Rate My Professor Jagjit Plahe

Jagjit Plahe is an Associate Professor of International Political Economy in the Department of Management within Monash University’s Faculty of Business and Economics. She earned her PhD in International Trade and Development from Monash University in 2008, with a thesis titled 'Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights and the Political Economy of the Rice Value Chain: A Focus on Small Producers in North-Western India.' She also holds an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1994) and a BSc in International Relations from the same institution (1993). Before joining academia, Plahe worked in the NGO sector on trade and development issues in Nairobi and Melbourne, and contributed to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Environmental Outlook Report in Nairobi. At Monash, she served as Course Director for the Master of Diplomacy and Trade Program from 2012 to 2017, and currently co-directs the Master of Global Business commencing in 2026. She has held leadership roles including Convenor of the Critical Reorientations on Organisations and Society Research Interest Group (2022-2024), PhD Milestones Chair (2020-2022), and representative on the Faculty’s Equity, Diversity and Social Inclusion Committee (2018-2022).

Plahe’s research focuses on the international political economy of trade, global food security, agri-food production networks, and the management of equitable and sustainable agri-food systems through agroecology, with recent emphasis on carbon offset markets and human rights in the Asia Pacific and East Africa regions. She has secured $6.74 million in competitive research funding and collaborates with NGOs, Indigenous leaders, and communities to produce real-world impacts via co-produced knowledge and capacity building. Notable publications include 'The corporate food regime and food sovereignty in the Pacific Islands' (2013, The Contemporary Pacific), 'Worlds apart: The WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture and the right to food in developing countries' (2013, International Political Science Review), 'Development as freedom? Insights from a farmer-led sustainable agriculture non-governmental organisation in the Philippines' (2022, Human Relations), 'Feeling climate change to the bone: emotional topologies of climate' (2022, Third World Quarterly), and 'Food security and traditional knowledge in India: the issues' (2017, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies). Plahe has supervised 22 Masters and Honours students and 4 doctoral candidates to completion. Her contributions to teaching and equity have earned her the Dean’s Commendation for Outstanding Teaching (2009, 2011, 2016), Monash Graduate Association Lecturer of the Year Award (2020), Dean’s Award for Excellence in Equity, Diversity and Social Inclusion Education (2022), and Dean's Award for PRME Research Excellence (2025).