From 2018 to 2019, Mr Maude was Deputy Secretary, Indo-Pacific Group, in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Australia’s senior official to the East Asia Summit.

In 2017, Mr Maude was head of the whole-of-government taskforce which supported the preparation of the Australian Government’s 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper.

Mr Maude was Director-General of the Office of National Assessments from May 2013 until November 2016.  Before taking up this position, Mr Maude was the senior adviser on foreign policy and national security issues to Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

He has served overseas in Malaysia, where he was Deputy High Commissioner, Singapore and as the Liaison Officer for the Office of National Assessments in the Australian Embassy in Washington DC.

Mr Maude is a member of the Futures Council of the National Security College at the Australian National University and Director of the ANU Crawford Leadership Forum.

Previously, Elina was Associate Professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. Prior to that, she was Director, Foreign Policy and Security Studies at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia. She was also formerly with the Brookings Institution’s Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World. Between 2017 and 2019, Elina was a member of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. She currently serves on the ICRC’s Global Advisory Board on digital threats during conflict.

Elina read law at Oxford University. She obtained an LL.M (Public International Law) from The London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, graduating with distinction at the top of her class. A recipient of the Perdana (Malaysian Prime Minister’s) Fellowship, she also holds an MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University where she was a Women in International Security Scholar.

Susannah previously served in the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit Taskforce in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and as a diplomat in the Australian Embassy in Bangkok.

Susannah holds first class honours degrees in law and political science from the Australian National University and speaks Thai.

Ashley is also the founding convenor and co-chair of the US-Australia Indo-Pacific Deterrence Dialogue and a lecturer in the Centre’s postgraduate program. A frequent contributor to the Australian and international media, Ashley’s analysis has appeared in outlets such as the Financial Times, CNN, the Australian Financial Review, Bloomberg, ABC, and Sky News.

Previously, Ashley has held research and teaching positions in the Alliance 21 Program at the United States Studies Centre, the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, the Center for Asia-Pacific Cooperation and Governance at Fudan University, the Warrior-Scholar Project at Yale University, the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, and Pacific Friends of the Global Fund. He completed his studies at the University of Oxford, Peking University, Sciences Po, Paris, and the University of Sydney where he received the University Medal.