration, then finally to Agricultural Science! Nevertheless, it was at the last major that really got me very invested in learning, specifically statistics. I love how we can use numbers, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics to tell a story in a confident manner. That was when I realized that the reason I previously enrolled in Audit and BA was because of my interest for numbers. Maybe that was why I spent so much time reading about statistics...

I am now an interdisciplinary researcher focused on agriculture, livelihoods, conservation, and food systems. I am currently completing an PhD while working as a researcher at the Center of Excellence, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development. Experienced in large-scale household surveys, questionnaire design (KoboToolbox), data management and analysis (STATA, Excel, RStudio), scientific writing, stakeholder coordination, and Khmer–English interpretation.

Research Interests

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As I am very curious and really want to get my hands on new analytical tools, I do not have specific interests regarding research topics. I am rather eager to be involved in any topics conducted at my workplace. For instance, for my bachelor thesis, I compared the population of insect pests and predators between conventional and conservation agriculture in rice field, where I learned how to use descriptive statistics and student’s t-test to compare. I worked as data manager for scores of consultants, where I learned how to use STATA to monitor and ensure the quality of data for the donors. I worked as a research assistant/MSc student for a project involving local’s knowledge on wild food plants and medicinal plants and their socio-economics for 2 years, where I learned how to utilize binary logistic regression to identify socio-economic and agricultural practice determinant pushing farmers to use agrochemical. I worked as a researcher for a project on pangasius food loss and waste in value chain, where I learned how to use Foresight analysis to understand the loss and waste of pangasius in the future. All in all, I would say I would love to get my hand on different types of research topics should opportunity arises, just so I can learn a bit more.

Current Research

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Currently, I am working on my PhD with a project titles “Scientific Action Research for Indigenous Knowledge Advancement”. I am so fascinated by this research since there are research tools which I have never used before. My research involves the understanding of the impact of indigenous communal land titling (ICLT) on deforestation, where I utilized staggered synthetic difference-in-differences in STATA and Google Earth Engine to extract deforestations. Next, I will be involved the designing and modelling of procurement auction, contributing an equitable and inclusive benefit sharing program with the indigenous people. This is another topic that I have never done before, which I am excited to be involved with.

Brief CV

Education

  • MSc, Agroecology and Food Systems, Royal University of Agriculture (2023–present)
  • BSc, Agronomy, Royal University of Agriculture (2015–2020)

Selected experience

  • Researcher, Center of Excellence, RUA (Jan 2022–present)
    Led or supported data collection, analysis, enumerator training, FGDs, and reporting on projects including:
    • Livelihood assessments for REDD+ (Keo Seima, Northern Plains; WCS; surveys of 850–1,900 households)
    • Wildlife consumption and socio-economics (WCS)
    • ACIAR-IDRC One Health / AIRPOH (ANU collaboration; ~1,400 households)
    • Socio-economic study for REDD+ (Central Cardamom; Conservation International)
    • Irrigation/flood protection and ASEAN food value-chain surveys (JICA)
    • Social impacts, governance and equity of conservation (SAPA/SAGE; CI)
    • Household debt in Preah Vihear wildlife sanctuaries (SMP; scientific report)

Earlier roles:

  • Cambodia Country Coordinator, RIMES (agro-meteorological early warning, 2021–2022);
  • Research Assistant, ECOLAND (DOUBT UvA project with University of Amsterdam, 2019–2021).

Training

  • Agribusiness and value chains (University of Adelaide / AdelaideX); environmental economics (EEI-LMS); QGIS and GIS basics.
  • Strong record of collaboration with WCS, CI, JICA, ANU and others on applied research linking rural livelihoods, protected-area governance, and agricultural systems in Cambodia.

Published Papers

Personal and Household’s Debt in Chhaeb, Kulen Prumtep, and Prey Preah Rokha Wildlife Sanctuaries (USAID, 2022)

Presentations on agrochemical dependency and rice pests/predators under conventional vs. conservation agriculture (RUA Scientific Day 2025; ASACHA 2022)