Dr Heather Smith PSM FAIIA is the 23rd AIIA National President. She is also, since June 2021, a Professor at the ANU National Security College. Before this Dr Smith served as Secretary of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science from September 2017-January 2020. As CEO, Heather led a department of over 2,300 staff, a portfolio of around 10,000 staff, and was a key contributor to decisions on Australia’s national innovation budget.

Heather has had nearly 20 years’ experience in the Australian Public Service at senior levels leading significant initiatives covering economic, industry, innovation, communications, resources, foreign affairs, national security and intelligence matters.

Heather was Secretary of the Department of Communications and the Arts (2016-2017). Prior to this she served as Deputy Secretary in the departments of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (2013-2016) and Foreign Affairs and Trade (2010-2013), and was Deputy Director-General in the Office of National Assessments (2005-2010). She has also worked at the Australian Treasury (2003-2005) and at the Reserve Bank of Australia (1988-1990).

In October 2013 she was appointed by Prime Minister Abbott as Australia’s G20 Sherpa, overseeing Australia’s Presidency of the G20 in 2014.

Heather has previously served as: chair of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Council; as a member of the boards of Innovation and Science Australia; CSIRO; the Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation; the Australian Institute of Marine Science; and Infrastructure Australia. She has also been a member of the advisory panel to Prime Minister Gillard’s white paper, Australia and the Asian Century.

Heather is a director of Challenger Limited; chair of the board of advisers to Aura, a digital-identity start-up; and deputy chair of the United States Studies Centre. She is currently chair of the independent panel undertaking a review into the Australian Public Sector Hierarchy and Classification System. She is also a member of the Westpac Scholars National Selection Panel and a member of Chief Executive Women.

In June 2015 Heather was awarded a Public Service Medal. She was the recipient of the University of Queensland’s Alumni Excellence Award in 2016, and in 2019 was awarded the ANU College of Business and Economics Distinguished Alumni Award.

Heather holds a PhD in Economics from the Australian National University and a B. Economics (Hons 1) from the University of Queensland. From 1994-2000 she was an academic specialising on North Asia at the Australian National University. She has been a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. In 2012, Heather completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

ASŌ Tarō will speak at the AIIA Gala Dinner. Special tickets are required for this event.

ASŌ Tarō is currently the vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and is the country's former prime minister. After entering politics in 1979, he has held a number of roles, including Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of State for Financial Services, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, and Minister of State, Economic Planning Agency. He has also held a number of senior positions within the LDP, including leading the party as its president, and chairing the party's Policy Affairs Research Council. He played a key role in developing Japan's thought about the Indo-Pacific region, introducing his concept of regional integration among democracies as the "Arc of Freedom and Prosperity" during his time as minister of foreign affairs.

Dr Egils Levits will speak at the AIIA National President's Breakfast. Speacial tickets are required for this event.

Mr Levits actively participated in the restoration of Latvia in 1989–1991. He was the first Minister of Justice after full restoration of the Constitution, the first Ambassador of Latvia to Germany after restoration of the country, the first Latvian judge at the European Court of Human Rights (1995–2004), and the first Latvian judge at the European Court of Justice. He has also been Ambassador of Latvia to Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland, as well as Deputy Prime Minister.

Apart from the native Latvian language, he mastered four foreign languages – English, French, German, and Russian. He was European of the Year in Latvia in 2018 and he has two honorary doctorates respectively from the Latvian Academy of Sciences (2002) and the School of Business Administration Turiba. His other numerous awards include a Letter of Recognition by the Cabinet of Ministers on outstanding contribution to the development of jurisprudence and legislation (2016), an award by the Cabinet of Ministers for significant contribution to the development of the Latvian judicial system, the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law, and scientific achievements in justice (2018), and Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, Class I (2021).‎

Simon grew up near Gawler in Adelaide’s north on his family’s small horse agistment property and was educated at local schools before going on to study at the University of Adelaide where he completed a Masters of Business Administration.

Prior to entering the Senate, Simon worked for a number of industry bodies, establishing particular experience in the wine, tourism and hospitality sectors – industries that are critical to South Australia’s prosperity.

After less than three years in the Senate Simon was appointed to the Shadow Ministry, serving as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray-Darling Basin and the Environment until the 2013 election. Following the change of government in 2013 Simon served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment, with responsibility for water policy, including the Murray-Darling Basin, National Parks and the Bureau of Meteorology.

