He worked as a diplomat in Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for thirteen years, then as a political science academic, and he is currently a professor at Kyoto University,[1][2] where he is editor-in-chief of its Center for Southeast Asian Studies' Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia.

[citation needed] Pavin graduated with an honourary degree in Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) in International Relations from Chulalongkorn University in 1993.

In 2011, he launched a campaign to free a political prisoner, Ah Kong, who was charged with lèse majesté for allegedly sending text messages which insulted the monarchy to an unknown person.

[4][10] In 2020, he launched a Facebook page "The Royalists Marketplace" as a forum to discuss and criticize the Thai monarchy freely.

[13][14] A Facebook spokesperson stated, “Requests like this are severe, contravene international human rights law, and have a chilling effect on people’s ability to express themselves... We work to protect and defend the rights of all internet users and are preparing to legally challenge this request.”[15]