Bampen (Aew) is the research coordinator for the Eco-Culture Study Group, a community-based organization focusing on ecology and health equality in local communities, especially those affected by the environmental, social, and health impacts of mining.

As anthropologist, she looks for ways to increase people's participation and social engagement in the process of restoring the health of social-ecological systems.

She has helped introduce community-led health assessments and other trust-based practices that aim to ensure the sustainability of ecosystems and build greater equity in decision making. Aew enjoys writing about environmental health and social justice issues, drawing on the research base of others and her own fieldwork.

She has written several books and news reports that highlight the history of health injustice in the mining industry in Thailand and the need for social-ecological system health.

She also is involved in projects which advocates to protect human rights in the context of natural resources extractive industries in Thailand, and she is a founder of HomDokHung, a community-based organization for the preservation of native rice varieties.

Aew hopes her EI fellowship experience will help her learn a variety of cooperative processes to manage environmental and ecological systems recovery.