Join Professor Brendan Sargeant, Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, and Dr Pichamon Yeophantong, an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow and China specialist at UNSW Canberra in an in-depth academic discussion on Australia-China relations.
This moderated conversation with explore the increased bilateral tension between the two states and how this is impacting upon trade, foreign policy and national security. Our speakers, both experts in this field, will also look to the future, considering new strategies to navigate this increasingly complex relationship.
This event will be livestreamed. If you cannot join us live on the night, please register anyway and we will send you the full recording of the discussion following the event.
Brendan Sargeant is a Professor of Practice in Defence and Strategic Studies and Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University.
Brendan retired from the Department of Defence in October 2017, where he was the Associate Secretary of Defence from September 2013. Prior to that appointment he was the Deputy Secretary Strategy.
As Associate Secretary, Brendan was responsible for oversight of the implementation of the First Principles Review, a major reform of Defence organisation and enterprise governance, planning, performance and risk management. He was also the principal author of the 2013 Defence White Paper.
Dr Pichamon Yeophantong is a political scientist and China specialist. Her research focuses on Chinese foreign policy and the political economy of sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific. Pichamon is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. She also leads the Responsible Business Lab and convenes the Asia-Pacific Development and Security Research Group.
Pichamon completed her PhD and MA in Politics and International Relations at the ANU as an inaugural China Institute Scholar and Hedley Bull Scholar. She has conducted extensive field-based research in China and Southeast Asia and her work has appeared as commissioned reports and in such publications as Asian Survey, Chinese Journal of International Politics, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Pacific Affairs, and Water International.
In 2018, Pichamon was awarded the Australia 'Future Leader' Prize by the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and was named a 'human rights fighter' by the 2020 Advance Awards.
