Dr Samuel Bashfield is Research Fellow at the La Trobe Centre for Global Security, where he studies geopolitics and defence trends. His research examines how Australia and its partners respond to global geopolitical developments, new technologies and changing power distributions, with particular focus on maritime security, digital flows, and Indo-Pacific strategic dynamics. He is the author of 'Submarine Cables' (Cambridge Elements in Indo-Pacific Security, 2026) and 'The British Indian Ocean Territory: A Secret and Strategic Cold War History’ (Hurst & Oxford University Press, 2026).