The ACT Branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs hosted a presentation by Professor Rory Medcalf, Head of the National Security College, Australian National University.

In an interconnected world, Australia’s security interests will continue to expand faster than its capabilities. Emerging challenges will join enduring ones on a crowded horizon of risk. Australia’s strategic lifelines will be caught up in a changing Indo-Pacific region, while terrorism and extremism will pose enduring risks to a society built on trust and tolerance. Professor Medcalf offered some assessments and policy observations about the need to respond with a more inclusive approach to Australia’s security.

Professor Rory Medcalf

Professor Rory Medcalf began his tenure as the Head of the National Security College in January 2015. His professional background involves more than two decades of experience across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks and journalism. Most recently he was the Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy from 2007 to 2015.

Prior to that, Professor Medcalf worked as a senior strategic analyst with the Office of National Assessments, Canberra’s peak intelligence analysis agency. His experience as an Australian diplomat included a posting to New Delhi, a secondment to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, truce monitoring after the civil conflict in Bougainville and policy development on Asian security institutions. He has contributed to three landmark reports on nuclear arms control: the 1996 Canberra Commission, 1999 Tokyo Forum and 2009 International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. His earlier work in journalism was commended in Australia’s leading media awards, the Walkleys.

Professor Medcalf is a member of the editorial board of the Australian Journal of International Affairs and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Nuclear Security. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy with the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and retains affiliation as a Nonresident Fellow with the Lowy Institute and the Seapower Centre of the Royal Australian Navy.