In 2014 Simon was appointed to serve as the Assistant Minister for Education and Training in the Abbott Ministry, with specific responsibility for vocational education, apprenticeships, training and skills. Simon then went on to become Minister for Education and Training in the Turnbull government in September 2015 and was made Manager of Government Business in the Senate in February 2018.

Under the Morrison Government, Simon was appointed as Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate in August 2018. Simon was then appointed as Minister for Finance in October 2020 while also having the responsibility as Leader of the Government in the Senate. Following the 2022 federal election, Simon was appointed Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and the position of Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

Simon is married to Courtney and together they have two young daughters, Matilda and Amelia. Simon is an active advocate for mental health and ovarian cancer and is a proud Adelaide Crows fan.

Latika Bourke is a national political reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She has previously worked for ABC and 2UE in Canberra. Latika won the Walkley Award for Young Australian Journalist of the Year in 2010. She is the author of "From India with Love."

As Pro Vice Chancellor (Business), Griffith University, I am committed to the delivery of contemporary business education and scholarship that delivers a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous future for communities across the globe. Having spent the past five years leading the University's research and engagement agenda related to strategic developments in Asia and the Pacific as Director of the Griffith Asia Institute, I bring a global leadership outlook, strengths in building multi-stakeholder partnerships, and a commitment to diversity.

I began my professional career as a diplomat with the Australian Government. In the years since I have worked across senior leadership roles in government, industry and community to become recognised as one of Australia's leading academic-practitioners with a focus on international policy and diplomatic practice. I actively contribute to international policy development, and deliver executive education and training in diplomacy through Australia's Diplomatic Academy and other global forums.

Today, I represent Queensland on the National Reference Group for the Australian Consortium for 'In-Country' Indonesian Studies (ACICIS), and hold appointments to the Australian Government's Sports Diplomacy Advisory Council, and the AP4D Advisory Board. As a champion for gender equity and empowerment, I currently lead Australia's civil society delegation to the W20. I also sit on Queensland Fulbright Scholarships Committee and on the international advisory council for the International Relations Institute of Cambodia. I am an editorial board member for the Hague Journal of Diplomacy, East Asia Policy, and am co-editor of Palgrave Macmillan's Global Series on Public Diplomacy.

In 2020, I was made Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (FAIIA) for my contribution to international education and Australia's engagement in the Asia-Pacific. In 2021 I received special commendation from the Japanese Consulate-General in Brisbane for my contribution to bilateral Australia-Japan relations. I am a Faculty Fellow of the University of Southern California's Centre for Public Diplomacy (CPD).

James Curran is the Financial Review’s International Editor and professor of modern history at Sydney University. He serves on the DFAT Historical Documents Advisory Committee. James has written for major US foreign policy journals and drafted policy briefs and reports for prominent think tanks. His latest book, Australia’s China Odyssey: From Euphoria to Fear is a study of the history of the relationship from 1949 to the present and was endorsed by former senior Australian diplomats such as John McCarthy, Peter Varghese and Dennis Richardson. James was a delegate to the UK-Australia Leadership Dialogue at Lancaster House in 2018 and in the same year was an invited delegate to the Shrangi-La Dialogue in Singapore. Prior to joining Sydney University, he served in various roles in the Australian Public Service. From 2002 to 2005 he worked as a Policy Adviser in the Department of The Prime Minister and Cabinet, serving in its International Division. This included a short secondment to the US Alliance policy division in the Department of Defence. From 2005 to 2007, he was a senior intelligence analyst at the Office of National Assessments, where he specialised in US foreign policy, US domestic politics and Latin America. In 2013, James was the Keith Cameron Chair of Australian History at University College Dublin and in 2010 a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown University in Washington DC. His books include Fighting with America: Why Saying No to the US wouldn’t rupture the Alliance (2016) Unholy Fury: Nixon and Whitlam at War (2015) and Curtin’s Empire 2011. Curran’s first book, The Power of Speech: Australian Prime Ministers Define the National Image (2004) was shortlisted for both the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and the NSW Premier’s History Prize, while The Unknown Nation-Australia After Empire (2010) co-authored with Stuart Ward, was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Australian History Prize in 2011. In addition to his newspaper column, Curran has also written for The National Interest, Australian Foreign Affairs, the Council on Foreign Relations ‘Asia Unbound’ blog, the East Asia Forum and the Straits Times. He is regularly sought for comment on foreign affairs by the Financial Times, The Washington Post, The South China Morning Post and The New York Times.

