Lowy Institute: Live Events

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with award-winning journalist, author, and editor Anna Fifield. Anna, the editor of the Wellington newspaper The Dominion Post, has previously reported for the Financial Times and The Washington Post from London, Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing. Anna is the author of a celebrated biography of Kim Jong-un titled The Great Successor. Michael and Anna talk about reporting from Beijing and Tokyo and writing about Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un. Anna also speaks about human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province, the recent summit meeting in Anchorage, and the contrasting policies of Australia and New Zealand towards China.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Lowy Institute Research Fellow Lydia Khalil sits down with Zoe Daniel to discuss her new book, Greetings from Trumpland. Zoe Daniel is a three-time foreign correspondent and former ABC News United States Bureau Chief. She was based in Washington, DC from 2015 to 2019 and was the ABC’s Southeast Asia correspondent from 2009 to 2013. Conversations is a Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with international business leader Marcus Wallenberg. Marcus is a fifth-generation member of the Wallenberg Family, a Swedish political and business dynasty that has counted foreign ministers, ambassadors, and prominent business figures among its numbers. Marcus is the chairman of both Saab and the SEB Group. He sits on the board of AstraZeneca and the international advisory board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and has previously served as chair of the International Chamber of Commerce. Michael and Marcus talk about the situation in Hong Kong, the rollout of vaccines, and how the pandemic has changed the nature of work. Marcus discusses how China is viewed in Europe, the future of the international economy, and leaders who have impressed him. Saab Australia is a subsidiary of Saab AB, of which Marcus Wallenberg is the Chairman. Saab Australia is a corporate member of the Lowy Institute.

We are one year into a pandemic that has upended life as we once knew it. How has the pandemic affected women across the world – in their employment prospects, their caring and household responsibilities, the rate of domestic violence they suffer, their access to education and the mental health challenges they face? COVID-19 has also provided lessons in leadership. New Zealand and Taiwan appeared first and third on the Lowy Institute’s recently released COVID Performance Index. To what extent can their success be attributed to the approaches and styles of their female leaders? In this special event marking International Women's Day 2021, our panel discusses the effect the pandemic has had on women and examine women’s leadership throughout the past year. - Event Speakers - Professor Michelle Ryan, inaugural Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, ANU, and Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology, University of Exeter Professor Jacqui True, Director of Monash University’s Centre for Gender, Peace and Security and Professor of Politics and International Relations Natasha Kassam, Director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at the Lowy Institute

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Senior Fellow Richard McGregor sits down with Natasha Kassam and Jane Perlez to discuss new Lowy Institute research relating to the bilateral relationship between Australia and China. Natasha Kassam is Director of the Lowy Institute’s Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program and is working on a series of reports for the Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence project. Jane Perlez is a long-time foreign correspondent for The New York Times and an expert on China's role in the world and US-China competition. Conversations is a new Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Frances Adamson. Over the course of her career, Frances has represented Australia’s interests in Europe and Asia and advised foreign ministers and prime ministers. Michael and Frances discuss relations with China, recent events in Myanmar, and how DFAT is helping Australians abroad during the pandemic. Frances reflects on why she joined DFAT, nominates Australian and foreign leaders who have impressed her, and talks about the distinctiveness of Australian diplomacy.

What are the key issues likely to dominate Australia’s international agenda in 2021? China's economic statecraft, regional friction in the Pacific, the climate-change agenda, and how the world recovers economically from the coronavirus pandemic are covered in this wide-ranging panel discussion between Lowy Institute experts. This event was hosted by the Lowy Institute at our headquarters at 31 Bligh St in Sydney on Tuesday 23 February 2021. - Event Speakers - Alex Oliver is the Director of Research at the Lowy Institute, where she is responsible for the Institute's team of experts and directs the research program. Until 2018, she directed the Lowy Institute's program on diplomacy and public opinion, including the annual Lowy Institute Poll. Roland Rajah is the Lead Economist and Director of the International Economics Program at the Lowy Institute. Before joining the Lowy Institute Roland was a Senior Economist and Country Manager at the Asian Development Bank, where he worked on macro-fiscal policy, economic growth, and development issues in the Pacific region. Jonathan Pryke is Director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program. Jonathan joined the Lowy Institute in 2015 from the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University where he was a researcher, editor of the Development Policy Blog and a co-convener of the Australasian Aid Conference. Peter Cai returns to the Lowy Institute in 2021 as director of a new project on Australia-China relations. Peter led the Institute’s China work in 2016, and is the author of the 2017 Lowy Institute Analysis Understanding China’s Belt And Road Initiative, which has become one of the world’s most consulted and popular pieces of research on the BRI.

What are the key issues likely to dominate Australia’s international agenda in 2021? Australia's relations with China and America, the COVID and climate-change agenda, and how the new US administration will approach the region are covered in this wide-ranging panel discussion between Lowy Institute experts. This event was hosted by the Lowy Institute at the National Press Club of Australia on Monday 15 February 2021. - Event Speakers - Richard McGregor is a Senior Fellow on China at the Lowy Institute. He was the Financial Times bureau chief in Beijing and Shanghai between 2000 and 2009, and headed the Washington office for four years from 2011. Prior to joining the FT, he was the chief political correspondent and China and Japan correspondent for The Australian. Natasha Kassam is a Research Fellow in the Lowy Institute’s Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program. She is a former Australian diplomat and Fellow of the ANU National Security College’s Futures Council for 2020-21. Ben Scott is the Director of the Lowy Institute’s project on Australia's Security and the Rules-Based Order. He joined the Lowy Institute from the Office of National Intelligence, where he was a Senior Middle East Analyst before representing ONI at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC from 2016-2020. Sam Roggeveen is Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, and a Visiting Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University. Sam was a senior strategic analyst the Office of National Assessments. He also worked on arms control policy in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs, and as an analyst in the Defence Intelligence Organisation.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Ben Bland, Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute, sits down with Aye Min Thant and Melissa Crouch to discuss the causes and consequences of the coup in Myanmar, and how protesters are using technology and humour to push back against the military. Aye Min Thant is a journalist based in Yangon who was part of a Pulitzer Prize–winning team at Reuters and has worked for an organisation promoting technological innovation in Myanmar. Melissa Crouch is Professor and Associate Dean of Research at the Law School at the University of New South Wales and is a leading expert on the Myanmar constitution. Conversations is a new Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.

