#  Michelle Ong 

 

 



   ![Michelle Ong smiling in a navy short-sleeve sweater, standing outdoors near ‘World Tourism Day 2025’ sign in Melaka, Malaysia.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4421/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/2025-09/Picture%20of%20Michelle%20Ong.jpg?itok=6ydgMhki) 

 



 

 email <michelleong@g.harvard.edu> 

 



 

Michelle Ong is a doctoral student whose research concerns the legal dimensions of empire, decolonization, and postcolonial thought. Her current work focuses on the ways that colonial seafarers engaged with law and international legal institutions in the early to mid-twentieth century. She received her J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 2022. Prior to entering Harvard’s History PhD program in Fall 2025, Michelle practiced law in Singapore before taking up legal history research posts at the law faculties of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The University of Hong Kong.



 

 

 





 

 

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