From 2017-2020, Dr Stephanie Fahey was the Chief Executive Officer of Austrade, the Australian Government agency responsible for promoting trade, investment and international education, and tourism policy, programs and research. Previously she was EY’s lead strategy partner for education in the Oceania region, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement) at Monash University and Director of the University of Sydney’s Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific. She started her academic career at Victoria University in Melbourne.

She brings an international perspective to her work and experience from academia, business and the public sector. She currently serves as a Trustee of The Asia Foundation and in the Audit Committee of CIT Solutions Pty Ltd. She is a Director of the Australia Design Council, and a Council member of the Asia Society and the European Australian Business Council. She has been an office bearer of the Australia China Business Council, the Australia China Council, the NSW International Education Advisory Board, and served on the Board of Canberra Institute of Technology, the Foreign Affairs Council, and the Australia Korean Foundation as well as many other organisations.

She holds a PhD from the Australian National University and BA (Hons) from The University of Sydney. She speaks Melanesian Pidgin and some Vietnamese. She was inducted as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2011 and as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in 2023.

Courtney J. Fung is Associate Professor in the Department of Security Studies & Criminology at Macquarie University. She is concurrently Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University and also Associate Fellow at the Lowy Institute and Chatham House. Courtney is on the editorial board of Contemporary Security Policy, the Australian Journal of International Affairs and H-DIPLO ISSF. Her research examines how rising powers address the norms and provisions for global governance and international security, with an empirical focus on China.

Courtney was previously an associate professor with tenure in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong; a research fellow with the East Asia Institute (Seoul) in their Program on Peace, Governance, and Development in East Asia, and a post-doctoral research fellow with the now Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program.

Courtney is author of China and Intervention at the UN Security Council: Reconciling Status (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), which explains the effects of status on China's varied response to intervention and foreign-imposed regime change at the United Nations. Her book was shortlisted for the BISA LHM Ling Outstanding First Book Prize and received the 2019 - 2020 HKU Research Output Prize for the Faculty of Social Sciences. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Contemporary Security Policy, Cooperation and Conflict, Global Governance, International Affairs, Journal of Global Security Studies, Journal of Contemporary China, PS: Political Science & Politics, The China Quarterly, Third World Quarterly, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, and International Peacekeeping.

Courtney holds a PhD in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. She serves on The Fletcher School Board of Advisors.

Nicole’s research focuses on the gendered politics of conflict and peacebuilding, violence, security and participation. She has a strong interest in feminist institutional theory, as well as conceptual debates on regulatory pluralism and contested notions of (gendered) order as they are evident in local and global politics. Since the early 2000s, she has conducted research in the Pacific Islands region focusing on gender politics, gendered security and post conflict transition in Fiji, New Caledonia, Bougainville and Solomon Islands. She has worked in collaboration with women’s organisations, women decision-makers and women policy-makers in these settings to progress aspects of this work. She has led large, externally funded, comparative research projects examining how women's rights to security are institutionalised in Pacific Island countries (2013-2016) and where and how women participate in post-conflict transformation (as part of a broader collaborative ARC Linkage Project (2016-2020). Aside from the scholarly publications listed below, she has made influential contributions to national and regional intergovernmental policy forums on gender, security and development programs and is a regular contributor to national and regional on-line opinion editorial sites.

Darren is the Chief Executive Officer of i2i Global.

He is one of Australia’s most well-credentialled Indigenous executives; experienced in building teams that lift the impact of ventures, frequently tasked with refreshing strategy and business models to achieve impact and viability. Global experience advising the World Bank, Member of Australian New Zealand Indigenous Business Network, Delegate to the World Indigenous Business Network (WIBN), adviser to global media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG and Senior Fellow of NY based Synergos Foundation. Executive education at INSEAD and MIT Sloan School of Management.

Godwell has led companies within the fields of tourism, business, investment and trade, oil and gas, education, health, housing, legal affairs and international development.

Linda Jakobson is part-time Senior Advisor at the China Office of Finnish Industries. In 2023 she returned to Europe after pursuing an international career as a China specialist for 35 years. She lived and worked in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for 22 years between 1987 and 2011. In 2011 she moved to Sydney where, among others, she founded and directed China Matters, an independent Australian policy institute.

