Mr. Jonathan E. Malaya is a dedicated public servant with over 25 years of experience in government, having served in leadership roles across all three branches of the Philippine government. Most recently, he served as Assistant Director-General of the National Security Council and is currently a member of the WPS Philippine Advisory Board.

In the Executive Branch, Mr. Malaya held key positions as Undersecretary, Assistant Secretary, and Chief of Staff in the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Education (DepEd), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), and the Office of the President. In the Legislative Branch, he served as Director II and Supervising Legislative Staff Officer in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the Judiciary, he was Judicial Staff Head to the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura.

He is also an accomplished author and educator, having written five books, including Stewards of the Nation: Inaugural Visions from Aguinaldo to Duterte, which reached No. 8 on the PowerBooks Best Seller List. He teaches courses on ethics, public policy, and accountability at the University of the Philippines–National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP NCPAG), the University of Makati, the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), and San Sebastian College–Recoletos.

During the Duterte Administration, he served as DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson for the department, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), and the National Task Force COVID-19.

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Ms. Sophiya Navarro is the Program Manager for Security and Innovation at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Philippines.

She is the editor of several KAS publications and has authored articles for KAS, Rappler, the Ateneo de Manila University – School of Government (ASOG), and 9DashLine, covering various topics on security and governance.

Sophiya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Diplomacy and International Relations with a specialization in East and Southeast Asian Studies, as well as a Minor in Literature (English) from the Ateneo de Manila University, where she graduated with honors in 2018 under a full scholarship.

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Dr Peter K. Lee is a Non-Resident Fellow in the Foreign Policy and Defence Program at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is currently a research fellow in the Center for Regional Studies at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank based in Seoul, Korea. His recent publications cover US foreign and defence policy, Australia-Korea relations, AUKUS, and Korean security.

Previously, Dr Lee was a research fellow in the Foreign Policy and Defence Program at the United States Studies Centre and also a Korea Foundation research fellow at the University of Melbourne. Dr Lee received his PhD in strategic studies from the Australian National University, and his Master of International Relations and a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in political science from the University of Melbourne.

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Mr. Philip Alegre is an International Relations (IR) scholar and security analyst specializing on Philippine strategic interests, the Philippine-US Alliance, and great power dynamics. He is currently a Non-Resident Vasey Fellow at the Pacific Forum. Recently, he finished his fellowship with the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a proud graduate of the Security Sector Governance and Reform Program of the Folke Bernadotte Academy of Sweden (2022) and the Yeosu Academy on the Law of the Sea (2024) conducted by the Korea Maritime Institute.

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Sophie Wushuang Yi holds a PhD in Chinese studies (international relations) from King’s College London, where she specialised in Sino-US relations, military and strategic studies, and South China Sea geopolitics. She is currently a postdoctoral teaching fellow at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, and a research fellow at the Marine Studies Center of the Grandview Institution. Sophie also has extensive professional experience, having served as an economist assistant at the United Nations Resident Coordinator Office in Beijing. She earned her bachelor’s degree in international politics and security studies from the University of Sheffield and pursued graduate studies in economics at SOAS, as well as China in comparative perspectives at the London School of Economics (LSE).

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Bec Strating PhD FAIIA is the Director of the La Trobe Centre for Global Security and a Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University, Melbourne. She has extensive experience working in the academia-policy-public engagement nexus in the fields of international diplomacy and security. Her research focuses primarily on Asian regional security, maritime disputes, and Australian foreign and defence policy. She is the author of ‘Girt by Sea: reimagining Australia’s Security’ with Professor Joanne Wallis (La Trobe University Press/Black Inc, 2024), which was launched by Foreign Minister Penny Wong in April 2024. She is the co-editor of ‘Blue Security in the Indo-Pacific’ (Routledge, 2024) and ‘The Politics of Global Ocean Regions’ (Palgrave, 2025). Bec currently leads the DFAT-funded “Blue Security” network focused on maritime security issues in the Indo-Pacific. She is a non-resident fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research, an affiliated researcher at Georgetown University, a member of the East West Centre Council on Indo-Pacific Relations, an expert affiliate at the Australian National University’s National Security College, and President of the Women in International Security-Australia’s steering committee. She serves on the editorial boards of Contemporary Security Policy, Australian Journal of International Affairs and Journal of Maritime and Territorial Studies.

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Ms. Tonette de Jesus is the Senior Program Manager for Governance and Foreign Relations at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Philippines. Prior to her work at KAS, she was a Political Economy Consultant for the Philippine Governance Advisory Team at the World Bank Office in the Philippines, Program Manager for the Asian Development Bank-Asian Institute of Management Knowledge Hub, and Research Officer at the International Rice Research Institute. She has authored chapters for and edited international and regional security publications. Her opinion pieces as an international development practitioner have been featured in Rappler and the 9DashLine. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Management Economics (Merit Scholar) from the Ateneo de Manila University and a brief stint in the corporate world, Tonette pursued her master’s degree in International Political Economy and Development, specializing in International and Development Economics, from Fordham University, where she received the Matteo Ricci Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement.

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Daniela Braun is the KAS Country Director Philippines since May 2023. In this capacity, she oversees the programs of KAS’ oldest office in Asia. Previously, Daniela worked as Policy Advisor for International Politics and Security Affairs at the Division Analysis and Consulting of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Berlin. Before KAS, Daniela held different positions at the German Council on Foreign Relations, the German Bundestag and the Berlin Office of the German Marshall Fund.
She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Bonn and M.A. from the Freie University Berlin. She also studied in Warsaw, Poland, at the American University in Washington D.C. and as a Fox International Scholar at Yale University in New Haven.

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Katsuya “Kats” Yamamoto, retired as Rear Admiral from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), joined the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in 2023. Kats graduated from the Japan National Defense Academy and earned a Master of Policy Studies degree from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. He studied as a military student at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center and at the PLA National Defense University. He was a surface warfare officer, serving onboard various destroyers including as the commanding officer, and served onshore as Chief of the International Policy Planning at the Joint Staff Office, Director of the National Security & Strategic Studies Office at the JMSDF Staff College and Director of Education at the National Institute for Defense Studies. Kats served abroad as Defense/Naval Attaché to China (2008 to 2011) and President of the Naval Attaché Corps in Beijing, and International Military Professor of the U.S. Naval War College (2016 to 2018). He is Board member of the Japan-America Society of Southern New England, and Visiting Fellow of the Philippine Public Safety College.

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Captain (Ret.) Liu Xiaobo is a senior fellow and director of the Marine Study Center, Grandview Institution, Beijing, China. His research focuses on national maritime security policy, sea power, and the Law of the Sea. Before joining the Grandview Institution, Capt. Liu had served in the PLA Navy for 24 years and had worked as a research fellow in the National Institute for South China Sea Studies.

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