Kritaya Archavanitkul, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor, demographer with the Institute for Population and Social Research (IPSR) at Mahidol University in Thailand.
Kritaya Archavanitkul
The Institute, with more than 20 years of reseach experience, has completed 75 research projects. Since its first project, the « Attitude Behavioral Survey of the Family Planning Program in an Urban Community » conducted in Bangkhen in 1968, the Institute has continuously conducted research and project evaluation at both local and national levels.
Dr. Kritaya received her doctoral degree from the National Centre for Development Studies Graduate Program in Demography at the Australian National University in Canberra. She is widely regarded within the international health and human rights community for her passion and diligence in conducting an array of socially conscious research projects. Dr. Kritaya’s work focuses primarily on Thai populations, with studies ranging from the country’s unique internal migration patterns to determinants impacting a child’s continuation on to secondary school. Currently, Dr. Kritaya is conducting research on the trafficking of girls and women and the expansion of Thailand’s sex trade. She is also studying the migration patterns of the commercial sex sector.
Dr. Kritaya is anything but a dispassionate scientist, particularly when discussing her country’s problems with child prostitution. Commenting on this issue, she states that « there are many politicians and their networks involved in this business — indirectly or directly — making it a difficult problem to tackle. What Thailand needs is more politicians and policemen who are committed to protecting children from the sex trade. »
See the interview with Dr. Kritaya, « Emerging Issues in Human Rights in Southeast Asia. »
Short Biography:
Undergraduate Work: 1969-1972 B.Sc. (Education) Chiengmai University; 1974-1977 B.A. (Journalism) Thammasat University; Post Graduate Training: 1974-1976 M.Ed.(Social Psychology) Srinakharinwiroj; University, Thesis Topic: ‘Knowledge and Attitude of Thai Youth; Towards Socialist Economy’; 1984-1985
Grad Dip in Demography Australian National University; 1986-1989 Ph.D. in Demography Australian National University;
Thesis Topic: ‘Migration to Rural Towns in Thailand’;
Additional Training: 1983 Certificate of the three-month course on ‘Slum Upgrading Program’, Organised by National Housing Authority of Thailand; 1993 Certificate of the three-week summer course on ‘International Cooperative Human Rights Training Program’ at University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, Organised by Canadian Human Rights Foundation.
Award: 1996 Public Health Heroes Award, from University of California at Berkeley, USA;