Wengki is an activist-researcher on coastal and small island development, political ecology, marine conservation, climate change adaptation, and indigenous resource governance, with a particular focus on Sea Nomadic Communities in Insular Southeast Asia. He was a visiting scholar at Global Development Studies, Queens University in Canada; a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Government, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; and at the Research Center for Society and Culture, National Research Center and Innovation Agency of The Republic of Indonesia (BRIN). He has collaborated with various levels of government, NGOs, universities, the business sector, indigenous movements, and community-based organizations, and developed a model for integrating traditional ecological knowledge into the co-management of Locally Managed Marine Areas.