Before that again directed the International Centre of Excellence in Asia-Pacific Studies at the Australian National University. In Canberra he served as Chair of the Education Committee of the Australia-China Council of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as chair of the Committee for National and International Cooperation of the Australian Research Council, and as International Secretary of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

He is currently the President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. His research focuses on territorial government and civil society in China and on Australia's Asian diasporas. His publications have won international recognition, including the Joseph Levenson Prize of the US Association for Asian Studies and the Ernest Scott Prize of the Australian Historical Association.

She is currently working on a 5-year ARC Future Fellowship project that uses longitudinal ethnography to research the social and subjective experiences of young women from China studying and living in Australia (http://www.mobileselves.org). Fran received both her BA (hons) and her PhD from Melbourne University.

Fran is fluent in Mandarin, having begun learning the language in primary school in Australia. She later spent two years studying Chinese language and literature at Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute and East China Normal University (1989 - 1991). She then spent a further two years researching in Taiwan, including at National Taiwan Central University's Center for the Study of Sexualities. Prior to joining Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne, Fran lectured in the Cinema Studies program at La Trobe University (2000-2003).

She has accomplished Master of Global Media Communications at the University of Melbourne in 2017 where she met Prof. Fran Martin and participated in the five-year ethnographic study of Chinese university students’ social and subjective experiences of studying in Australia. During Fiona's stay in Australia, she has experienced significant transformations in all aspects of her lives which could shed light on the study. 

He has curated a number of significant NGV exhibitions, including Visions of Paradise: Indian Court Paintings in 2018–19 and the first major Australian survey of renowned Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai in 2017. He is the lead curator of Terracotta Warriors & Cai Guo-Qiang and was integral to the development of the exhibition, from concept to final display.

Her radio documentaries have been recognised by the Australian Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, and the National Press Club. In 2010 she was the ABC's Andrew Olle Scholar.