Cynthia Mehboob is a PhD Scholar based at the Department of International Relations at the Australian National University.

Cynthia is development practitioner with extensive experience in senior roles across higher education and the not-for-profit sectors in Australia. She has worked as a project lead at Monash University, contributed to Mission Australia’s Communities for Children portfolio, and supported World Vision’s 30-hour famine program in Malaysia.

Her doctoral research interrogates the complex interplay between human, non-human, and more-than-human elements that shape Australia’s digital infrastructure securitisation in its region, with a particular focus on the politics of undersea cables in the Indo-Pacific.

In addition to her academic work, Cynthia has engaged in media discussions on undersea and other digital infrastructure, aiming to illustrate the urgent economic and national security challenges that could impact Australia’s strategic interests. Her work has been featured in outlets like the Interpreter by the Lowy Institute, and The Conversation. She has also appeared on the “Ear to Asia” podcast, discussing the geopolitics of undersea cables in the Indo-Pacific.

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