Besides her role as chair of Protection International, Alice Nah is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at Durham University. Formerly, she was a senior Lecturer at the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York in the United Kingdom. She has conducted extensive research on the security and protection of human rights defenders at risk, as well as asylum and migration in Asia.

Alice has conducted consultancies with organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières, the International Labour Organisation, and Forum Asia. She has also published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Human Rights Practice, the Australian Journal of Human Rights and the Asian Journal of Social Science.

She is also involved in the leadership and governance of a number of civil society networks and organisations. She is one of the co-founders of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and the Chair of the Board of the International Detention Coalition.