A Mandarin speaker, Ms Jakobson has been invited to serve as a policy advisor on China to the foreign minister and senior government officials in seven countries. She is the author of five books and numerous reports and articles about the PRC and East Asia. She is internationally best known for her publications about the PRC’s foreign policy, the Taiwan issue, and the PRC’s Arctic ambitions.

Ms Jakobson previously held the following positions: Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs 1998-2008; Beijing-based Programme Director for China and Global Security at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) 2009-2011, East Asia Programme Director at the Lowy Institute for International Policy 2011-2013; Visiting Professor at the US Studies Centre at Sydney University 2014-2015; and Founding Director and CEO of China Matters 2015-2021.

Two of Ms Jakobson’s books and one report have received awards.

As Director of the Lowy Institute Pacific Islands Program, Dr Meg Keen oversees the Institute’s analysis, events and external engagement concerning the Pacific Islands.

Meg’s work on the Pacific region spans several decades across academia, intelligence and policymaking. Her research focuses on regional security policy and resilience, as well as resource, environmental and human security. She has worked and conducted research in nearly all Pacific Islands countries with governments, NGOs and regional agencies.

Before joining the Lowy Institute, she was the inaugural Director of the Australia Pacific Security College at the Australian National University (ANU), an educational institution she helped to establish to service members of the Pacific Islands Forum on Pacific Islands development and security issues.

Prior to that, Meg worked as a Senior Policy Fellow in the ANU’s Department of Pacific Affairs, as a Senior Analyst in the Oceania Branch of the Office of National Assessments (now the Office of National Intelligence) and served in Australia’s Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

She started her post-doctoral career as a lecturer in environment studies (ANU and Monash University) and advising the Australian government on environmental management in the Asia-Pacific.

Meg has won four Australia Day Awards for her work as a senior Pacific Islands analyst, an Australian Federal Police Overseas Service Medal for her work with RAMSI, and a citation for excellence in teaching. A Canadian native, she has been resident in Australia for more than 30 years.

Zara Kimpton OAM was appointed National Vice President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in 2010. She completed her BA in Political Science, Fine Arts and Economics at Melbourne University. She subsequently pursued a career in stockbroking with William Noall & Son in Melbourne, the mining/investment industry with Consolidated Gold Fields Australia in Sydney and banking with Banque Nationale de Paris in Melbourne. She then worked in New York in the interior design industry and later ran her own business in this field in Melbourne. Zara joined the council of the Australian Institute of International Affairs Victoria in 1997 and was President from 2003 to 2006. She was made a life member of AIIAV in 2007. She has been involved in AIIAV study tours to South Africa (1996), Sri Lanka (2003), Russia (2008), Vietnam (2001) and China (2012) and led the tours to South America (2000) and Indonesia (2009). Zara chaired the national Fundraising Task Force in 2007 and is now the National Patron of the Friends of the AIIA. She has also represented the AIIA at conferences in Malaysia, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom and in 2017 was a delegate to the Women 20 (W20) summit in Germany. She was the leader of the Australian delegation to the W20 Argentina 2018 summit and the Japan W20 2019 summit. She is currently a joint proprietor of a cattle and sheep station in north-eastern Victoria. Apart from international affairs her main interests are travel, the arts, tennis, horse riding, hiking, and speaking French. In 2011 Zara was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to international relations through executive roles with the Australian Institute of International Affairs Victoria.

Professor Rory Medcalf AM has been Head of the National Security College (NSC) at the Australian National University since January 2015. He has led the expansion of the College into policy engagement, futures analysis, international dialogue and capacity-building, as well as academic education, executive development and research. It is now a go-to institution in Australia's security policy landscape.

His professional background involves three decades of experience across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, academia and journalism, including as founding Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute from 2007 to 2015.

In government, Professor Medcalf worked as a senior strategic analyst with the then Office of National Assessments (now the Office of National Intelligence), Canberra’s peak intelligence analysis agency. He was also an Australian diplomat, with wide experience including a posting to New Delhi, a secondment to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, truce monitoring after the civil conflict in Bougainville and policy development on Asian security institutions. He has contributed to three landmark reports on nuclear arms control: the 1996 Canberra Commission, 1999 Tokyo Forum and 2009 International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. His earlier work in journalism was commended in Australia’s leading media awards, the Walkleys, in 1991.