Patrick Kaiku from UPNG, journalist Rebecca Kuku and Transparency International's Yuambari Haihuie join the Lowy Institute's Shane McLeod to talk about the topics and themes likely to be in the news in 2021 in PNG. This discussion was recorded on 9 February 2021. - Event Speakers - Rebecca Kuku is a Senior Reporter covering Politics and Security with more than eight years experience in the mainstream media. She regularly writes about Gender Based Violence and Sorcery Accusation Related Violence and other social issues. Rebecca is currently reporting for the PNG Post-Courier newspaper and is also a content contributor for The Guardian. Rebecca also publishes work through her Facebook page Becky’s World which has more than 15,000 followers. Yuambari Haihuie is the Deputy Director (Policy and Advocacy) at Transparency International PNG. He’s been working on good governance and anti-corruption campaigns in PNG for more than six years and has contributed to TI’s research and advocacy work such as the 2017 PNG National Election Report, Corruption Risk Assessment of Mining Licences, and the need for Access to Information Legislation in PNG. He is a volunteer director on the board of the Young Professionals Network of PNG and was a participant in the 2017 Australia-PNG Emerging Leaders Dialogue. Patrick Kaiku is a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Papua New Guinea, and has written extensively on national and international political affairs in PNG. After undergraduate and honours studies at UPNG, he received a Masters in Pacific Studies from the University of Hawaii. Shane McLeod is a Research Fellow working with the Lowy Institute’s Australia-PNG Network. Before joining the Institute, he was a senior editor at ABC News in roles where he managed its Sydney newsroom and the flagship radio programs AM, The World Today, and PM. He is a former foreign correspondent with postings in Japan and Papua New Guinea, as well as reporting assignments throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He has also worked as a journalist in regional Queensland, Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with General David Petraeus who led the 2007 surge in Iraq, headed up the US Central Command, commanded US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and served as director of the CIA. Michael and David discuss America’s involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, reflect on President Biden’s approach to the use of force, and the Capitol riots of January 6. David provides insight into the future of the US-China relationship, shares his impressions of President Biden’s foreign policy team, and evaluates the legacy of the Trump presidency.

Two of America’s most influential and respected commentators, David Ignatius of The Washington Post and Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report, joined Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove for this conversation on the Biden administration, American unity and recovery after the Trump administration and Covid-19, and the early indications of President Biden’s international policies.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Lowy Institute Director of Australia’s Security and the Rules-Based Order project, Ben Scott, sits down with Stacie Goddard, Mildred Lane Kemper Professor of Political Science and Faculty Director of the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs at Wellesley College, and Michael Mazarr, Senior Political Scientist at RAND Corporation, to discuss the United States and the Rules-Based Order. View this interactive debate between six experts on America's approach to the rules-based order: https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/usa-rules-based-order/ Conversations is a Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with Evan Osnos, the award-winning journalist, author and staff writer for The New Yorker. In 2014 he published a book on China, Age of Ambition, which won the National Book Award. Evan recently released an insightful and highly readable biography of the President-elect, Joe Biden: American Dreamer. Michael and Evan discuss Joe Biden’s first presidential campaign in 1988, his record as Barack Obama’s Vice President, and analyse the team he will take into government. Evan provides insight into Biden’s relationship with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, his love for ‘the connect’, and the approach that President Biden will take to China and the world.

The opportunities and challenges presented by globalisation are very much on the mind of India’s Minister for External Affairs, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. He wants India to enter the global arena “with cards to play” and, to that end, has argued for India to take a stronger approach to building its national capabilities. Those national capabilities have been tested by COVID-19, which has infected over 1 million Indians and claimed nearly 140,000 lives. But Dr Jaishankar also recognises the need for India to focus on greater international cooperation in solving the existential problems of the day, including climate change, terrorism and pandemics. “The world is not going to carry on with business as usual,” Dr Jaishankar recently observed. “Those with a more self-centred view of world politics will have to come to terms with the needs of the day.” The Lowy Institute was pleased to host Dr Jaishankar at a time of great ambition for India-Australia ties. In this virtual event, the Executive Director of Australia’s Lowy Institute, Dr Michael Fullilove, chaired a discussion ranging over topics such as India’s place in the world, its relations with China, the recently reconstituted ‘Quad’ grouping, COVID-19, and the future of India’s relations with Australia. - About the Speakers - Dr Jaishankar was Foreign Secretary from 2015 to 2018, Ambassador to the United States from 2013 to 2015, Ambassador to China from 2009 to 2013, High Commissioner to Singapore from 2007 to 2009 and Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2000 to 2004. He is the author of a new book, The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World. Dr Fullilove writes widely on Australian and US politics and foreign policy in publications including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Atlantic and Foreign Affairs. Dr Fullilove is the author of several books including Rendezvous with Destiny: How Franklin D. Roosevelt and Five Extraordinary Men Took America into the War and into the World (Penguin).