Graeme Smith

Research Fellow, Department of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University
I joined Political and Social Change (PSC) as a Visiting Fellow in July 2009, and took up a part time appointment in 2014. My main research interests are Chinese state and non-state actors in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, and the political economy of local government in rural China. I have authored several book chapters, as well as articles in The China Journal and The China Quarterly, and edited volumes of Pacific Affairs and Asian Studies Review. My recent project, undertaken in collaboration with Sinclair Dinnen and Paul D’Arcy, examined Chinese outbound direct investment in Papua New Guinea, and the migration and aid flows which have accompanied it. This research now includes other Pacific Nations (Samoa, Tonga and New Caledonia). With the support of UNDP China, DFAT and CAITEC, I worked with Pacific and Chinese researchers to develop recommendations for trilateral cooperation between China and Australia in the Pacific region. I work on the geopolitics of search engines, particularly Baidu and Google. I also host the Little Red Podcast with Louisa Lim of Melbourne University (http://www.chinoiresie.info/little-red-podcast/).

Career highlights

Appointment as senior lecturer and the University of Melbourne (2016) where I created the Little Red Podcast; appointment as a research fellow at the University of Sydney (2012); a postdoctoral fellow at UTS (2009); research associate at the ANU (2007), lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of NSW (1999-2004). Visiting scholar at Sun Yat Sen University (2013), and the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University (2001). Various academic awards, including the best article prize for The Journal of Pacific History (2013), the Gordon White Prize for the best article in China Quarterly (2011), WJ Liu Esq. Memorial Prize (2001), UNSW-Tsinghua Scholarship (2001), Chinese Government Scholarship (1998-1999).