Mike Saycon is a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna, Department of Communication, writing his dissertation under the supervision of Professor Katharine Sarikakis. His main research focus is on the role of multi-sector participatory communication in advancing a state-level Convergence Framework of policy, to address child online sexual exploitation in the Philippines. He earned his MA in Global Studies at the University of Vienna in 2008, with a thesis on the failure of international law in stopping the recruitment of child soldiers globally; after which he interned at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Since then he has worked in communication, policy and governance, and programme management for the government, PR consultancy, and non-profit sectors in the Philippines and the Pacific. Prior to returning to Vienna in 2018 for his PhD, he served as advocacy-communication specialist for UNICEF in Laos PDR and the Philippines. He mainly focused his advocacy, policy and programme work on issues such as health and nutrition, education, emergencies and humanitarian response, child protection (violence against children, online sexual exploitation of children, cyber-bullying), and child and youth participation in governance and development.