Read more about our Contributors

Zohaib Altaf is associate director at the Centre for International Strategic Studies Azad Jammu and Kashmir (CISS AJK), Pakistan. His work focuses on nuclear strategy, deterrence stability, and emerging military technologies. He has written for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Stimson Center, The Diplomat, and the South China Morning Post.

Dr Shannon Brincat is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Juan Zahir Naranjo Cáceres is a PhD Candidate and Sessional Staff at University of the Sunshine Coast.

Sangita Gayatri Kannan is a Ph.D candidate in Mineral and Energy Economics at the Colorado School of Mines.is a Ph.D candidate in Mineral and Energy Economics at the Colorado School of Mines.

Arrizal Jaknanihan is a Master of International Relations student at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University. His research focuses on the intersection of security and trade in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Indonesia. His analyses have been featured in several outlets, including East Asia Forum, The Interpreter, The Jakarta Post, New Mandala, The Diplomat, and RSIS Commentaries. You can reach out to Arrizal through email (ArrizalAnugerah.Jaknanihan@anuedu.au or Linkedin)

Benjamin Fullarton is a PhD student in International Relations at the Australian National University. His research examines the politics of climate change, the environment, and resource extraction, as well as the wider politics and foreign policy of Australia, the United States, and the Pacific Islands Region. Previously, he worked as a policy advisor within the Australian Government, and prior to that, was a campaign strategist and political advisor within the Australian Labor Party and the wider labour movement.

Dr Seohee Kwak is a lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Her academic interests include contentious politics, intra-and interstate conflict, state repression, and democratic and authoritarian governance, with a geographic focus on East Asia.

Cleo Anne A. Calimbahin is a Senior Research Fellow at the ANU Philippines Institute and a Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and Development Studies at De La Salle University-Manila (DLSU-Manila). Among her publications are 'Mapping the Philippines' Defective Democracy' with Julio Teehankee and ‘Democratic backsliding in the Philippines: Are voters becoming illiberal?’ with Yuko Kasuya. She co-edited the book, Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients and Competition in Local Elections. The book received the 2024 Outstanding Book Award in the Social Sciences from the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST).

Meg Randolph is a current doctoral candidate at Monash University in Melbourne. Her research investigates the influence of Australia's offshore detention policies in the United Kingdom and Denmark from 2001.

Dr Henrietta McNeill is a Research Fellow (Pacific Security, Geopolitics, Regionalism) in the Department of Pacific Affairs at the ANU. Her research focus is Pacific regional security and the security-migration nexus, particularly transnational crime, criminal deportations, border security, citizenship, and security cooperation. Henrietta holds a PhD from the ANU examining the securitisation of criminal deportation to the Pacific Islands, particularly Tonga, Samoa and Cook Islands.