Professor Rory Medcalf

Professor Medcalf’s career spans diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, academia and journalism, including as founding director of the security program at the Lowy Institute. He has been Head of the National Security College (NSC) at the Australian National University since 2015, leading its transformation into a key institution for national capability uplift across education, training, research, policy contestability and futures analysis.

In government, Professor Medcalf was a senior strategic analyst with the Office of National Assessments, Australia’s peak intelligence agency, and a diplomat with service in India, Japan and Papua New Guinea. He has been a sustained advocate of Australia-India relations and continues to play a lead role in informal diplomacy among a range of Indo-Pacific powers. He has contributed to three landmark international reports on nuclear arms control and was an adviser for Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper.

Professor Medcalf is recognised globally as a thought leader on the Indo-Pacific strategic concept, as articulated in his acclaimed book Contest for the Indo-Pacific (published internationally as Indo-Pacific Empire). He is a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum Register of Experts and Eminent Persons, the board of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, and the Scientific Advisory Council of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.