Professor Medcalf has been prominent in developing Australia’s relations with India, and he convenes informal diplomatic dialogues ('track 1.5' and 'track 2') with India, France and a range of other Indo-Pacific powers. He has been recognised as a thought leader internationally for his work on the Indo-Pacific concept of the Asian strategic environment, as articulated in his 2020 book Contest for the Indo-Pacific (released internationally as Indo-Pacific Empire and translated into Japanese and Chinese).

Professor Medcalf was a member of the expert panel providing independent advice on the Australian Government’s 2016 Defence White Paper. He was chief investigator in a 2018-2021 research project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, examining the risks to nuclear stability from new submarine-detection technologies. He was also chief investigator in a 2019-2021 research project funded by the Australian Department of Defence , titled 'Made for Multipolarity: Operationalising an Indo-Pacific strategy in the Indian Ocean'.

He is a member of the editorial board of the Australian Journal of International Affairs. He has been a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy with the Brookings Institution. His is a member of the Board of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, the ASEAN Regional Forum Register of Experts and Eminent Persons, and the scientific advisory council of the Finnish Institute for International Affairs (FIIA).

In 2022 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to international relations and tertiary education. That year he was also recognised with a commendation from the Japanese Foreign Minister for services to Australia-Japan relations.

Patrick Suckling is Managing Director and Asia Chair at the Pollination Group. He plays a leading role on transition strategy, solutions and investments, including key markets in Asia such as India, Japan and Indonesia. He had a previous career in Australia’s Foreign Service, including as international adviser to two Prime Ministers, adviser to the Foreign Minister, High Commissioner to India, Ambassador for the Environment and Senior Official for APEC. Patrick’s work on climate change includes leading Paris Agreement negotiations, overseeing Australia’s $1.5 billion climate finance commitment, and strengthening climate cooperation with key countries such as the United States, China, India, Japan and Germany. He has worked extensively on the climate and nature transition with the G20, OECD, the Multilateral Development Banks and other global and regional institutions. He has also worked extensively with global corporates and financial institutions in these areas.

Dr Bryce Wakefield is the national executive director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University. He has lived, worked and researched in the United States, Japan, Europe and New Zealand. He trained as a political scientist with particular expertise in International Relations and the international affairs of East Asia.

From 2008 to 2012 Bryce was the associate responsible for Northeast Asian programs at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. In this role, he was responsible for conceiving, designing and organising around 60 events in Washington, including policy briefings in the U.S. Congress, on political issues in Australia, Taiwan, North and South Korea and Japan. He co-organised, with the Wilson Center’s partners, three major annual policy conferences in Tokyo. He has also given talks in Japanese, including for parliamentarians at the National Diet.

He was also a university lecturer with tenure in area studies and international relations at Leiden University in the Netherlands. While at Leiden from 2012-2018 he taught numerous classes on the foreign policy and domestic politics of Japan, the politics of East Asia, comparative politics, and the relationship between politics and culture. He designed and implemented a successful specialization on culture and politics for Leiden’s graduate program in International Relations. During his time as a university academic he also delivered training, induction and briefing sessions for Dutch and international diplomats in the Hague and in Japan.

Bryce is regularly quoted in the media. His work and views on political issues in Asia and Australasia have appeared in such outlets as the Australian Financial Review, BusinessWeek, Der Spiegel, Financial Times, SCMP, the Telegraph, de Volkskrant and the Washington Times, as well as on the ABC, ACN, SBS, BBC News, CNBC, CSPAN, 7News Australia, and Sky News Australia and in such Japanese outlets as the Daily Yomiuri, NHK and the Sankei Shimbun. In February 2015, the Tokyo bureau chief of the New York Times named him as one of 10 “influential and reliable intellectuals” outside Washington who could help policymakers better know Japan.

Bryce’s academic publications to date focus on constitutional issues and defence policy, political marketing and national identity in Japan. While at the Wilson Center, he also edited and contributed to several of the centre’s multi-author publications on East Asian politics and foreign policy. He has also written on New Zealand’s foreign policy and has been called to the Australian Senate Foreign Affairs and Defence References Select Committee to give expert testimony.

Bryce lived in Japan from 1998 to 2004 and earned his master’s degree from Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy. He earned his PhD in political studies from the University of Auckland.

Dr Pichamon Yeophantong is Head of Research and Associate Professor at the Centre for Future Defence and National Security, Deakin University at the Australian War College. She also leads the Responsible Business Lab and the Environmental Justice and Human Rights Project, which are funded by an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship. In 2022, Pichamon was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council as an Independent Expert, serving as the Member from Asia-Pacific States on the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.