The National President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Mr. Allan Gyngell AO FAIIA, announced today that Dr. Bryce Wakefield had been appointed as the Institute’s new National Executive Director.

Dr. Wakefield has extensive international experience. From 2012 to 2018 he was a lecturer and researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands, focusing on East Asian international relations and Japanese politics and foreign policy.  Between 2009 and 2012 he was Asia Program Associate responsible for East Asia and Australia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. He holds a PhD in politics from the University of Auckland and a Master’s degree in international public policy from Osaka University. Since August 2018 he has been the Deputy National Director of the AIIA.

Mr. Gyngell welcomed Dr. Wakefield’s appointment and said he was confident the Institute’s position and reputation would continue to expand under his leadership.

He paid tribute to the outstanding record of achievement of the outgoing National Executive Director, Melissa Conley Tyler, whose thirteen-year service in the position had done so much to cement and enhance the Institute’s national and international role.  He was pleased that Ms Conley Tyler would continue her connection with the AIIA as a Presidential Associate.