Peter Leavy recently retired from the Royal Australian Navy where he was a surface warfare officer. He commanded two warships, HMAS Stuart and HMAS Sydney, and was Australia’s naval attache to the USA. He is currently the President of the Australian Naval Institute and is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University where he is researching contemporary maritime stratPeter Leavy recently retired from the Royal Australian Navy where he was a surface warfare officer. He commanded two warships, HMAS Stuart and HMAS Sydney, and was Australia’s naval attache to the USA. He is currently the President of the Australian Naval Institute and is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University where he is researching contemporary maritime strategy for medium powers.egy for medium powers.

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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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Bec Strating is the Director of La Trobe Asia 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, forthcoming) and co-editor of ‘Blue Security: Maritime Strategies in the Indo-Pacific’ (Routledge, 2024, forthcoming). Bec has written three sole-authored books, most recently ‘Defending the Maritime Rules-Based Order’ (2020), co-edited two special journal issues and one book (‘Australia on the World Stage’, 2022), and written multiple journal articles and book chapters, most recently in Q1-ranked journals Contemporary Security Policy, Marine Policy, and Pacific Review. She currently leads the DFAT-funded “Blue Security” network focused on maritime security issues in the Indo-Pacific. She is currently a non-visiting fellow at the Royal Australian Navy’s Seapower Centre, 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 the Australian Journal of International Affairs and Journal of Maritime and Territorial Studies.

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Mr. Chris Gardiner is the CEO of The Institute for Regional Security, Canberra, Australia. Chris coordinates The Institute’s dialogue initiatives, directs its Future Strategic Leaders Program, and manages its journal Security Challenges. Chris holds postgraduate qualifications in international relations, in ethics, in management and leadership, and in Buddhist studies.

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Jennifer Parker is an Expert Associate at the National Security College, Australian National University and an Adjunct Fellow in naval studies at the University of New South Wales Canberra. Jennifer also holds the position of Nancy Bentley Associate Fellow in Indo-Pacific Maritime Affairs at the Council on Geostrategy.

Jennifer hosts and produces the weekly Maritime Matters podcast the Australian Naval Institute’s Saltwater Strategists podcast focused on Indo-Pacific maritime affairs.

Jennifer served for more than 20 years with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). During her time in the RAN Jennifer specialised as a Principal Warfare Officer, including undertaking deep specialist training with the Royal Navy in Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer. Jennifer has extensive operational experience from the Middle East to the Caribbean, and most areas in between.

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